All Forum Posts by: James Bradin

Hey Bryan, congrats on going after your first deal.  I know how stressful it can be, it does get less stressful over time. Especially when you get better at running the numbers.  Most people do not hit a homerun on their first deal.  

Brandon Turner talks a lot about his deal funnel. Specifically analyzing hundreds of properties with things like the 1% (formerly 2%) rule and 50% rule.  Then once you have a solid list of <10 properties, taking the time to analyze those more in depth.  So my first question would be, how many deals have you analyzed?  

Secondly, having done multiple rehabs on my properties I can almost guarantee that you will go over budget and over timeline early in your REI journey. So with this being your first deal, I would be overly conservative on the numbers that you run.

Finally, a 6% return is not that great. On average you can expect 8-10% from investing in the stock market (even more if you invested between Mid-march and May). Who knows what the stock market will do, but the housing market is pretty high throughout the entire country right now. It might behoove you to continue to analyze properties and wait until you find a deal that would make at least 10%, that way if the rehab does go over budget you might still be at 8%. If it is a flip and the numbers come out low, you can keep it as a BRRRR.

I am sure that you already know most of this, but hopefully something in here is helpful.

Welcome Landon! I discovered BP around the same time in my military career, nearly 5 years ago. Following my commission and follow-on training I purchased a duplex at my first duty station. I house hacked that same property for 4 years. Brandon Turner and Scott Trench (along with countless other BP contributors) have written about the power of house hacking. I was able to "live for free" all 4 years in one side of the duplex and then rent out the other side. With the VA loan you can secure any small multi-family 4 units or less. Not only was I able to learn the in's and out's of real estate, but I also self managed the property by myself, while deploying 4 separate times.

The education and cash flow is unlike anything else you can experience. I would highly recommend doing it. With the absurdly low interest rates right now for VA loans, house hacking is one of the most sound decisions you can make as a young military officer. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me. I currently have 6 units, and should be under contract for my 7th and 8th unit later this week.

You will never become rich serving in the military, but if you take advantage and capitalize on some of the benefits we receive, you can certainly set yourself up for long term wealth and early finical freedom.

Congrats!  My first deal was a duplex as well.  I house hacked it for 4 years and would have never done it, had I not found BiggerPockets.  The level of education and knowledge you can gain from the information on this website is better than any college education in my opinion.

It is possible, but you will probably have to shop around multiple banks and provide information regarding your credit and other money/debt in your name.  Banks tend to value your debt to income ratio pretty heavily when financing properties.

I have never done it personally, however if you build rapport with a local bank and are able to present your house hack with a "Business plan" showing how you will still be able to make payments from the other renters it could help.  I have house hacked and self managed for the last 4 years.  The amount of time it takes to manage a small multi family on a day to day basis is much less than working a full time job.  If you are able to even work a part time job it would help you build your savings even more.

Hey BP!

I am currently trying to refinance one of my properties to hopefully pull out some of the cash I used on the downpayment/ rehab. I have owned the property for 2 years, I have done about $33,500 worth of rehab and raised rents almost 17% since the initial leases. The ROI and cap rate has gone from 6.61% and 6.42 in 2017, to 13.12% and 8.04 respectively.

However I am running the issue now of determining the true value of the property.  With it being a small multifamily unit I am having a difficult time finding comps to use as comparison for the appraisal.  I have heard multiple guests on BP talking about "fighting back" if the appraisal comes back lower than expected by providing comps.  I just want to prepare myself if the appraisal comes in lower than expected.  

Does anyone have any tools/websites that can help with finding accurate comps in order to determine the most accurate value of their small multifamily units? 

Is 2 years of "seasoning" with increased rents and stable tenants enough time, or should I wait longer?

I am a buy and hold investor that specifically invests in small multi families. I have been house hacking a Duplex for 3 years now and also have a quadplex in my hometown.

I am relocating in about 12-18 months and am trying to find a multifamily unit to house hack again. The issue is that there are very few multifamily properties in the area. I have been watching every property for sale for the past 6 months and I’ve seen 5 small multifamily properties go on the market. All of which sold relatively quickly. Compared to the other two markets that I have invested, this new market is barren.

I think I might be forced to send out letters to property owners asking if they would be interested in selling their properties. I have listened to podcasts, read articles and forum posts, and spoke with other investors about this strategy. I know that the success rate is very low, even when sending out hundreds of letter.

I was curious if any other BP members have had similar experiences trying to find and acquire multifamily units in difficult areas? If so, was there a different strategy that you used successfully?

The market is Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Florida, for those of you wondering.

I recently attended a 2 day event that cost me $200. The program was put on by a site that has been on the BP podcast before.  Although they are "gurus" I found them extremely approachable and genuine when speaking with them.  However, there were multiple "coaching packages" offered for $10k ($20k for premium).  I would never consider those options, however I found the seminar itself to be helpful and would recommend it for $200.  I was able to network all weekend as well as meet investors that invested in areas that interest me.  I also told others it felt like listening to podcasts for 2 days in a row.  It was mentally exhausting, however I learned a ton.

This was a great episode.  It was hilarious that he and David Greene essentially have the same strategy.  I enjoyed Alex's energy throughout. 

Awesome story!  I will be heading back to Destin/FWB in two years and cannot wait to start building my portfolio out there.  I am a multi family investor, and there is not much out there unfortunately.  Hopefully everything survived Hurricane Michael!

If you follow Scott Trench’s advice and only purchase properties that cash flow and are good deals you will “win when the market is up, win when the market is down, and win when the market is stagnant.”