All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Wiley Strahan 

Have you attended any of the opportunity zone related events around LA? It's a very hot topic right now and there are a few different events every month all over the city. They've been great for meeting attorneys, tax guys, developers, equity etc!

@Shawn Rafeh It really depends on your goals... There are dozens of ways to invest your money into real estate. Keep reading on the forums and check out the podcasts to see if you can get some ideas!

@Faraz Ahmed I think you're in a great position and have a pretty solid plan. I definitely wouldn't buy the new primary residence all cash especially if your plan is to more than double your passive income with rentals.

Do the 20% down on a 15 or 30 year fixed so you don't have to worry about getting burned by balloon payments or your rate going up; then focus on acquiring more rentals! It sounds like you have a solid plan and you're on the right track, I would do exactly what you're doing.

What areas in Chicago are your buy and holds?

As @Joel Owens outlined it's going to be a little tougher to jump into a real quality commercial deal on your own with 200k and you'll be limiting yourself to lower end neighborhoods and smaller properties.
@Deepti Mandava

A couple of different strategies to explore would be: participating in a syndication as an LP, lending(In first position) to experienced investors at hard money rates, or putting money together with some friends/family to buy a larger property and spread out the risk.

@Deepti Mandava You can partner with experienced operators/sponsors to get you some predictable and returns on the money with fairly low risk, but be sure to really do your due diligence and feel comfortable with the person you're trusting with your money! This is pretty much your best bet for seeing the upside of big deals and spreading out the risk.

@Jon Schwartz you definitely bring up some valid points on both sides, and I think it will take you really digging into both a little bit to see which you feel more comfortable with. 

On the SFR/Rental side of things go out and meet with turnkey providers, talk with property managers and agents in your target market and really do your due diligence. On the syndication side meet with some GP's, look at deals, and review a few PPM's, etc.

I don't think you'll really be certain until you dip your toes into both and see which one you feel more comfortable jumping into! 

Im also in the Los Angeles area and host some meetups here, feel free to reach out, I would be glad to help any way I can.

@Michael Hudelson There are a lot of different ways you can get started in the business, all of which require a different level of your involvement. It sounds like what you're looking do is more on the passive side so a couple of the things I would suggest reading up a bit more are:

1. Rental with a good property manager (Some time and challenging yourself)

2. Investing your money with an experienced investor (Very little time very little challenge)

3. Buying Tax Liens (More time and challenge)

Those are really only a few basic strategies, but dig into those a little bit and see where it takes you, feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions!

@Imran Sabir awesome piece of property, I'm originally from Chicago and know a couple of developers that may be interested in jumping into this deal with you. They can bring in the equity and experience to reduce your risk and allow you to participate in the upside together. Shoot me a message if you'd like to chat!

@Kyler Cook Try talking to 10 agents per day for a few weeks and you'll find a couple that actually bring good deals. 

87% of real estate agents as a whole fail in real estate, and that's just in general, even less work with investors and know what to look for. So statistically speaking as of right now you have less than half of an agent working for you. Talk to more people!

@Rafi K. I second what @Ian Ippolito said, it's going to be pretty tough to manage your deals from abroad, especially because you're just starting out. I would suggest either partnering up directly with someone in the U.S. that you already have a relationship with. Someone you can trust, and that already has experience that you can plug into. Then you go shopping for deals together, this way you retain control and keep a somewhat active role in the business. 

The alternative would be going passive and foregoing control of the deals to invest in syndications with qualified and experienced sponsors. 

Don't get me wrong, you can buy your own deals, wether it be turnkey rentals, multi family, etc. and put property management in place, but given your position I believe this would be the more risky way to do it. 

Hope that helps!

@Ian Haas

Seems like a decent deal, based on the numbers you provided it looks like you’ll be all into the deal at about 75% which is good.

Like some others have said it is going to be a little tougher for you to refi since you don’t have any income, especially since it’s just one property, but if you put in calls to enough banks and credit unions you’ll find someone that should be able to cash you out around 70%. Another idea could be to talk to the wife about maybe jumping into the deal with you and using her employment if that’s an option.

Regarding increasing your deal flow I would just work work with local investor friendly agents. Talk to 20 agents, tell them exactly what you want, send proof of funds and they should be able to bring you some good opportunities. The other route of course is off market and there are tons of strategies you can read about on BP, all of which will take a pretty significant amount of your time.

Hope that helps!