All Forum Posts by: Gabriel Tapang

My ticket out of the rat race is passive income from real estate - once my passive income can cover my expenses, work is optional. I can't get there with index funds. I also haven't found dividend paying stocks that return as much as a good cash flowing SFR. If anyone has, let me know :P

Hi Sara,

A couple things that jump out to me initially after looking at your calc report are you don't have a couple variable expenses factored in that should be - 'Vacancy' and 'property management' expenses. Will you be managing the unit yourself? If not, property management expense is usually 8-10% and Vacancy should be at least 3%. 

Welcome! You'll love this community. Accredited investor, huh? #lifetimegoals

The answer to this question would depend on your goal - are you looking to maximize cash flow or ROI (return on investment)? If you are looking to maximize cash flow, pay the property off with the HELOC, otherwise, use only for a downpayment to maximize your ROI (annual return divided by out-of-pocket expenses)

Congratulations! I just passed mine as well earlier this year. If you are like me, and just wanted access to the MLS to search for deals, I would search for a 100% commission only brokerage as they will only charge you per transaction. If you are planning to learn the business and actually help people sell homes, a larger fee based brokerage like Keller Williams or John L Scott might be more appropriate since they will offer more support (i.e. sales training, mentors, networking, etc.) to help you get your business going.

The appraisal on a home is limited to the comps in the same area so the chance of the appraisal coming back "much larger in comparison to neighboring homes" is slim to none. With that said, you generally do not want to be spending a lot of money on a rehab putting granite countertops and real hardwood flooring if the houses around it have laminate with sheet vinyl because the top end value of the house will be limited to the houses around it. As you can probably guess, best case scenario is to find an ugly duckling in a nice neighborhood.

Google the county the property is in for the 'Tax Assessor's' page and find it by address to locate who is currently recorded as the owner on the deed. Otherwise, ask a Real Estate agent to look it up for you...

I've spent a lot of money on gurus and was an inactive BP member for a year before I paid for Pro. What converted me was listening to the BP Podcast and realizing the wealth of information that was being offered for free and realized that this truly is a community dedicated to your success.

I've had a great experience with Rent to retirement so far. I am about to close on my second property in Ohio with them.

I would suggest you reach out to @Scott Lundgren to discuss what you are searching for...

@Mike Dymski hit the nail on the head with the question: What are your goals?

Personally, I prefer RE over stocks because it is much easier to generate passive residual income. I have a dividend yielding stock that generates $350-400 every quarter with $80k sitting in there. With that same $80k, I could use it as a down payment with a turnkey provider in the midwest and purchase 2 properties that generate 3-4 times the income as my stock every month. Some people are of the opinion that RE is not passive, but if you find a good turnkey provider that sells professionally rehabbed properties with vetted property management onsite to run things for you, RE can be just as passive as stocks.

With either RE or stocks, you have to do your homework to be successful, but there is a reason that 90% of millionaires made their wealth from RE.