All Forum Posts by: James Bradin

I am trying to rehab a quadplex that I own in Bradenton, Florida. I have found, what appears to be a, a solid contractor however we just ran into a potential roadblock. The contractor has worked on several SFH's and duplexes. He initially said that he could not work on commercial real estate. I explained to him that anything under 4 units is still considered residential real estate. He is a Residential Contractor and not a General Contractor. However, after doing more digging he sent me the following excerpt from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation:

"Residential Contractor - means a contractor whose services are limited to construction, remodeling, repair, or improvement of one-family, two-family, or three-family residences not exceeding two habitable stories above no more than one uninhabitable story and accessory use structures in connection therewith."

It does not make sense to me that FL contractor regulations would differ from lenders, however it appears to be the case.  Does this mean that I can only hire a general contractor?  I did not know there was a difference.  Has anyone else seen anything like this?

I fall into both selections.

1. 4 units I manage long distance located in my home town, 7 hours away.

2. 2 Units that I have a property management company handle for 8% that is located where I used to live 1,000 miles away.

I have been using RentPrep.com for 5 years now.  It was the company that Brandon Turner used and recommended in his book The Book on Managing Rental Properties.  It is $18.95 for a background check, and $38 for a background check and credit report. Both of the products are detailed and professional. You can either pay for it yourself and ask the tenant to pay, or have the tenant pay for it.  This is something that you 100% have to do.  At bare minimum you need to get this data, call their employer to ensure that they are still employed and contact a previous landlord to ensure that they paid on time, didn't break the lease, and were a responsible tenant.  If you have not purchased the book that I mentioned you need to do that as well.

I would recommend having the tenant pay for it for the background check/credit report.  In the past I have had tenants apply, I pay the $38 and they chose a different property, and I was out the $38.  The only information you need from them is an email address. 

I used a VA loan for both of mine. It's essentially a FHA loan for military.

"This spring, motorists, pedestrians and other travelers on Scenic U.S. Highway 98 near the city-owned Shore at Crystal Beach Park could be able to start enjoying an expansive view of the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in decades.

On Monday, the Destin City Council unanimously approved paying $137,477 to Baker-based Jobe’s Dirt Works to demolish and clear away several short-term rental residential buildings next to the park to provide more public beach for residents and visitors."

https://www.nwfdailynews.com/s...

Obviously this is a smaller job, however are you concerned that this could set a precedent by the city to try to limit the STR market in Destin even more?

@Zachary Bliss I had a similar issue finding comps for my quad plex, which coincidentally is in Bradenton.  I am currently trying to refinance it and the comps the lender used were not the same property type and in a drastically different part of town.  I used Zillow and looked a similar properties in the area to develop my own list of comps.  I know that it is not official, however I was able to get a much closer estimate to my property's true value.  You can also speak with agents/lenders in the are to try to get a better idea.  PM me if you need any contacts in that area to help with that (if the property is also in Bradenton).  

If you are living rent free and unable to find a deal in California, I would try to look into long distance investing.  David Greene's book Long Distance Real Estate Investing does a great job of describing the process.  He is also from California and realized that the market there was too expensive, and began buying properties in Florida.  $15k is a good amount of money, but it might not be enough for the area that you are looking.  That amount can probably go a lot further in the south/mid west.  Just a thought.

First of all congrats!  I house hacked small multi's for my first and second primary homes.  It is a great way to generate wealth.  

To answer your question I would go with an FHA loan. I have not heard of anyone securing a conventional loan with 3-5% down. I have personally never used a FHA loan, but it requires a significantly smaller downpayment compared with a conventional loan.

1) Rich Dad Poor Dad (almost every investor started with this one)

2) The Book on Managing Rental Properties by Brandon Turner (This book was pivotal after my initial purchase, it has made and saved me more money than any other book)

3) Set For Life by Scott Trench (provides you with a detailed description of how to create your "financial runway", I have tried to model my investing career off of this book.)

4) BRRRR by David Greene (provides detailed description of how to use the 2nd best strategy in Real Estate (house hacking is #1))

5) Long Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene (Provides detail description of how to invest in Real Estate if you live in an expensive Market

6) The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone (mindset/motivational)

7) The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by Jay Scott (provides detailed description on handling what I find the most difficult aspect of REI)

That is my rank order for the most influential books that I have read.  A lot of those books are books from this Website.  Most of the information can be found on this forum or in the podcast in some way.  I think that education is the first step and these books will provide you with a pseudo bachelor degree in real estate investing at the very least.  I hope that this helps.

I am still analyzing deals daily.  I thought the market was going to crash at the beginning of COVID, then again before the holidays, however everything just keeps going up.  I am still trying to save as much cash as possible, force equity into my properties, refinance to lower rates, and look for deals.  

No one knows when the market will start its downward trend.  My goal is to be in position to take advantage when it does.