All Forum Posts by: James McCard

Are you looking for an insurance agent that gets real estate investors mindsets or something else? I have a great agent but there are plenty of them in CT also. 

It is not a bad thing to reach out. Like some others mentioned you might not even need financing. To me it is a fake it until you make it thing! 

Central CT is a good one, we will have to see when the decision is made to go back into an in person meet up! 

Hey there guys! 

@Jared Maches and @Filipe Pereira I appreciate the tags guys. Torrington is my market. I am perhaps a bit conservative on outlook. In my opinion I think that even in Torrington we are seeing things at close to the top of the market.  It is up to you if you think now is the right time to buy. Personally I have toyed around with selling my primary residence and moving to one of my rentals that I already own and I am working on rehabbing. 

Torrington is a good market, there are not a ton of huge employers beyond what some of the other guys mentioned. I would call it a working class town. The tenant you'll get will likely be a little rougher than an area of the Farmington Valley. If you are okay with that buy away. I will caution you that the taxes are high in town. Also I will mention that I own 3 SFR and I have never paid more than 24k a unit (that unit was basically move in ready). So I am for sure a bottom feeder and negotiator at heart. Maybe from the market you are coming from the area seems cheap. Just do you research and be careful. If you would like feel free to reach out to discuss more things.

I would also echo to stay out of the south end. I have one unit that borders that area and if I was to sell one it would be that one. That being said I wouldn't be able to replace it for the same money. So I won't sell it likely. 

I have a great investor friendly agent that works in that area. Just send me a PM and I will give you there contact information. Taking the first step is important, I would echo what you are saying. I am not sure we are in a great market for flips. 

The only other thing I will mention is that we are in a very hot market... that being said I would not rule out buying a single family and turning it into a rental. I have done this an there are arguments for both sides. Personally when multifamily units  are selling for all the money why not look at the single family market. 

I am talking investment grade stuff, not completely turn key units. I have bought 3 units recently, spending 5k, 15k, 24k one of which was an MLS listed property (24k one). That was almost ready to rent but I redid the kitchen and painted and removed a platform. You are not going to buy a 3 family in my market for 44k - you just aren't.

I am not preaching at you at all, just sharing experience. Welcome! 

 This is a very valid point. I primarily invest in Winsted and Torrington. I work in the Farmington Valley (in Canton). Winsted and Torrington are great markets. 

Jeff we should trade notes 

That I am not sure on and honestly should probably be answered by a tax professional or a financial advisor. I have held my stuff for a long time so I know it wasn't an issue. I think the account did have to be open for a certain period of time.  

The being said - if it is a small percentage of your income it's not really something you will miss. I max out my Roth IRA every year and also contribute 10% of my pay (before taxes) to my Simple IRA as I shift into a debt reduction phase later in the year this year I do plan on upping the contribution to 15% of my gross pay once I feel comfortable with my level of debt or have eliminated all my bad debt (incurred getting the real estate stuff going).

I can understand investor paralysis - what are you doing now for a living situation? If you can think of it like this: 

If you get into a single family house and house hack it and live for free or reduce your cost of living while paying off the property that seems a lot better than paying someone else rent right? 

This is even better if you can get into a multifamily with a low down payment and rent the other units out while living in one. If you are renting now and the cost of a mortgage is similar to what rent is and you control the property I would call that a win right?
 

Investing isn't gambling - you will make mistakes but that is the cost of education - think about how many people pay 100k+ for an education. What is the worst that can happen? You lose your money and start over right? How do you prevent that from happening? Good decisions, running your numbers etc. 

I think a lot of people think if I am going to do real estate that I am going to do just real estate and other forms of investing are sub-par. I am for sure in disagreement with that. If you have a bunch of different slices of pie if the value of one goes down the rest is not effected. Some would say that this limits me - although I do not feel limited in any way. I too am on the road to FI - I am turning 34 in April and would like to by 38 make more from real estate than I do my W2... work 2 more years just to build up a bit more of a financial runway (@Scott Trench) I think coined that term in Set for Life. Be done at 40 years old and just enjoy FI or keep hustling (which is more than likely). 

So keep doing real estate - I would keep not discourage you from opening a Roth IRA and like someone else mentioned you can use the contributions (not the gains) penalty free.

I just did that in Feb of last year. Bought a rental for 24k - I turned it and basically have it rented (under market value... but Corona) to a friend of mine. 

I will agree and say its best to use different accounts, however... If you are just starting out and good about doing your books I don't see a big issue in doing it in a personal account. I currently do it that way but as I scale will want to do things differently.