All Forum Posts by: Traver Freeman

@Ali Boone So do the turnkey companies have their own set of properties that they list or can I use them to assist me in purchasing a property that I've found online? You said you would never buy a home you haven't seen outside of a turnkey company. What does the turnkey do that allows you to place that confidence in them? Especially in that first time situation where you don't have a solid relationship built with them. 

As far as Florida goes, the area I am familiar with is not the greatest by far, but I know the area, I'm going to be in town in two weeks for my best friend's wedding and I could take a look at some properties at that time. The numbers seem to work for the few I've looked at already, but it's not a growing area, unemployment isn't the greatest, and it's prone to hurricanes, so I don't know about the long-term aspect of it.

I'm just a little hesitant to go to an area I have no knowledge of. I really wish I could do it locally as I'm very much a hands on person and would rather see and do things myself (at least for the first few). But since my market won't allow it, I'm open to looking elsewhere otherwise I won't be able to do anything.

@Bruce May Thanks. That's great advice. I will definitely need to spend some time researching markets and see what would be most profitable. From there, I can hopefully connect with some good people in the area using BP. I've been around the country a bit, and I have friends and family in Pennsylvania, Florida, Alabama, Utah, Indiana and Georgia. Hopefully between one of those states I can find something where I might have occasion to visit the area, not that visiting is necessary, I just might like to check things out. I have also thought about Las Vegas as it's not too far from here (about 5 hours) and I've heard it's a cheaper market.

@Brandon Heath Good to know I'm not the only one who's tired of watching my money go down the drain each month and not being able to find another solution locally. I'm not too sure how BP works in it's entirety yet, but they keep referring to it on the podcasts as a social networking site. If there's a way to "add" me as a friend, I'd love to follow how things go for you and what you figure out to do.

@Ali Boone, would recommend at least choosing an area I am familiar with via previously living there, or would you look for a totally unknown market that has the great potential for profit? There seems like there'd be a lot of downside with not knowing the area though. Maybe you can help me answer some of these. The problems, as I see it, would be:
1. I don't know where the good and bad parts of town are. 2. I can't see the property in person (I'd have to take significant time off my 9-5 to visit multiple properties unless I really knew which deal to go for). 3. I wouldn't know where to get a good property manager.

Do you often travel to the area you are going to invest in for several weeks at a time? Or do you try to line up a bunch of houses to check out all at once and try to do it in a day or two? Or do you not even visit? If you don't visit, what information are you going off of to know where to find good properties and property managers?

I have thought about staying in San Diego and buying a property in Florida where at least I have an intimate knowledge of the area, have plenty of friends who could refer me to good people to maintaining and managing my property.

But right now, as I'm living in an apartment, and have never even bought my own home, the prospect of buying out of state is even more daunting. But that's why I'm trying to learn about it all as best I can so I can make an educated decision where I want to go with my first investment.

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I spoke at length with a mortgage broker who came into my 9-5 the other day and you all have echoed what he said to me then. The California market right now is at it's height which means two things: 1) prices are high and 2) what goes up must come down.

By the sounds of it, my best scenario is to continue my investing education. Read books, learn more of the lingo, especially on the financial side of things, and keep looking out for opportunities. I am interested in getting my real estate license which would be a big part of the education. There were multiple options available for that online. I saw a live class, a streaming class, and a home study (reading the textbooks yourself). Does anyone have any particular advice on which of those I should go for?

With buy-and-hold not looking to great for this area, several of you have mentioned out-of-state investing @Ali Boone @Bruce May. Would you recommend I consider that as a newbie, or really try to stick locally for my first investment?

I am also considering a flip, though I'm more hesitant about it, since I do have a 9-5, I don't know if I would have the time for it. The one thing I would have going for me is I have a contractor friend I know I can trust. I spoke with him briefly about this all a few weeks ago and I want to get together with him to discuss things in more detail.

I know the #1 advice I've heard over and over from the podcast is to not the "analysis paralysis" take effect, so I'm looking for something I can get started with as I am very much a hands-on kind of person and I learn by doing.

Hello everyone. My name is Traver Freeman, I'm new here and I live in San Diego. I did a quick search and there seems to be lots of new folks from San Diego in the past few months. So hello from another one!

My wife and I just moved to San Diego and we love it here, but the cost of living is quite a bit higher than we expected. We moved here for family as my in-laws recently moved here. I work a 9-5, but entry-level doesn't really help pay the bills and my wife is a stay-at-home mom with our almost 1 year old. So I started to look for additional ways to support my family. My uncle is a Buy and Hold investor, so I wanted to do something similar. I've had a desire to get involved with real estate for about 6 months to a year now and a month ago I decided to start getting serious about it.

I started Googling real estate books and found myself on the BP Ultimate Beginner's Guide. From there, I bought two books I'm currently reading, starting listening to the BP podcasts and have listened to 13 of them in the last two weeks (about one a day). I'm continuing to learn more and more about the various sources of financing and types of investing.

I am very interested in getting started with a multi-family property, living in one of the units and renting out the others. The problem I'm having is finding a property I can afford in the San Diego area. The duplexes, triplexes, and 4-plexes around here all seem to be 400k-700k, and that's one of the cheapest parts of the county. With just mortgage, mortgage/home insurance, and taxes, I'd be looking at 4,000+/mo. Apartments in my area rent for 1400/mo. I'd be in the hole each month before we're even talking about expenses and vacancies. The numbers don't seem to add up.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've briefly viewed properties where we went to college in Florida, and I could buy a 4-plex for 170k, pay 850/mo, rent out three units for 600/mo ea, and net +900/mo minus expenses, plus live rent free myself. Is this type of investment possible in San Diego?

If we can't make something work here, we may end up moving back to Florida, but we'd really like to stay here. So I thought I'd listen to the podcasts and get involved in the forums. I welcome any advice, thoughts, or ideas.