All Forum Posts by: James Dainard

Hey Jacob,

As an agent, the name of the game is coverage right now on both sides.

We've got free educational content coming out every day with larger monthly recaps and classes every month. We make sure our clients are followed up with and set up with a broker to really dive into their goals and desires when entering real estate as an asset class. Another way to get in contact with investors is to utilize other agents in your market, if you see a flip listed on the MLS reach out to the broker and have a conversation with them. Was it their project, an investor? If you tie up a deal and send it to the agent, will they send it along to the investor? Things like that!

As for properties we're doing outbounds based on lists from title companies, communicating with local wholesalers and maintaining relationships with other agents to get our deal flow through the door. We're going into a phase where we as the agents need to take additional measures to make our clients comfortable and confident in the investment decisions that they're making. Going forward sales are going to be relationship and analysis based as opposed to the more speculative profit-based decision-making that we've been seeing.

Hope this helps a little, best of luck!

Hey Mike,

This really depends on how active you want to work with that investment.

If you're looking for something easy, you probably want to put most of that money as a down payment to maximize your cashflow position and buy yourself some stability/income.

If you want to be a bit more active with it you can use the money as a down payment for a hard money loan to do a flip.

Hope that helps a little! Best of luck!

Hey Nicholas,

In terms of maximizing your gains, you're probably looking for a BRRRR-type deal.

With where you're at you want to make sure you're minimizing your losses as much as possible. If you are currently paying rent a house hack would probably serve you better than chasing the returns from a flip, at least initially. Once you can get your cost of living down to a minimum then you can spend all your focus going after income-producing flips, BRRRR's, or holds.

FHA 3.5% down on a duplex is going to be your target for maximum leverage going into this. Use it either on a duplex or a large enough house to rent out the rooms.

Best of luck!

We're hosting a Market Update going over the activity in the last quarter as well as a forecast for where we're headed in the near future.

We will be looking at recent data for the King, Snohomish, and Pierce County regions as well as some recent deals that we've placed to give you some insight as to how we're underwriting.

This event is free to attend and there will be time for questions at the end. Bring your friends and bring your questions!

Please email [email protected] with any questions!

Hey Lance,

You want to be watching the Fed's press releases as well. That's what most major new networks are using to predict anyways. It will give you a lot of insight into how our monetary policy is going to shake out in the near future.

Hope that helps!

Hey Preston,

First things first is to improve your credit score asap, it will drastically impact the cost of money for you.

After you get that in place you're probably going to want a 3.5% down FHA loan on a duplex. This will maximize the income you're getting. If you can't find a suitable duplex look for something you can house hack by renting rooms and/or floors out.

I recommend finding a local lender to work with through your credit issues so they can be best positioned to help you when you're ready to buy!

Best of luck!

Hey Landen,

If you've got access to a VA loan and you're looking to maximize your portfolio returns you're going to want to look at owner-occupying a 4-plex.

That will allow you the maximum leverage to keep your cash on hand for renovations or for the next project potentially.

You're going to want a value add property where you can renovate one unit at a time as tenants turn over. Rinse and repeat until you've done all the units and the refi to get access to your VA loan again.

Best of luck!

Hey Linda,

Make sure you check the landlord-tenant laws before doing a rent hike that big. You may end up in more trouble than you bargained for.

Typically speaking rents are increased at a rate or 3-6% a year. Given the market we've had recently and the fact that you didn't increase last year likely puts you closer to a 9-10% increase which you can deliver in increments.

We really like using Rentometer to check rent comps in an area to see how well we are pricing our inventory. If you're far below then you can be confident in raising rents to market or potentially getting a new tenant. Make sure to check your finishes and square footage against the comps to price correctly.

Hope that helps!

Hey Zackary,

It's a little difficult to get into a deal due to interest rates right now.

If you're starting off, you're going to want to use your owner-occupied VA loan to take down a multifamily property. preferably 4 units. If you can just get into a deal now and hold it or renovate it while rates fluctuate, you'll be in a great place to refinance once rates come down again.

You're right about time in the market! Start collecting rents! Make sure you mitigate as much risk as possible by inspecting the property and getting a contractors opinion on any renovations.

Right now sellers that need to sell need to sell. If they had the option to hold their property and continue to make gains they would. If they are liquidating now it's because they need that cash to move to either another asset or for life.

Hope that helps man, best of luck!

Hey Kyle,

There are a lot of benefits to becoming an agent like reduced agent fees and increased MLS access. You can also help write contracts for friends and family to make a commission!

With that said you want to make sure you let your full-time agents list the properties, you're going to sell. Industry professionals know what it takes to get a property sold and having someone manage that process for you will make your life a lot easier.

Make sure you know what the costs are to keep your license active and have a plan in place to make that back with the license or the RE investments you get by getting your license. Make sure becoming an agent doesn't change your investing priorities and doesn't burden your financial situation.

Best of luck!