All Forum Posts by: Heather Bailey

Hi Becca, this is still an evolving issue. I would ask a buyer agent to give you  individual property agreements, or agreements just for the day. And, I would recommend that you commit to no more than 2% buyer agent compensation if paid by the buyer    I don't think a smart real estate agent is going to not take you on as an investor if you pay only 2%. Investor buyers tend to be repeat buyers, so I will discount for them.  What we're doing now in New Jersey is approaching every property individually. In some cases the seller is offering compensation and others they are saying "make it part of the offer".  Most important is that your agent is able to convey the net proceeds to the seller and sell them on your offer including your request for them to pay by your agent compensation.  But, don't lock yourself into anything more than 2%.       

For your Texas property, can you build more bedrooms in the house and rent by the room? This Co Living model is gaining momentum in markets in Texas, Colorado,  Charlotte, Atlanta, and many others. The numbers are looking impressive when this is managed well. Take a look at Scale Your Real Estate with Sam Wegert.  Brandon Turner has an episode on his better life podcast featuring Sam and his network. There are also operators who are leasing their properties to  sober Living organizations.   They run the properties and manage the leases. These groups even manage a rehab or refit if you need to add bedrooms.  And, these appear to be cash flowing in the 11% range. You can find more information about them if you look up Rooted sober Living. There's a better life podcast episode about that as well. With this crazy market, it seems like it's all about being able to pivot. Good luck with everything!

Hi Matt.  Reach out to Travis Gough, Rooted Sober Living.  I think he works with Oxford house. I learned about him through Brandon Turner's Better Life Podcast.  One of the episodes featured him so you will learn a lot just by listening to that episode. Travis's company does the leg work in finding and renovating houses for Oxford and makes these investment homes available to his network of investors.  They go quick and the deals seem solid at a good return.  He may have some insight into your questions about leasing with them. Good luck it seems like a good asset class right now.  

I would try another lender. I was able to get a HELOC on my property that has a legal mother daughter apartment and they just factored that into the value of the property to calculate how much equity I was working with. They are not separately deeded are they?

I feel like your tenant is not entitled to access your ring camera, but if they want ring camera recordings, they can install their own ring camera.

Hi Karl.    Are you looking on Crexi?  This is a great platform for commercial sized property. Five and up units. Register on Crexi and plug in your filter parameters. As you look in those towns, you're going to see some of the same agents pop-up. Maybe reach out to those agents that seem to have a lot of listings.  Boots on the ground is going to be your best chance of getting to see these properties and then maybe being able to jump on ones that aren't on the market yet but that these busy agents know about.  

Can you convert it to a condominium and sell each half independently?  The demand is so high in point Pleasant that I would think you could sell it pretty quickly.

Awesome!! Good luck out there. 

Hi Emily, getting started is definitely the toughest part.  I would  recommend that you work on practicing analysis of properties that you see in Zillow.  To learn how to do the analysis, I highly recommend you read, highlight, and reread two books:   both by Brandon Turner, first is Rental Property Investing which talks about finding, financing and everything to screening tenants for rental properties and the second book is  volume One of the Multi Family  Millionaire.  This book has an excellent chapter on the Math!!!.  Write down the formulas and practice these on properties that look like they have potential. And, if you want to invest close to home, find a realtor who works with investors who can help you look at these properties.   Also, see if there are investor groups in your area where you can start to network. As you are building your knowledge base on analysis, think about how you plan to finance these and begin to speak with lenders so that you'll be ready when the right deal comes along.  Good luck.!!

Hi Chris, congratulations on getting your STR ready. Any real estate photographer should be able to help you with photos. You could ask a local real estate agent who they use or Google real estate photographers. I use Vht here in New Jersey, but I know they are national so they may be available in your area too. Good pictures aren’t expensive. Maybe 200 +- You can also use the app CubiCasa to make a floor plan. I think people appreciate seeing the floor plan when planning guests.