All Forum Posts by: James Haffner

Hello everyone. I happened to call a wholesaler in AZ who is trying to wholesale a home out in WA. It's a multi family with 2 units. 1 1/1 apt. and a 6/2.5. It sounds funky but it's close to EVCC making it great for someone who wants to rent to students. The home was built in 1904 and it needs work. From the pictures I would say some drywall, flooring, paint.but nothing to crazy since it would be rented to students, since its old it may need all electrical replaced, and sewer/ water lines replaced . Assuming a 1/1 in Everett is $850/mo and a room is $500/mo rents would be at 3,850/mo. I called the guy and asked if he would split the deal with me if I found him a buyer, he said yea. I was wondering if anyone on here would want to help me out in finding the ARV and the value of the home to see if there is any money to be made? This one is a bit complicated to me so I had to reach out before I just started blasting it out to people.

Jim, 

Thank you for the response. I really appreciate the honesty! To give you the rest of the story.  I spent all night chewing on the idea of being a broker and decided to follow your advice and to continue with a plan to get a degree as a nurse and invest on the side. The biggest reason was just the fact that I don't really see my self as a Real Estate Agent. In the past Iv'e made decisions that weren't genuine to who I am, and found that it never pays, gotta stick to your gut. 

You may be right about the timeline on my goals. But non the less they are goals and they stretch my mind to achieve them. Im going to continue with them unrealistic or not, and if I don't reach it by 2018 i'm okay with that, but if I do I would be pretty stoked about the whole darn thing. It just sets up a foundation of questions to explore also. How does a 300k a year investor think? What does a 300k investor spend his time on? What does a 300k a year investor work ethic look like? etc. etc. etc. Heck if I hit it in 2 years I would be happy, but pushing my self to move at that pace as quickly as possible is what i'm shooting for. 

Hello everyone! 

Iv'e been on here on and off over the years. I attempted wholesaling for a good while but had no success, I also tried finding multi families with no success mostly due to the fact that I was in the Military and found that going on the road so much was affecting my business, and the time spent on business was affecting my job, although it was a means to an end, the job was important. I'm now out of the military, and decided to get back involved in REI.

Im currently looking for flips, and marketing for wholesale deals. Im very confident ill find both. But i'm curious about getting a brokers license? Iv'e been doing this for the past month and although I haven't gotten any deals, I enjoy it. I feel like iv'e made progress. Im currently not working and living off of saving's, and unemployment benefits. I start College in January for nursing. Im honestly going to school for a couple reasons: 

1) make momma proud 

2) GI bill pays $1700.00/mo for living expenses + U/e will continue to cover me while I got to school...until I get some deals..then ill get cut off lol. 

3) When people go crazy and hurt other people, or some natural disaster happens, nurses are needed. Plus nurses are needed generally as well...but I really don't want to depend on it as a source of financial security. 

So im thinking about taking this time off and becoming an agent full time, while I invest on the side. I would either invest and go to school providing my self with funds from benefits. Or I can be a real estate agent, sell homes full time, while investing on the side. 

It seems like it could only be a positive thing to my growth in the business. But I also wonder if i'm stretching my self thin? am I beginning to focus my attention in to many different avenues wile marketing for properties to wholesale or flip and being a broker? School will always be there as well, and it would be nice to go to school just to learn and not to go for a way to make money. 

I just wanted to get peoples opinions on the subject. My goal is to generate enough income that I can retire my parents....cause I don't think they have a plan, and be able to have the freedom in life i'm looking for (travel, build my car, no one to answer to). I calculated that out to about $300k a year, or 25k a month....for a good lifestyle. My goal is to do this by the end of 2018. From there I would like to reach to become a millionaire in 12 months...I just don't know why I would need all that money yet? I probably could live pretty happy on 300k a year. I think the biggest thing for me is becoming a professional, and the dollar amount is kinda like a ticker but thats far out. 

so with that info what do you guys think? would it help to push my investing career forward to be a full time agent? or should I just stick with school and invest on the side? I just wonder about the time commitment. Will I be spending more time being a broker than a full time student? Where will I have the most control? 

Would you say that becoming an absentee owner is something the beginning investor could manage?With a full time job that is highly demanding? 

 Yea, we analyzed all the units of the property. It was a pretty sweet deal.

We where in contract and excited about the purchase. But, my fiancée went and looked at the property, she met up with the landlords PM who spilled the beans on the place. apparently there where dead decaying rats in the walls, and one of the units had flooded every year consistently, there was more...I just don't remember it all.  

After that I had to back out because of none of it being disposed on the seller disclosure, the shadiness spooked me. 

There was a ton of responses on this post, and I'm still reading over some of them 2 to 3 times to grasp the info. 

This is what I'm leaning to as far as a business model: 

it makes sense to get out of the renter status and move to being an owner. I want to purchase a multi unit property and rent the other units out. This way I can use the VA, keep my savings super strong and hopefully cash flow.

I haven't found anything in the area that cash flows, but it seems like best practice is to at least offer what your comforatable with. If that doesn't work I'll move to sfr. I'm thinking of doing a live in fixer upper and holding on to it. Then at least I get the discount and appreciation. What I'll do is finance the property using a minimal down rehab loan, rehab it, and refi using the VA. I'll live in the home and either rent, or sell after I'm out of the military. Most likely rent if we can at least break even. Sell in 30.

For my fiancée and I. Our goal is to supplement our incomes so we can travel, build our own home, and most of all build something with each other, as a team. 

Im thinking the best option would be to look on to markets where we could rack up as many doors as it takes to supplement our income at the best price possible (better to pay 25k per door than 80k per door) especially if the market falls out.

We have almost 100k saved up. It would be pretty awesome to use the VA and pay less than 5k to get into a multi unit property so we could save even more.

Btw I checked out turn key reviews. I was floored to see the cost of housing in other areas. It's tempting to just research an area in the Midwest, go there, build a team and start purchasing. But it seems like getting out of being a renter is the most important thing? Idk, what are the views of renting vs. purchasing? 

And also do you see any holes in my very basic business model haha? 

Hey everyone, 

I just recently decided on growing my knowledge on real estate and starting to use my money for investing in real estate as a vehicle for passive income and financial growth. 

My GF and I almost closed on a fourplex that was going to cash flow $430.00 a month after all the expenses. Unfortunatly many issues on the home where not disclosed. When I found out about them it was too many red flags for me, so we backed out. 

We were going to use a VA loan to finance the property, giving us an extremely high rate of return for the cash we paid.

So now that the home fell through, we're a little curious on what to do. We can't find any properties that cash flow much( which is what our goal is). So were thinking of purchasing out of our area. Somewhere with a better rent to own value, where we can cash flow easier. 

Our other option is to purchase and live in the house until were out of the military, hoping the home will increase in value. We know a lot about the area including the fact that the population is about to spike due to military squadrons moving around, and our BAH going up. But IDK if I want to depend on that? 

What would an experienced investor suggest in the situation? 

Thank you Tony H. 

Im just curious about people who have purchased a multi unit property in skagit area of Washington state. Is it common to ask for an estoppel during finnancial review? We just contracted a fourplex in the area and were told there pretty uncommon . Just curious 

Thank you 

Im pretty sure its a shared laundry building. I was thinking of a way to use there shared laundry until we get hook ups in ours.

Great! I asked for the Tennant estoppel, and my broker said he would get that to us.  Im curious on how a lease clause works? 

We double checked the market rents in the area, and am fairly confident we can create what we need in income from the rents. Plus there are opportunities to add value. The units don't have washer and dryer hook ups, witch will be the first thing ill be worried about since we'll be living in them. 

We also found out that the owners that owns the four plex owns the apartment complex next door. Is there anything I should be thinking about with this info, or is there anything I can negotiate? My Gf is going to call them tomorrow and find out what they rent there units out for also.