All Forum Posts by: James McCard

So I can't comment other than at some point soon I would love to explore the STR platform. My family owns 2 beach cottages down in Madison CT. I would imagine it could be a lucrative thing but I know the taxes on the houses down there are insane.

I am not too familiar with how it works but in OCNJ they do this. How they do it? They do it as a condo. So you can sell the upper or lower unit separately than the other and you just split expenses for communal areas. I remember vacationing there this summer and wondering I wonder how they do this. I looked into it and figured out that is how they do it. 

I would talk to a few guys about NB - I am not sure they are all on here though. I'd contact Eugene Kirouac and Jacek Mikolajczyk both are realtors very familiar with that area. I can't lie and say they will be thrilled to talk to you if you are currently represented by someone else. It may also be worth talking to @Filipe Pereira although I am not quite sure he manages in NB. 

My market is a little bit outside of yours so I connected you with the 3 most knowledgeable guys I know in that market. Good luck! 

Dude I love it. You are definitely a few steps ahead of me but I love the motivation! Contractors right now as you are aware are tough to deal with. All of them, even for me. I have my electrician, my plumber and my HVAC (who work for themselves or a W2 employer) and my own carpenters (who work for me). 

I can feel your pain on towns, I sort of wonder if there are better towns and worse towns to deal with and being a landlord/propery owner. I know the town I reside in is difficult at best to deal with. 

I think everyone wants more time and money. I would suggest reaching out to a good friend of mine (who as far as I know is not on the forums). His name is Dave Haberfeld and he is a real estate and business guy. He is primarily out of Bristol but has branched out a bit. The reason I mention him is I feel like he is operating at your level or perhaps slightly above (that is not an insult I hope I just know him better than I know you). I feel like he may be a good fit as far as mastermind or if not I know he will know who to send you to. 

If you do Facebook - feel free to add me over there or PM me you phone number and I can connect you guys. 

All the best and hoping I can look "up" in a few years and see myself in a favorable situation such as yours! 

If you come to the next one I will buy you the first round!  

I am hyper focused on my markets and not CT as a whole. I primarily invest in Torrington and Winsted CT - I will say it is my opinion that the market as a whole is very high right now and I am debating on selling a few of my unfinished projects (as they have appreciated a lot since I purchased them). I try to look long term also - I think there is a time where in my market prices will return to normal. Where 5-45k can buy a single family rental and multis can be picked up for 60-70k. So I am content not buying (or growing) right now while waiting to have the market correct. 

I agree with @William Collins I have been to Steph Cabral's meet up. It is the 2nd Tuesday of the month at Hooker brewery in Hartford. Great venue and the people are great also. 2 months ago was a huge turn out, now with the mask mandate going on it seems to have tapered off a bit but still had a great meet up and got to really know some other investors in depth at the last meeting.

I am not an agent so I can offer no advice there. However if you ever want to geek out I sometimes find my way out your direction. I like meeting like minded people. So I am happy to connect if I can be of service. I am a buy and hold investor in Torrington and Winsted.

I am responding to the bold section. Here is my thinking, if you do not know how to estimate what something is going to cost paying a contractor to do an estimate saves you money instead of costing you money. 

Let's say you look at something and think of this is just a lipstick makeover. Perhaps for a minute you walk through with a contractor and he goes like well, on most houses I use with XXXX type of walls I have found that the plumbing and electrical that run behind them is a ticking time bomb. You were thinking it was just a quick do-over and in reality the contractor just saved you a 10,000 dollar "mistake" 

I would contact @Kit Crowne shameless plug he's my loan guy... but he was an active investor previously and is honestly a great resource. Pre-Covid he was also gracious enough to play host to the Central CT Real estate meetup. He is going to be able to give you responses based on facts. I am not sure he is terribly active here on BP but you should be able to find him online with ease. 

Call him Orville for me!