All Forum Posts by: Bryan .

There is a town near me that also has several units that "appear" to be good deals. I spoke to a couple folks who invest there and they indicated that there is too much supply and not enough tenants. Sure enough, the pictures shown are of empty units...

I agree with Mike. Could be because you're in NY, but there are properties like that all over PA that will make you go broke in a minute!

HI Brian from another Bryan in Western Pa. (North of Pgh). I am also new to REI and I am still trying to purchase my first property (several unsuccessful bids so far). I have learned a lot from the kind folks on this site and others who are willing to share.

From my perspective, I think a lot of what you target has to do with your funding, credit rating, and time you can devote to REI. I have a full time job and plan to purchase mostly sfhs to hold as longer term rentals. I am willing to renovate properties, but again time is an issue. I have a good contractor lined up for heavy stuff and an attorney who set up my LLC if you need contacts.

I would also recommend joining the Western PA real estate club (link below) and there is another one that goes by ACRE Pgh, both meet at the Greentree Radisson once a month.

Good Luck!

http://www.westernpareia.com/WPREIA_About.htm

Does anyone have a good cashflow calculator website? I have found and used the ones below but none of them account for buying a property below market value when trying to predict future value. Please post one if you have a good one.

www.mortgage-investments.com/Mortgage_and_real_estate_Calculators/investment_rental_real_estate_profit_predictor.htm

http://militaryfinance.umuc.edu/calculators/InvestmentProperty.html

http://www.goodmortgage.com/Calc_investment_property.htm

http://kelloggagency.com/?page=cashflow_calc

Roc, Is your property a HUD house? If nobody else bids, I would expect that you might be able to buy it at $1,000 over asking as you suggest. If it is a desirable property, there may be many bids. You can check my post under the HUD forum. I just lost a HUD house earlier this week. Desirable property that had no bids during the 10 day owner occupant only period. I thought I could get a real bargain at $1,000 over the asking price as an investor. Turns out another investor bid $9,500 over asking price and it was accepted that night. It takes 10 days before you can see all of the bid detail and I'll be curious to see how many investors actually bid on the property.

Make sure you tour the property and know what you are getting into, many HUD homes need serious work. Also be sure to know your neighborhood and how much the home is really worth. In retrospect, I learned a lot on HUD homes thanks to many contributors in these forums and by going through the process of making a bid. But I probably got too conservative thinking I could steal a deal.

In PA the rule is still owner occupied only for the first 10 days. Open to all bidders including investors on the 11th day.

I have been stepping up to the plate and taking a lot of swings at properties that have been listed on the MLS but have come up empty so far. I still have a couple realtors looking for me, but I have decided to try direct marketing to select neighborhoods that I am targeting by sending a "we buy homes" letter. Does anyone have a letter they are willing to share with me that has generated some leads? Also, any other ideas for trying to buy my first property? I am primarily interested in lower end single family homes (they run in the low 100s in my area) to use as long term rentals.

Well, I learned a lot about the HUD process. Thanks for all of your advice. I ended up putting in a bid today for 86K, 1K over the asking price (I really wanted it!). Unfortunately, others decided it was a good deal also and the website shows it sold for 94K, $9,000 over the asking price! I'll keep looking for the right "first one". Thanks again!
:violin:

I have used "realstats.net" and realtor.com for some comparable information.

Maybe I am looking at this wrong, if you don't mind sharing some more advice. I am not looking to become a full time investor, but rather work at this part time and I plan to be an investor for the next 10-15 years. My plan is to acquire and hold properties in my community (or close by) that will appreciate while renters pay the monthy expenses. The homes I am looking at are the lowest priced homes in the area. There is little supply of rental "houses" and based on the advertising I have observed, they seem to rent rather quickly. Based on my cash flow calculator, the current rent should cover expenses plus a little (taxes, insurance, maintenance reserve, etc.)
I saw in another post that you recommend 2% rent to value. That type of housing is simply not available in my community. I'm sure I could find that in some surrounding communities where there are multi units and less expensive housing.
Would you mind sharing the type of housing you focus on? Home values and rental incomes examples? What percentage do you put aside for maintenance and repairs? I imagine that would also vary ased on the type of housing, current condition and age.