All Forum Posts by: Garrett Hogan

@Jason Scott Miller id recommend getting in touch with @David Greene ....he wrote a book on Long Distance Real Estate Investing for Bigger Pockets and is a great guy. He could certainly help. 

@Kevin Powell 1000 is certainly a good start. How competitive is your market? In super competitive markets, your going to want to increase your volume to consistently fill your pipeline with potential dealers. 

How are you sending out you mailers now? I'd recommend checking out www.openlettermarketing.com for your direct mail. The owner of the company is an investor himself and I've had great success with their mailings. Not to mention he's a great guy and active on BP. Reach out to him --> @Justin Silverio

J Scott nailed it above. Nothing to add there. 70% rule does not work in many markets. I too strive for the 15% of ARV as a minimum return.

You buy for cash flow first and foremost and the others are just a bonus. People who buy for appreciation typically get caught with their pants down when the market cools off. 

Also, what kind of property do you want to buy per year. Single family, multifamily? Personally, I think investing in Single Family rentals is a waste of money. You're better off buying multi's. Youll have a better cashflow opportunity and if one unit goes vacant it wont hurt your cashflow as much.

Personally, my focus is on acquiring a 100+ unit multifamily through syndication. 

Charlie, I've never been in this situation so not sure how much trouble it could cause. However, If I think way back to my leasing agent days, it is illegal not to accept Section 8. I'd recommend contacting Inessa at Shur Law Group, I've used her in the past and she's great. She handles tenant/landlord issues so she should be able to help. You can check out her website at http://thebostonevictionlawyer.com/

Miguel,

Its a novel idea and there's actually a company out in California (i believe) that does this exact strategy. They partner with sellers and come in and pay to rehab the house. When done with the rehab, they sell the house and split the upside with the sellers. 

 How to structure the deal so that your interests are protected will be your biggest hurdle. If you're going to invest money and time into the property, you are going to need to have some sort of ownership to the property I would imagine. This is one of those situations where I could see 10 ways it could go wrong and 1 way it could go right. Therefore personally I would not want to do a deal like this. 

Charlie, Thanks for sharing! The information provides great insight into the market and I think your observation is spot on. Im a local Boston investor, we should connect!

Typically most investors that I know that perform a 1031 exchange have already identified the subject property that they want to buy before they put their property on the market. If not you run the risk of keep having to extend the closing of your exchange property while you search for a new property. In a hot market, it's becoming harder and harder to find deals. I've performed a 1031 exhange once before, and in that situation, I had already identified the other property. 

Kat,

I have a colleague that bought a horse property last year and he refers to it as his "ATM". The monthly cashflow is unbelievable. However, his property is a little unique and he has been able to maximize cashflow in a number of different diverse ways.  In addition to the stalls, he also has 5 apt rental units on the property, a large barn that he rents to a contractor to store heavy equipment, horse trails, and he leases out a portion of the farm area to a local farmer who grows vegetable for "farm to table" restaurants. His wife was also a former equine professional, so she runs the day to day operations at the horse barn and conducts lessons, open riding and jumping classes. 

I think like any other business as long as you can operate it correctly and efficiently it can be a great investment. My only concern (and this could be completely unfounded) is that in a bad economy a business like this could suffer because it's an expensive hobby.

Kyle,

I cannot speak to the Minnesota market, but here in Boston the optimal lease cycle begins on 9/1. The reason being there are a ton of students that start school around that time in the local universities and that has carried forward to a lot of the other Boston neighborhoods.

If you have colleges around you, id check to see what their cycles are. Otherwise, a general rule of thumb is during the spring or fall so that the weather is optimal, as you've identified above.

I'd recommend calling a few different realtors in the area and ask their opinion. If there is an optimal lease cycle then they will likely have a strong opinion on when you should list. If they are indifferent, then go with early spring or early fall as a default.