All Forum Posts by: Matt Greer

I agree. Section 8 can be profitable, but it takes a good property manager and an investor who knows what they're doing or you can lose so much money. 

As a real estate agent I have so many people come to me who bought a course all excited to get rich quick only for reality to hit them like a freight train.

I have lived and worked real estate in both Fayetteville and Phoenix currently in Mesa.

They are both great but the strategy is a little different. In Fayetteville you have relatively inexpensive houses in an area with a high rental population due to Fort Bragg. This means you'll get a good cash flow, but appreciation of the property will be low.

In the phoenix area there is more ownership and less renting, but due to prices increasing faster than inflation we are seeing a rise in renters. We also have a housing shortage. This means the rental rates are average nothing to write home about, but the increase you'll get in appreciation is amazing, but not liquid until you sell. 

I have had investors pull equity from their homes in the phoenix area to buy cash flowing properties in Fayetteville and similar areas, because the price growth in the phoenix area generates amazing returns.

It depends on if you want cashflow now or delayed gratification later.

I would study the different real estate investing techniques that you could comfortably afford to get into and find the one that interests you the most and go for it. There's so many ways to invest in real estate find the one that interests you the most and that's where you'll do the best.

I provided a link to the bill HB 2297. I'm a bit of a nerd and pay close attention to what happens in the Arizona Legislature and there were a few bills in particular that affect housing. HB 2297 in particular can provide a lot of opportunity for multi family real estate investors. The bill requires that cities allow up to 10% of the commercial properties (strip malls for example) to be repurposed as multi family residential. The property has to meet very minimal requirements to be allowed to be rezoned (section C). 

I was wondering if anyone here other than me was even aware of this new legislation and if anyone was working on anything like this. This seems like a great opportunity to take abandoned strip malls or motels and convert them to residential. It's definitely something I'd like to be a part of.   

Investing in land is an old method and it does a good job at holding value. However, if you are looking to grow your money or make income from raw land it is very difficult to do so. I'm in the Mesa/ Gilbert area of the state and have had some of my investors I work with purchase land right outside of town in the pathway of the expected growth of the town. That method made them money, because people wanted the land. Owning random land in the middle of nowhere won't do much for you other than cost you in property taxes. I would do a 1031 exchange into a rental property. 

In my experience hiring a property manager is worth it for exactly this reason. I understand wanting to save money on the monthly fees, but when it comes to maintaining an investment that can very easily be devalued by deferred or poor maintenance it's worth it. 

I would make sure you understand the regulations that are starting to happen to short term rentals in the area first. I was in a meeting 2 weeks ago where the mayors of a couple of the surrounding towns were there as part of a panel and they are really cracking down short term rentals and making sure that people register them. They want to make the regulations tighter in some towns as well so do your research.

I was wondering when they were going to build. I was out there on that land and a game warden approached me to tell me the state sold the land

That will be in the red for a long time and you need to always plan for a worst case scenario so if the best case scenario is you're good after 3 years if rates and rents move in your favor that is pretty risky. There's a lot that can wrong here. What if something goes wrong in your life and you can't afford the $2k a month due to unforeseen issues? Do you have the $72k already sitting on the sideline? What if you need money for repairs as well? There are plenty of opportunities out there that won't put you in the red. I'd look for something cheaper that will start cashflowing and and appreciate. This just sounds like a lot to bite off and chew.

My firm had been hired to sell someone's flip project. I wasn't the agent with the listing but I had clients that were interested. I took them to tour the property and someone had broken in and stole a toilet. Just a toilet. There was so much in that house that was of more value, but they stole the toilet. It wasn't that bad as far as being gross goes other than the hole in the ground leading to the sewer, but it still takes the cake for weirdest thing stolen from a house.