All Forum Posts by: Fred Venturini

This is all really fantastic information. I listen to that podcast, but I think I missed that one! Back to work! 

I think it's a zoning conformity issue, and my gut tends to agree with Anthony--I don't think you want to invest in something as inflexible as this. But I wanted to talk it out a little for the sake of posterity and to get feedback and share some information as well!

I'm finding a lot of mobile home parks that are not allowed to replace a mobile home once it is removed from the park. I've done my homework on these, and this is a new bit of information to me. Does anyone have any advice or other information on how to handle this situation, or how to property value it into an offer? What are people doing with empty mobile home parks? It creates a finite lifespan.

When the homes are tenant-owned, you can't really control rehab or maintenance costs, and they could presumably move on a whim and leave you holding the bag on an empty lot for the life of the property.

Take for example this MH park deal I looked at. Lots to like here - 19 pads, 18 are tenant-owned (1 is about to be rehabbed or removed after the owner passed away). City water, city sewer. Not individually metered, but lot rents look to absorb the costs rather well. I'm being conservative with my estimates, but it looks like it can generate 29k NOI with some upside.

The asking price is pretty high, I think: 395k, which is a 7 percent cap rate. Cash flow is around 4-5k with a 20 year loan factored in, but that isn't producing a cash on cash return that makes it worth burning up 80k in cash.

The owners say they had the property to use up the tax breaks and have exhausted them all, which makes it an attractive target to negotiate for seller financing (the installment sale presumably spreads out the tax hit over several years). I just think the ask is too high and I certainly don't like the feeling of permanently losing a unit due to the whims of an occupant, the lifespan of the home, or a natural disaster.

I know some pretty talented land investors who also have the ability to deploy their own farming operations to get value out of tillable acres, and as a newly minted real estate agent in IL, I'm hoping to invest along with them on the next couple of pieces.

We also have a system to optimize and better position land to extract maximum value. 

Being located in south/central Illinois, the problem we see around here is finding decent deals, let alone good deals. Land deals are done away from most residential MLS's, and if they're listed on land websites, they are typically overpriced in general, let alone for the savvy investor. "Ugly" land is usually marketed to hunters for a value that takes into account the emotion of owning hunting ground. There is some opportunity for "baskets" of land that really aren't positioned for a specific buyer (think of one parcel that is half hunting timber and half tillable, with maybe a wetland issue or two or some work to clean up a square piece for farming) where you could go in, tidy things up and do some savvy dividing.

I was thinking of applying the same tactics that deal-hunters use when flipping or wholesaling houses ("We buy ugly land!"), but since I'm new to the community, I wanted to let you know what I was up to in the interest of discussion (I find these types of investments fascinating and don't know ALL about them yet, but the guys I work with are savants) and to see if anyone had some clever tactics to uncover a decent deals on messy acreage. 

The perfect property is 60 acres or more, and a bit of a mess--perhaps has drainage issues or timber needs to be cleared, super-motivated seller who wants nothing to do with farm acreage, among other warts--in order to get a decent price. We also have the ability to speed up the rather long process of appraising this type of ground (sometimes this takes up to 60 days around here) so we could push the ability to close within 2 weeks for ground. 

Was thinking of Craiglist ads, possibly Facebook ads targeting farmers, going after probate or pre-foreclosure leads . . . anyone else want to add an idea or discuss this further? 

@Erica Shaunta Thompson

I'm located in Aviston, IL, and I'm highly familiar with all the surrounding cities and most of the metro east. Thanks to my network, I have a lot of "good old boys" in the more south-central area of Illinois that feed me a ton of information, but like I said, sometimes a lot of that is farmland and rural property, which are often overlooked as investments since buyers don't rush to them and they're often off of the MLS. We're seeing a lot of foreign and out of state buyers snapping up large tracts of land throughout Illinois.

If you're truly in southern Illinois (such as the Carbondale area) I don't have as much reach, but since that's a college town, I've analyzed deals down there for an investor friend (he was looking at a mobile home park and some multi-units). 

I will say that Aviston is my personal residence after I did due diligence in 2010; it's a fast-growing small town with a rising median income and a lot of development with a great school district (the elementary school is quite new and well-regarded). That trend is continuing and even though the population is 1200 as of the last census, houses continue being built and anything that's new is selling extremely fast. We got an Edward Jones that was just built here, and that's before we even got a grocery store! In all the walks I've taken in Aviston, I have a lot of regrets--foreclosed houses I should have bought, doors I should have knocked on, etc. On the north side of town, you'll see a lot of metro east people building 500k houses on the north side of town that end up being the size of mansions and then just making the 35 minute commute to St. Louis.

If you'd like to connect, I can get you into my database! 

@Deanne Moore

I don't have a team over there, but being so close I'd love to expand my reach in the future. 

However, I know a guy who flips houses in the St. Louis area on that side of the river and his real estate agent is fantastic (according to him of course). I have analyzed a lot of deals in St. Louis since that's where I could get a lot of practice doing that, and a few have been purchased (and successful) on my recommendation. 

I could lend a hand if you like, maybe get that agent's info or otherwise help out? I think STL is a solid investment space; there is a TON of federal employment which is quite stable, and Scott AFB on the IL side is one of the area's largest employers, and that's all federal. Just a matter of picking the right spots. When I'm in St. Louis it seems like you can be in a wonderful area in one moment, and then take a wrong turn and in two seconds you are checking to see if your doors are locked!

Hi everyone!

I'm Fred Venturini and I live about 45 mins east of St. Louis on the IL side. I've worked as an analyst at Scott AFB for the past 9 years as part of an 18-year federal career, I'm a Chicago sports fan (I know, boo), and I live with my lovely wife, daughter, two cats, one dog, and one BB-8 droid who hasn't been turned off since Christmas morning.

Fun fact: I'm an author who has published a novel with a major publisher and several short stories. I love to write and communicate, and I hope to get a couple of books under contract within the next year or two!

I also love REAL ESTATE! Ever since we bought and fixed-up our first home in 2006, then sold it to move up a couple years later, I've found real estate to be fascinating and fun, and have analyzed and consulted on deals for friends who have invested. I've long thought that agents can up their game when it comes to service and skills, and there are some underserved niches in our area, so I went ahead and got my license once REAL came to Illinois. My first "close" was to convince them to board me as a new agent, despite the fact that they hadn't come downstate yet (not on local boards, MLS, etc, so for them to invest in that would require a lot of belief in what I wanted to do).

I also started learning about marketing (focusing on digital) for my next book launch and got so passionate about it I contract my services out to local brick and mortar businesses (I will assist with their social media content, write blogs, email campaigns, run their ads, re-do their website, and more). 

My intention is to be a fantastic agent to my inner circle, to service investors as a buyer's agent, and to carve out a niche in selling rural properties and farms, which are fantastic opportunities in Southern IL with overlooked investment potential. I also want to start adding to my own investment portfolio with the extra tools and knowledge that came with my licensing education. 

I love reading (I tend to digest 2-3 nonfiction books per week between reading and audio, and 2 longer, more casual fiction books per month) and have always found that my writing skills have helped me stand out in any field. So of course, I felt like writing an intro post before I even did all the housekeeping I need to do to get my profiles and branding in order for this new focus! 

As for Bigger Pockets--I ran across the books first, then listened to the podcast, and I knew when this day arrived I'd have to join the forums, where I've lurked in the past. 

Shout out to my wife, Krissy, who inspired me to take these steps. She started up a Rodan and Fields business (which had me rolling my eyes two years ago) but she crushed it and is a Level V who is taking me to Canada on one of her free trips this year. 

Sorry for the long intro, but I'm more writer than editor sometimes. Hope to beef up my presence here and connect w/ more people soon! 

Thanks for reading!

Fred