All Forum Posts by: Ben Nelson

I love house hacking. Especially for getting started, and especially since you can often get in with such little down. A great way to acquire a property and also lower your own monthly housing expense!

Hi @Harrison Lopes - I know several property managers, agents and turnkey providers in the Jacksonville area if you need some connections. We've been building a team and looking in that market for a year or so - have not been able to pull the trigger on something there quite yet but we're close and have a good start to a team. I know a hungry commercial broker in that area as well.

@Mack Benson Now that's some persistence! Love it, great work.

@Brian Burke Nail on the head. Cap rate is only one metric. If you only get caught up in that number you'll miss a lot of opportunity.

@Justin Hymas Yes Oregon has it's challenges. But with challenges comes opportunity. I understand your problem with finding a property manager - you need to find someone who's interest are aligned with yours and who wins when you win. My property manager has no problem maximizing rents - but they always give me the option on rent increases or at turnover to leave rents or try for an increase since it's my investment. Also, just a nuance, but Oregon doesn't have "rent control" in the same sense other areas do. It's rent stabilization. You can still increase rents quite a bit, and can increase to market at turnover. True rent control (such as what they've been implementing in Minneapolis/St. Paul) is much more restrictive and includes the inability to raise rents even at turnover. I'm no fan of the legislation, but it could definitely be much worse.

@Jem Thompson - With all the crazy landlord-tenant law changes happening around there, make sure you team up with an amazing property manager!They're always a key member of your team, but even more so in environments like that. Here in Oregon, especially the city of Portland, there are similar challenges though they haven't gone quite as far as they did out there. :)

Hi Becky,

Yes, finding lenders who do smaller loans can be tricky. Have you considered private money? That could be a much better option for something like this. Find some folks who have money they need to put to work, but they don't have the time or want the hassle in actually doing the work, and use their money as debt against the property. Especially for smaller amounts, there's money like this everywhere...just look at home much money is sitting in bank in CDs making 1%.

Also, unsolicited advice I know, but a side note I'd make is do NOT buy property simply because it's less expensive. It can be tempting when you're in an expensive market, but cheap homes are not always a good investment. It can also look really good on paper, but real life number work out much differently especially in some of the less expensive markets if you're not careful about where you buy. If you goal is scaling, and that's the only reason you're considering cheap homes, I'd challenge you to think differently and think bigger - you can still scale quickly on more expensive home or larger buildings, you just have to go about it a different way. Think partnerships, syndication, etc.

@Emmanuel N Okafor - I would definitely look at a commercial blanked loan option (mentioned in prior posts). There are absolutely lenders that will lend on the entire portfolio, which would give you one loan and one payment and open up your loan options for new acquisition again. The LTV and rates are not going to be as good as individual loans, but big picture it would seem to solve your problem. I'm in Oregon, but I have an asset-based lender here I've worked with that does long-term financing like this and they do lend in most other states (you're in Texas, so I'm assuming that's where the properties are?). Feel free to message me and I'm happy to get you connected.

@Jay Hinrichs - Yes, Oregon has "rent control", but it's much less stringent than what St. Paul has done (from what I've heard/read). Oregon is a much higher cap, plus you can increase to market rent when a tenant leaves, and there are other loopholes as well (ie if doing a heavy remodel, etc.). I hate to admit it's probably just the beginning and it will tighten up more as time goes on, but for now it could definitely be much worse in Oregon than it is right now.