All Forum Posts by: Ben W.

@Glenn Tracy

I don't understand your comment: "The only problem is that the IRS is very strict with these types of structures and I'll only be able to use the funds for flips. So the plan is to take the profits from the flips and invest that money in buy n hold rentals." Check with Equity Trust as they are a great self directed firm. I have done note buying, flips, buy and hold and lending through my IRA.

We have a number of properties in Price Hill and surrounding areas.  Happy to answer questions.

Welcome.  Great opptys here in Cincinnati.  Hone your strategy and go get em.

Hey both Brandons, great dialogue here.  I agree with @Brandon Hicks that you just need to keep working the deal.  I bought 4 multi families and a house (total of 11 units) from a tired investor a few years ago.  He was holding a $350K 25 year note @ 1% from a guy (call him Poor Operator) who just was no longer paying.  Payments were $1500/month and gross scheduled rents on all units was over $4500/month.  Go figure.  I simply assessed what I wanted to pay (somewhere between $160-200K and made sure to listen to what the tired investor wanted.  I gave the investor a $160K note (effectively buying a $350K note for a $160K note) and kept his payments at $1500/month.  Thus, we pay him off in about 9 years.  As the new mortgage holder, I then went to the Poor Operator and gave him 30 days notice to comply with the terms (he was behind on taxes).  When he couldn't, we then proceeded to call the loan and have taken full control of all properties.  The only out of pocket for us was bringing some taxes current (we can set up 2 1/2 year payment plans in our county).  Keep working it.

And BTW, happy to connect with the smart investors here. 

Ben

Happy to connect with any one who is really serious about investing.  Read my profile to gain perspective on what I have built my self.  It is hard work and I have kept a day job that I love, but that has allowed me to self fund or aggressively finance this portfolio.  I see a lot of off-market deals, many of which I just pass on because they either do not fit my strategy or it is not the right time.  So, we do source some of those out to my network.

Ben

Real estate is local.  If you are somewhat hands on with your investing and management, then tweek your strategy.  See about venturing into some other types of investing such as note buying.  Investing further from your home base can cause headaches and add to your expense.  Finding a really good property manager is also time consuming.

@Coleman Nelson, @DL Martin did a good job of highlighting the process and issues. A few additions: invest in a good cloud based property management software system. There are many. We use Appfolio which has a very robust platform. Many investors find that they start with Excel spreadsheets and QuickBooks, all of which requires multiple entries. By going to a property management software, think about your time. Same "time" comment can be made regarding managing for others. We only manage for our own portfolio because getting a 6-10% management fee is just not enough income for the headaches; we do JV's with others where we get equity. That is how we have grown our portfolio. In our opinion, managing for others to get access to deal flow is not a solid reason. Maybe I misunderstand but you will not be in business long if you funnel deals to yourself. The better way to get deal flow is by the hard work of marketing; find bird dogs or wholesalers who specialize in the types of deals you want. We just bought a probate deal yesterday from a wholesaler who only follows that path. Best of luck. Feel free to creep on my profile and ask any questions.

of course there are great days and days that are not so great. We manage for ourselves (creep on my profile if you want to see more about the extent of what I have). We have built our portfolio on low to moderate income pptys; the ROI, at least on a forecasted basis, is much better, and we focus on cash flow and not appreciation. Have a plan in your head as to what you want to focus on; tenants are tenants, but some will cause you more headache than others. Understand landlord tenant law and, just like hiring employees, remember the phrase "slow to hire, quick to fire". Same practice in landlording. Screen tenants, have a dialogue with them on the front end to manage expectations. Much, much more.... Build a team of trusted contractors and maintenance persons.

good luck. As you know, it is all in the "buy". Buy and hold is a great way to generate a very attractive long term ROI. Since it sounds like you have been successful in a few of the categories of real estate investing, take time and put the effort into the buy and hold; determine if self-management works for you.

Depending on your credit situation, a smaller community bank may be more open to investor loans than the bigger banks.  Hard money lenders do not look at your credit but many do look at experience.