All Forum Posts by: Hai Loc

Hi Guys,

I am currently at the beginning stages of studying real-estate investing and I am looking for any feedback to help me asses my level "readiness" to start executing on my first deal. Any advice or resources are more than welcome. Personally I feel more comfortable being on the over-prepared side (whilst avoiding analysis paralysis) vs. being purely an executor and jumping straight into a bad deal. Here is a high level summary of how I've prepared so far:

Books I've read: 1) ABC's of Real-estate investing, 2) Real Estate Investing in Canada, 3) The Book on Rental Property Investing. 

- I try to keep notes organized and create checklists and procedures to refer to later (for property analysis, & due diligence, etc.).

Courses (cheap or free): 1) Neal Bawa's Multifamily Bootcamp: Neal has a great data driven market analysis approach that ranks markets based on population growth, job growth, crime rates, affordability, etc. 2) Break Into CRE's Single Family Home Financial Analysis: This goes through an in-depth institutional excel model to forecast expected cashflow.

Other: I spend a lot of time on YouTube watching popular real-estate videos, but I find books and courses have more detail. I also listen to some podcasts but again, the information density is low so I tend to go towards books and free/cheap courses.

I have ~30k saved up to invest in my first property at this point. I am really interested in the multi family asset class (commercial) but I think my first step will be a single family home or small multi unit (4 units or less) in order to gain some experience and knowledge before complicate things and overwhelm myself, also raising capital seems is a huge time commitment on its own. One of my challenges is that I live in Canada, I love the US real-estate market but cross border financing is not that attractive so i will be forced to learn how to do seller financing. Alternatively i can invest in a less attractive Canadian market and reap the benefits of first home time buyer loans (5% down) but housing is expensive here so it wont take me very far & my market options will be limited.

My area of improvement believe is "boots on the ground" and networking. I really need to start involving myself in the community as I don't have any other friends or family that are passionate about real-estate investing to discuss with. knowing someone that could watch over my shoulder as i navigate my first deal would be ideal but also a privilege.  This post will be my first step in and hopefully connecting with some of you to share ideas!

Any Advice?

When stabilizing a unit and getting your NOI in a good spot: How does the bank determine the value of the property without a cap rate? If all you have is an NOI, who sets the cap rate, and how?

I follow this guy on Instagram that is behind the tiny home development project in Atlanta, Ga called "South Park Cottages" . He built about 18 nice tiny homes on about 3.6 acres of land. Ive put together a team to help me accomplish something similar where im at.  Can anybody share any advice on the steps after the  land is found? I have an architect in mind. Also how would one profit from this? Once I acquire the funds for the land and team to build on the land and get a homeowner into all of the properties, whats the strategy to profit? ANy help or insight so that i could go research more would be appreciated?

@Hai Loc we take over a lot of properties for investors that didn't do proper PMC screening and just went with the cheapest PMC, contractors, etc.

When will investors learn you get EXACTLY what you pay for?

To all the intelligent investors here, what are some of the worst mistakes you made and what would be your recommendations for a new multi-family investor to avoid those mistakes. 

And was wondering if I can talk to an experienced owner.  I found a property in upstate NY  (I know NY with the rules and regs and massive tenants rights), but it seems like a good deal as most of houses are tenant owned, so very little maintenance, and a manager is already in place.  Anyway, hit me up if you are interested in talking to me.  I own small multifamily out of state (in Ohio) and I live in CA, so I won't be near this park.

Cheers,

Brian

 I was trying to run the numbers in the BP Tool but have no idea what the property taxes are or how that works for Mobile Park Homes.