All Forum Posts by: Frances Buerkens

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Lexington.

Contributors:
Ryan Camenisch

This home required an enormous amount of work. It had foundation issues, no plumbing or electric, and no heating/cooling systems. Frankly, that was for the best since we had a blank slate available to make a fabulous home. We added one full bath, making it a 2BR/2BA modern home with a master suite and private backyard. 

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Ryan Camenisch was a tremendous help in the purchase of this property. It was messily being brokered by both a wholesaler and real estate agent, and he navigated clogged communication lines to land us at the closing table for a great price. The house had sat on the market for about two years, but he nailed the timing for when the seller was ready to transact at a fair price given the home’s terrible condition.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Ryan Camenisch also helped us evaluate what we could afford to put into the property since it’s final value was difficult to determine due to its unique location in the rapidly exploding neighborhood, NoLi. We couldn’t ask for a more competent (and fun) agent - and we have worked with more than a dozen agents/wholesalers!

@Peter Stevenson you're a couple steps ahead of us. My husband and I moved to Lexington to invest in real estate. We're FIRE people, and are planning a long term road trip from Alaska to Patagonia starting in 2021. We bought our dream camper last week (an overlanding rig: flatbed truck camper by 4 Wheel Campers). We will settle out West where there's lots of rock climbing. 

If you end up in Lexington in January, we would love to connect with you and show you what we know and love about this area. Send me a DM if you're interested.

I would invest in syndications. It does take "that much" to develop a passive income stream that keeps building over time. With returns at 12-15% being common (and far less work than single family/BRRRR), the investor could be financially free. It takes 3-5 years from the point of investment for the passive income to catch up, but a $500K USD investment can easily become $75-80K passive income within 3 years, then over $180K in 5-10 years as the initial investments are sold. This depends on a lot of economic and political variables (gee... nothing interesting going on in the White House these days...) but is doable. My boyfriend is an engineer and terrific at building financial models. Send me a message if you're keen to see the investing model we built for ourselves. It's guiding our investments because we actually set a target ($100,000 passive income as a couple in the short term and $150K+ in the long term) and are currently building the seed capital that will enable us to hit those targets.

Nice! Kyle and I are moving to Lexington in December. Keep us in mind for that meetup if we don't RSVP. 

My partner and I scored a last minute meeting with an angel investor, but we are not happy with our current sample deal package. It doesn’t reflect our investing goals and strategies. Does anybody have any marketing packages they would be willing to share for former deals based on (similarity to) the following metrics?

Key Metrics:

- 50-100 units

- Lexington, KY or Covington, KY (Cincinnati is acceptable too)

- Value-Add component a must: examples include deferred maintenance, 70’s builds that haven’t been modernized, etc.

- 5 year hold

- C or B class

@Tj Hines I like coffee and I like networking. 

I'm on the road 90% of the time for the next 5 months, but that will drop off this winter. (Thank goodness....) I'm interested in short-term networking potential while travel dominates my life. MF Facebook groups sound promising - and can be done from the airport!

BTW, the key train of thought for winter driving is that AWD really only helps you if you lose traction. Getting winter tires is usually seen as the better play since they help maintain traction. 

As a Mainer, I know what it's like to drive in bad weather. (Real deal ice and snow.) I have been impressed with Honda's reliability. Every time I take my Element in for an inspection, mechanics comment on how many miles you can put on them without much work. (I'm at 175,000 miles and will easily make it to 200,000.) You could easily pick up a used Honda CRV if you want an SUV.

I used to drive a Honda Fit - and will buy one again when my current car dies. That thing was bulletproof with studded snow tires. You only need the studs for icy conditions, so you can skip that if you're just going for snow protection. 

Winter tires will run $400, but you can get awesome discounts if you buy them in the summer. The Fit also gets 30-45 MPG (fact check that), so your improved mileage will pay for your winter tires in a few months or less. 

@Brad Noe I hear it's all the rage! You have quite the supply coming online these days. 

@Greg Dickerson Thanks for the encouraging words! 

We do have the resources to go big - but working with engineers (aka aerospace engineers) as investors leads to a unique view point of risk. It's okay to take risk, but it must be thoroughly quantified. 

Our lack of experience with apartments leads us to believe that doing a smaller deal will allow us to use it as a hardened proof of concept before leaping into bigger deals. We believe (accurately or otherwise) that doing a small deal and partnering with an experienced syndicator in this sector will enable us to better identify and mitigate risk. What would you do in our shoes?

BTW, I grew up playing St Anne's Bellfield (STAB) lacrosse team. We usually walloped them despite being the "redneck kids" from Lexington/Rockbridge County. Important stuff, I know! :)