All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey Albaum

Hi @Account Closed! While I don't know the specifics of the Lynchburg markets - I'd recommend calling property managers to "interview" even before buying property. Once you find a good PM - start sending them the deals you're looking at. They are unlikely to tell you to buy a property if it's in a bad area as they would be giving themselves a headache to manage on a day to day basis. The PM's incentives are aligned beautifully with yours. Hope this is helpful!

Hi @Meagan Keefe! A couple options: 

Try apps that allow you to search for services:

- Thumbtack

- Taskrabbit

- Handy

Or ask people you know in the area - like your contractor, handy-person, real estate agent, property manager (if you have one), etc.

Hope this is helpful!

Hi @David Torreggiani. This is the billion dollar question! From my perspective I've always held that it doesn't make sense to try and time the market.... I always just want to buy good deals. As long as there are ample reserves in place, the property cash flows, and I can have multiple exit strategies (turn a flip into a long term rental, turn a short term rental into a mid stay rental, etc) I feel good about it. That being said - if anyone does have a crystal ball and can shed some more insight I'd love to know!!

Hi @Tyler Dalton! They're most likely going to need # beds/baths, sq. footage, any pictures you have - and also some sort of walk through. Whether it's a full on inspection or not will be buyer specific. Hope that helps!

Hi @Anirudh Mohan! Nicely done on being so intentional with your goals and laying everything out there! 

To start - I agree completely with @Corby Goade - it's really hard to scale a portfolio with cash flow. As David Greene always says - cash flow is a great "defense" but it doesn't score you points or win the game. I started investing in heavier "cash flow" markets as well - thinking that because the numbers worked out great on a spreadsheet that it would be a good investment overall. The problem with less expensive properties that cash flow well on a spreadsheet is they typically tend to be older buildings, so even if you're cash flowing $300/month - if you have one bad maintenance call that costs $2k to fix, or a crazy leak that causes a ton of water damage, you've wiped your cash flow out for ~6 months. So I would also recommend buying in appreciating markets as well as saving up more for a down payment and higher reserve budget. You don't want to spend all your money on a down payment just to be caught in a pickle the day after you close needing to repair something and not having any cash on hand to do so.

Hope this is helpful and best of luck to you!

Hi @Jennifer M.! First off - welcome to BP! This is an awesome community that I think you will find extremely helpful! I know it can seem like a lot all at once - so I'd recommend starting with reading some books - best ones in my opinion are "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "Set for Life" by BP's very own @Scott Trench. 

From there - read other BP books like "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene. 

Additionally - go to some meet up groups with other investors to chat with them and learn the lingo - you'll feel more comfortable as you learn more. Best of luck and feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns!

Hi @Javier Manzanares! In addition to what other folks were saying - another strategy that we've found to be helpful especially in a competitive market is to make your earnest deposit as much as you possible can. As long as the contract is written correctly, this is completely refundable to you if you walk away from the deal - but for some reason or another, a large earnest deposit seems to separate you from the rest of the offers from the sellers' perspective. Hope this is helpful!

Hi @Alex Turner - we just closed a deal using a DSCR loan where the appraisal wasn't able to use STR rental data, even though the market is almost exclusively used for STRs. So even though we didn't meet the DSCR needed, we were able to still close the loan and pay 1 percentage point higher - so not the biggest deal in the world. I loved the lender we used - feel free to message me if you'd like more info or ever want to chat about STRs!

Spend my day doing the things that I love: investing, learning, growing, supporting my community, and being the best son/friend/partner/brother that I can be!

Hey @Drew Buslow, agree completely with the above comments. As long as you're comfortable supporting whatever payment you will be making (by having a W2 income or other sources of income) it's a great idea!