Skip to content
×
Pro Members Get
Full Access!
Get off the sidelines and take action in real estate investing with BiggerPockets Pro. Our comprehensive suite of tools and resources minimize mistakes, support informed decisions, and propel you to success.
Advanced networking features
Market and Deal Finder tools
Property analysis calculators
Landlord Command Center
ANNUAL Save 54%
$32.50 /mo
$390 billed annualy
MONTHLY
$69 /mo
billed monthly
7 day free trial. Cancel anytime
Pick markets, find deals, analyze and manage properties. Try BiggerPockets PRO.
x
All Forum Categories
All Forum Categories
Followed Discussions
Followed Categories
Followed People
Followed Locations
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback

All Forum Posts by: Shalom Shore

Shalom Shore has started 3 posts and replied 11 times.

Post: Help! Am I doing something wrong? Do I have what it takes?

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

Thank you guys, I appreciate the supportive words. 

Just to clarify a few things. I'm not sure exactly, but I'd say these are C level properties in B neighborhoods. Baltimore has a lot of old townhouses, but I buy only in solid working class or lower middle class neighborhoods where I'd feel comfortable living myself - mostly in Baltimore county, not city. 

Here's a breakdown of the houses (first number is current debt, which is about 75% LTV):

  • 120K SFH, rents for $1600, MITI $1000 (sorry I wrote it wrong above), built in 1950s
  • 87k Townhouse, rents for $1200, MITI $800, built in 1930s
  • 100k Townhouse, rents for $1600, MITI $750, built in 1930s
  • 120k townhouse, rents for $1600, MITI around $100, built in 1980s

A few clarifications.

  • My tenants have been great so far. Paying basically on time, all working steady jobs, take decent care of the places. The problems are all natural, like pipes bursting and roofs leaking. 
  • I definitely could have done proper inspections, and made the mistake of relying on a contractor's appraisal to both identify issues and get a quote, and he then missed things. That said, leaking pipes and breaking ovens have happened also in properties that were inspected. 
  • I don't have the margins to do gut rehabs on these places. Putting $50k into a house would put me back at market value, with the prices I'm currently managing to buy them at, plus all the major headaches of the renovation. This is part of what I don't understand about how other investors do it - an affordable renovation that still makes them money but stabilizes the property. 

@James Ma , i've read 10X, but reminded of it is great. I always underestimate the amount of work required for these things. 

@Jeffrey H., good points. As much as I like learning new technical skills, I can't rely on myself for this especially since I'm not in the area. From what I've seen, property managers are just an extra step that charges me anyway to bring in professionals. What advantage would they offer me here?

@Dean Letfus, the turnkey approach is tempting. I've thought about it and definitely renovating the property is what causes me the most stress. So just buying it usable and fixing things as they occur is probably the better approach for my temperament. 

@Brian Ellis you nailed it. I just work too hard in all areas. When things go wrong in too many places at once I just over-saturate and can't handle it. My biggest goal right now is to not buy more houses, even when the urge comes up. 

@Erik W.I appreciate your perspective and story. Personally, I haven't seen anything on the market right now that sells cheap enough for the 2% rule. I've been able to get properties at 1-1.5% which I thought was good. Note that these aren't pure C class properties, I don't think, as I described above. 

@Ned Carey how would you go about, say, finding a pest control company that was more affordable? i often end up going just with a recommended company, or the one who finally answers the phone. 

@Jill F. that's a good perspective. I'm actually so new to actually landlording that I don't have the full perspective on the timelines involved. If I knew it was just 6 months, I'd power through it, but I don't see why toilets or leaks or breaking appliances won't happen at any time.

Post: Help! Am I doing something wrong? Do I have what it takes?

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

I'm turning the community in the hopes that you can talk me off the ledge. Or at least provide some support or advice. 

I dreamed of investing in real estate for years. I networked my *** off and managed to buy four properties, all financed at around 75% LTV, so I have some margins.

I picked a good location - Baltimore, where I have supposedly enviable cash flow, $400-600 per property after PIMI, but before variable costs. 

That's the clincher. All the stuff that goes wrong. I tried bracing myself for this in advance - "always expect something to go wrong" I was told. I braced myself for the 50% rule - I was gonna have expenses every month on the houses. A repair here, a fix there, I thought. 

I wasn't prepared for massive expenses, on all the houses, for what feels like all the time. Bleeding thousands of dollars in one go on pest removal, tree removal, mold removal. Expenses that wipe out an entire year's rental profits in one afternoon. How do people do it? 

I can't catch a break. Not a week goes by without a tenant complaining about an issue. And these are good tenants, who pay on time and try to take care of things themselves with the professionals I send.

And the truth is, worse than the expense, is trying to get people to help me resolve things. For fear of sounding like a trite broken record, It's such a huge struggle to find reliable people. No one has anyone to recommend. I find people myself (after calling lots of numbers where no one answers), have good initial conversations, and then they don't show up. There goes another day. Time to make more phone calls tomorrow while the tenant tries to live in a basement that's flooded in sewage. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not afraid of hard work. When I discovered heaping piles of bat guano in an attic of one my houses, I rolled up my sleeves and cleaned it all out myself. I try to be a valuable contributor to my local community, referring others to key market resources and helpful individuals. 

I supplement the costs of all these repairs with my day-job salary, otherwise this would all be over a long time ago. But I'm plagued with frustration, feeling like I can't get it right even though I've tried so hard. Am I unlucky? Am I actually lazy or undisciplined? I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing, or if other people have word of encouragement for me.

Thank you all for being such a great community. 

Post: Moved to the US to invest - placed my first renter 6 months later

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

@Cody L., thanks so much!

Post: Moved to the US to invest - placed my first renter 6 months later

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

@William C., i tried putting it in bold on top.

@Adam Schumacher, I am a US citizen, so thankfully that wasn't an issue.

@Ozzy Sirimsi, thank you! Yes, it can be very easy to get lazy. Even I could do a better job it, I'm sure.

@Meti Kay, thank you! Yes, I have an excellent agent I can recommend, can you PM me?

@Saul L., it's always cool to see some Hebrew on this site, thanks for your support! :D

Post: Moved to the US to invest - placed my first renter 6 months later

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

TL;DR I dreamt of investing for a long time, moved to the US to do so, hustled to gain knowledge, took action while feeling terrified, and just finished buying a house and placing the first renter.

I'm writing to say thank you to the community. 

Years ago, like everybody, I read rich dad poor dad and got turned on to real estate. I knew that one day I was going to own a rental portfolio, I just didn't know when or how it would happen.

Discovering Bigger Pockets

I was still living in Israel at the time, where I was born and raised. I knew nothing about real estate investing, and there is virtually no community of investors to talk with. I finally heard of a virtual group that would meet via conference call. 

I joined the call, and ended up being the only one on it, along with the group leader. I picked his brain for half an hour, and his biggest recommendation was that I check out bigger pockets. 

I was hooked.

I listened to the podcasts. I subscribed to the newsletters. I bought the ebooks. I got the general, abstract point about what investing in real estate is all about.

I started trolling Trulia from halfway around the world, trying to understand neighborhoods based on the community crime map overlay. I dreamt of being able to invest in the United States, instead of i the terrible local market.

Moving to America

Six months ago, I moved halfway across the world, to Baltimore, Maryland. My online research had I identified it as one of the best rental markets in the country: low purchase prices and high rents.

I landed in Baltimore with a suitcase and a few thousand dollars to my name. I didn't have a driver's license, and, it turned out, although I'd worked on building up a good credit score, I had insufficient credit history. I got rejected from every kind of financing I applied for.

I was lucky to get a job in my field, web design, within a few weeks of arriving. At first I worked as an independent contractor, until my boss heard I was having trouble getting a mortgage and was awesome enough to switch me to a salaried employee. I was approved for financing within two paystubs.

As soon as I had arrived, I had started networking. There are so many amazing groups here where people share extremely valuable knowledge and experience, completely free. The first few groups I went to, I didn't even have a license yet, and I had to Uber there and back.

I had no experience investing, so my initial attempts to give back to the community had to be more creative. I started introducing people to other resources I had encountered - investors to hard money lenders, mortgage brokers to the networking groups I was a part of. I bartered my web design services in exchange for good will and mentorship.

To acclimate myself with the rehab part of it all, which made me the most uneasy because I was not familiar with it (houses in Israel are built completely differently), I got myself work over the weekends with a contractor I found on Craigslist. I was making $13 an hour instead of the $100 I make when I freelance, but it was the best thing I could have done. I gained some practical knowledge, but more importantly, developed a relationship with a trustworthy contractor and acclimated myself to the construction phase of investing.

At a certain point, I realized I was hearing the same information over and over again at the different meetups. I had gotten the picture. Bigger pockets had given me the broad strokes. The meetups had localized the knowledge. Now I just needed to take action.

Taking Action

I did not feel ready. I was terrified - what if I failed? Went bankrupt? My tenants ruined my life?

I took it one step at a time. First getting pre-approval for financing. Then looking for deals with my investor-focused agent, who I met at one of my first meetups. 

Each step was a milestone, an emotional hurdle I had to get over.

"I have never looked at a house before. I feel like a fraud. I'm wasting my agent's time."

"OMG. How the heck am I supposed to decide how much money to offer on this house?"

Each step was its own mini crisis, and once I'd done it once, it seemed painless, easy, and matter-of-fact. 

The House on Forrest Ave

After a few weeks of looking, my agent called with an off market property that had just become available. It was a cute cape cod in a quiet neighborhood 20 minutes away from where I lived. 3br/2ba, investor owned, had rented for $1,500, was comped at $150k and was selling for $130. 

I made an offer that evening, it was accepted the next day, and we closed 45 days later. Don't let the simplicity fool you - there were a ton of inspections, unexpected crises related to financing and issues with the houses's condition that came up along the way. I was terrified as usual, and seriously considered backing out of the deal. My agent helped talk me down from the edge.

I moved into my house a month ago, 5 months to the day after moving across the world. It was a stressful month - I had to get the house in order, furnish it, and try to get a renter. The doubts were there as well. What if no one wants to rent? What if I got a terrible, horrible renter? (I didn't know the fair housing act didn't apply to finding roommates)

It took me a few weeks to summon up the courage to post my spare rooms. First Facebook, then a local college directory, finally Craigslist and Trulia. 

It was from the last two that the responses came. And it was hugely validating - never before have I advertised something that got so much response. I find meaning in providing people with one of their most basic needs - shelter.

Today I closed with the first renter. Other authors have written here about that moment when you first have the cash in hand. And it's true, that's the moment it all comes together. It's the point that validates the entire process, "This thing actually works!".

Making $500 a month from the smallest room in the house means I'm already breaking even on the $900 mortgage and taxes, since I was paying $400 rent before. 

I do have additional expenses to consider of course (this first month was a vacancy, for example), and hope to rent out a larger room in the house in the next few days.

My Takeaway

My conclusion? Real estate investing is simple, just hard. It's not rocket science, it just takes doing. 

And to beginners who are just starting out, here's my advice: start by immersing in the community. Go to meet ups. Soak up knowledge. 

At some point you'll reach a stage where you understand what's going on. But you'll still be unsure of yourself. That's the point when you must take action anyway. Have someone look over your shoulder. Take it one step at a time. But do it. 

House hacking is a great way to do this, because you can make pretend you're just buying yourself a house, then turn it from a liability to an asset by simply renting out rooms. 

I wanted to say thank you to the community. Both the people I never met who inspired me with their own success and knowledge, as well as the people I met in person who gave of their time and expertise to help me on my journey. To all those who believed in me, thank you for helping me believe in myself.

Post: New Investor in Macon, GA

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

Good luck! Many people in this field are not so technically minded, so you definitely have what to contribute here.

Post: Web Site and call Center for leads ?

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

Hi Tzvi, regards from Shalom Tzvi from Jerusalem. :)

I too have a web design company, and like @Carlos Rovira, recommend you also look at Weebly (affiliate link), which I personally have found to be the easiest of the big three (WIX, Weebly, Squarespace) for non-technical entrepreneurs. 

I am in the process of setting up an Israeli real estate listing platform  which is more complex, but if you have a look at this site you'll have an example of what can be done with Weebly. 

Feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions. 

Shalom

Post: REI jobs

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

Here's a link.

Post: Expat Investing From Abroad

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

@Ned Carey @Russell Brazil, thsnk you both for the detailed advice. I appreciate the point about the increased risk and the need to compensate for it in other ways.

Post: Expat Investing From Abroad

Shalom ShorePosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Posts 11
  • Votes 15

Hi guys!

I'm a new real estate investor currently living abroad but looking to invest in the US (My local market is particularly unsuited for investing). Baltimore specifically has attracted my attention, because I have a bit of a network there that I can rely on, and because of the recent BP article on how lucrative it is. (I am also aware that Baltimore, possibly even more than other cities, has a huge spectrum as far as neighborhoods, with some being very undesirable.)

I'm looking to invest in buy and hold single family properties on the lower end of the spectrum, my budget right now is properties costing less than $80k.

My question is twofold:

1. Is investing from long-distance at all possible? Is it possible to find a trustworthy agent who can be my eyes on the ground and help me find the right property? If yes, how do I vet them? 

2. I have seen many people insist that one actually visit the area they want to invest in. "This is not something you can do from miles away" they say. Say I take off a few precious days from work and invest in a visit. What would be the most worthwhile things to look for? What would your priorities be if you were visiting a city for only a few days?

  • Since the market is constantly changing, is it worth my while to focus on seeing some actual properties?
  • Or should it be more about becoming familiar with the city itself and trying to make some lasting connections? (forcing me to once again partially  rely on them to assess future deals)

Thanks for any advice or insight!