All Forum Posts by: Jay Neaves

Mark Yuschak

Hey Mark,

We'll be relocating to the Metro Detroit area. My wife is from Richmond, and we want to be relatively close by (not too close though!) because my wife is an only child and her parents are getting on in years now. The house is in Commerce Township.

Thanks for your kind offer of assistance, I will definitely want to talk with you when we get back to Michigan because even though I'm trying to get a lot of learning done now, I'll definitely be very green during my early deals. I've wanted to get into real estate investing for a few years, but we've not been in the right situation.

Look forward to checking in with you.

Tyler McCracken

Right now, I live in the UK but my wife is from the US and we're moving back to Michigan. Short of a minor miracle I won't be doing a deal on this property, mainly for the reasons you gave - long distance investing isn't something I would want the risks of and our move back to Michigan won't be happening imminently.

This is more a learning exercise for me - looking at the deal and see what pitfalls may not be obvious to me. I want to sharpen my skills not decide whether or not to get into this particular property.

On what I've learned so far, this property looks like a great deal on the surface, but I think it's too good to be true. So I'm looking more for perspective not advice on whether or not to get into it. But I appreciate your points.

There are potentially a few things going on that could be contributing to why this house hasn't sold. Rehab is going to be more than the pictures suggest and private water to name a couple, but I also think you're spot on when you say it's going to be longer on the back end which might be something to consider.

The area is not rent heavy, it's almost all owner occupiers. The house is bigger than your typical rental and the rents out there are higher than in surrounding areas. It would definitely be a higher blue collar/white collar area. In other words, it may take a while to get a tenant in it. In terms of flipping it, I think it has a limited pool of end buyers with the economy the way it is in Michigan right now.

Thanks Justin.

The problem in terms of comps is that people in that area don't tend to move It's an area that people tend to move to and stay in. Very family oriented area, with a great school district. The 3 sold comps that are showing are all in the last 6 months and are all within half a mile.

I've been watching this particular house for a while (mainly because I don't have the finance to get in to it) but it all just seems to good to be true. I wondered if the water thing was a significant negative but that is fixable. It's definitely not a rent heavy area but the few rentals I have dug up are $1300-1450.

I've either stumbled on a great opportunity or there is something I'm missing.

The biggest barrier to creating wealth in RE, from my perspective is not being willing to "pay your dues" and put your time in. Years ago, you had to do your time in the trenches, learning your craft, working your way up etc. I think a lot of people now think that they should be able to skip all that and get to the big money and in doing that, they don't understand their business and they take risks that will leave them in the red.

I'm new in the RE business. I'm green, I have things to learn and I need to learn my craft. I'll need a few deals under my belt and I'll find my feet. I know and accept that I have a few hard years ahead of me before I'm going to reap any substantial rewards. I just think there is a notion with some people that it's "easy" to make a fortune in RE and that 12 months in they'll be cutting deals with 6 figure profits.

Thanks for the great welcome! I'm already learning so much, just lurking around, reading through the posts and applying it to analyse deals. Hopefully, that will help me to be more efficient at it once we get started.

Looking forward to hearing more about you all and how your deals are working out for you.

First, a confession - I am a total newbie, never done a deal and still in the learning phase. So the chances are I'm missing something really obvious but I've been analysing a deal on a house and it seems too good to be true. For me analysing deals now will help me do it more effectively when I am financially ready to invest.

I wondered if the experienced investors here on BP could shed some light on what the issue might be so I can look into it. I am a firm believer that when something looks too good to be true - it is!

The house is a Short Sale 3/3 -1800sqft on around a 1/3 of an acre. It's in a very nice area (I used to live in that area) with an award winning school district, low crime area of the burbs. Basement, 2 car garage.

I'm 4000 miles away so I haven't been to view it so I'm relying on the pictures. From the pictures it looks like there are minimal repairs needed. I'd estimate $5k maximum but like I said I'm relying on pictures which could be old!

Not much in the way of comps - 2 currently listed with an average price of 123,623 and 3 sold in the last 12 months with an average price of 135,269. Looking at the sold comps - $178k, 173K and 55K with the $55k being a 2 bed 800sqft smaller than my target house.

Asking price is under 75k, and the one hiccup I can foresee is that it's well water, but it's possible to hook up to city water & sewer for $20k, if that's something that is something that needs doing. So, allowing for that and for some minor rehab, it seems to me that there is still $30k in this deal.

There has to be something I'm missing on this one.

Raymond B.

I read and commented on that thread, but none of the difficulties Sophie has encountered apply to my situation.

From what I read, Sophie purchased a turnkey property from a company unseen. My situation is very different. I know the area, I lived there for 5 years and will be moving back there to start my property investment business. I won't be buying a turnkey, I'll be looking to buy a properties to rehab and hold.

Interesting article, but I agree it is still possible to "get rich" it's just not easy. I think the world has changed and a lot of things come to us much easier than they did before. The mistake many people make is believing that money will just fall into their laps too.

To become rich, you have to be prepared to plan, educate yourself, sacrifice and work your butt off. Unfortunately, young people tend to think it'll all come easily to them.

All I can say is wow... LOL

Makes me want to hot foot it over the Saginaw!