Hey Jeff, great to meet you! I'm a Turnkey property provider here in Mobile, AL and I personally own a couple of properties at age 25, so I'll take a jab at some of your questions! Before I try, congratulations on mapping out your road to financial success. One of my favorite quotes is by Seneca, which says “If one does not know which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” As long as you have a goal in mind and you're working towards it, you are a success.
1) I have my real estate license. I think it depends on which state you want to get certified in, that being said I'm in Alabama. I used a site called Mbition (Google it, idk if I'm allowed to post links here) but a lot of guys in our office use CE Shop.
2) I think my situation is a little unique here, but my Turnkey company works directly with our own in house property management company, which currently manages about 700+ doors. Our company charges a 10% property management fee and drops to 9% if you bring us 3 doors or more. If we sell you one of our properties, we give 8%. I got a discount because I work directly with the company, so that's why I went with a PM first thing. For a few months, I had no issues and I was thinking, why don't I just manage this myself? Then we had a freeze and my pipes busted, and it was a super busy time for me. My property management company took care of all of it for me after asking for approval, and it was one less thing for me to worry about. I like that it's convenient and they do a lot of the leg work such as tenant placement, working with section 8, repairs and maintenance, increasing rents after lease expires, evictions, etc. I've seen it first hand, there are quite a few headaches when it comes to managing properties. But maybe for your first, manage it yourself and see what you can learn from it. Also learn how to choose a good management company when you start scaling.
3) I look for 8% Caprate or more, double digit coc, and minimum of $200/mo cashflow. I feel like I'm kind of flexible here, it really just depends on how the deal looks. I'm doing some BRRRRs where I can get these numbers are better, but I also buy properties that are "Turnkey" or even MLS deals.
Feel free to message me anytime, I'm trying to get the hang of teaching thing and I'm happy to help any way that I can. Also thanks for asking this, I'm excited to read a few of the replies here!
