All Forum Posts by: Eric Furst

I posted earlier on this thread about my experience with roofstock, which was a mixed bag so far. In keeping up on the posts, I think the problem some people have with them is their expectations. To be clear, they are largely the fault of roofstock's own marketing.

If you go in expecting a seller to be honest, and not a salesman. Or if you go in expecting RE investing to be strait gains, and especially in that first year. You are likely to be very disappointed. Yes, the long term goal is wealth building, but that takes time. 

If you have money sitting in the market growing consistently year after year these past ten years, a $10k hit may push you to sell. But people who have seen their portfolio value drop before, understand that you only lose money when you sell. Of course there will be down years, both in the market and in any rental property. And in all likelihood, the first years when you are learning on the job will be the worst. But to sell out then, is to lock yourself into those losses, and to lose out on the experience and, hopefully, future gains.

Now, Roofstock should not be absolved in all this. They market themselves exclusively towards newbie OOS investors, and tout the expected gains never once mentioning the downside. They are not balanced, but I have never really assumed that a salesman is fair. So that may have saved me some of the pain. Yes I lost some money this first year, but I am starting to see the turnaround. And recent sales comps in the area make me think I might be able to get much more for my house that I purchased it for. That would more than make up for any losses I may have incurred so far

I purchased a property on roofstock about 9 months ago, and figured I'd share the gist of what I dealt with on this thread. I had a number of small issues arise, but to their credit, roofstock (after some emails and finally tweeting) did make things right. 

I was signed up with a point person, and it quickly became clear that there were some talking points they were not going to deviate from. The 97% of the asking price being one of them. There seem to be a lot of exceptions to that one here on biggerpockets, and I eventually got my house for 14% lower than the asking price. 

Really, I guess you have to go in with your eyes open, which makes this a very valuable thread. Roofstock is not a turnkey provider, and shouldn't be viewed as one. When your agent pushes back against your requests, don't take it. You can get another inspection if you want, as much as they like to tell you that you can't. It just slows the process, which they really don't like. They have the lease on file, and you should be able to see it with any sensitive information blacked out, they just don't like to give it to you. If you want something from them, push them for it, and keep the email records to show them later. 

Basically I dealt with a number of people who gave me contradictory information, and yes, the inability to communicate did cause problems. But again, Roofstock stepped up when it was necessary and rectified most of the self imposed issues. It also helps to send out a strategic tweet when the communication slows to a drip.

As for the information provided on the website; as many have said before DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. You cannot rely on their appraisal, don't feel beholden to their "certified PM's", and don't trust their rent estimates. They are all basically arbitrary. If you are not comfortable about something, don't do the deal, even if "your" roofstock representative will get annoyed by your inability to commit. I lost a deal because I was not willing to sign a PSA without any seller disclosures, none of the sellers manage the property themselves and therefore cannot sign "NO" to any disclosures. But alas, some do. You just have to find the one that checks all your boxes.

I'm not at that point yet. I've found many 3 bedrooms, but I'm still trying to learn the various neighborhoods to get an idea of what a good deal looks like in the area. 

Thank you. I use the trulia crime map (along with other resources) to help me narrow my search a little bit. But I would still like some help narrowing down a bit more, and helping me with the actual lines of demarcation between the "good" and "bad" neighborhood. Then once I have concrete places to look I will come down to tour the areas I have settled on.

I am looking for A/B neighborhoods, but if there is nothing of quality within my price range then I will go up a bit. As for returns, I would like to know what to expect, I was looking within 7-8% C on C, with a typical 20% mortgage. But again if that is impossible to find in the area I'll have to rethink things 

Thank you

I'm a fairly inexperienced investor looking to break into the Florida market after starting with a few properties in other areas. From what I've gathered it seems like Polk county, and specifically Lakeland, would fit within my price range (125-175 for a 3 bdrm). I'm looking foe help from some "boots on the ground" with narrowing down the areas I should look.

I gathered some data on the Lake Somerset, Lake Bentley, and Lakeland highlands areas, but I would like to narrow down my search a little more to find good communities within those areas. Or if anyone has any suggestions about other places to look in the area, that would be great too.

Ideally yes. But being my first investment property I have no experience. I'd like to at least start out having a PM company take care of the work. If I start seeing that I have the time to research look into good handymen in the area I'd certainly be willing to take that on. 

Also, just to be clear, they only add 15% to larger jobs. They take no "finders fee" on typical maintenance work. So, yes, it's certainly something to consider when a big job needs to get done. 

I'm under contract on an out of state property, so I'm looking into property managers in the area. The companies I'm looking into seem to have three different ways of addressing maintenance issues. 

1- Some of the companies employ the entire maintenance staff, from handy men to electricians plumbers and contractors. When an issue comes up, they send down the appropriate member of the staff to take care of it. 

2- Other companies have a sister company that does the work. They take the calls, and then tell the sister company which professional to send down to the property.

3- A couple of companies have relationships with various professionals, but no staff or sister company. When a job needs to be done they presumably pull out their roladex and go down the list until someone is available. When a bigger job comes up these companies have the flexibility to have a number of contractors come out to provide estimates, and while this allows them to get a better rate they also take a finders fee.

I can crunch the basic numbers myself. But I'm wondering if the members of the forum (this is my first property) can shed some light on what I should expect from these different styles? Should I expect more delays when the company has to work around the availability of their sister company? Should I expect shoddy work if they are just calling around to find an available electrician? And should I expect the companies in the first category to send out plumbers when a handyman would suffice in order to justify having the more expensive professional on staff? If you have answers to any of these questions, or can share any other pro's or con's of these models that would be very helpful.

I'm looking to move from playing the market to real estate investing, but trying to start out in a low risk/low reward property in order to learn the ropes. I've been looking mostly on roofstock for my first buy. In researching some of the communities with available properties I've come across a number of statistics. I was hoping some of the experienced investors here could help me decipher some of the numbers.

Vacancy rates, crime rates and the like seem pretty obvious to me; the lower the better. Some other figures are a bit more confusing though.

1- Rental rates- Do these concern you as an investor? If only 15-20% of the population rents is that a problem or can that actually be a positive as it develops a "community" and keeps the few renters around longer. 

2- Is the population growth important? If one region hasn't grown much over the past 10-20 years is that an indication of stagnation, or the sign of a more mature community? And, on the flip side, is extreme population growth sometimes a red flag?

3- On the vacancy rates, while obviously the lower the better, presumably there are a number of houses that are vacant because they aren't rent-able. Is there a way to calculate the percentage of properties searching unsuccessfully for a renter?    

4- Lastly, in your experience, how much does past home appreciation in a region portend future growth?