All Forum Posts by: Stone Jin

@Cory Benhardt as a parent and resident of Chandler (suburb of Phoenix) I can tell you that you will likely be keeping your kids indoors all summer similar to all winter up north.  If you have the means I would encourage you to take a look at being a snowbird.  If it wasn't for the covid and having a baby I'd be up north right now enjoying late summer.  We invest in Phoenix area and Ohio.  Phoenix has been difficult to cashflow as @Bob Okenwa mentioned unless you are buying some cashflow with a downpayment.  We've had very good success in the midwest for cashflow and intend to invest more in the coming year.  

Happy to answer any questions you might have.  San tan is far out there, from Chandler its a 30-45 minute drive.  The prices are as high as east mesa or apache junction.  If they ever finish building the freeway, it might be better.  

@Michael Temple We just closed on an MLS property in Sylvania last Friday. Currently there are 2-3 I would consider making offers on but I need to stabilize my current portfolio. As my tenants are moving out, I'm raising rents up to $200 to align with the market. I'm still getting considerable interests at higher rent points.

Example, we listed a property for rent in North Sylvania at $1900 a month, was rented in 6 days sight unseen.  They have the option to view the property when the tenants move out but its a newer built house 2200 sqft 4/2.5 with no competition in the marketplace.   I think when you look at a specific niche, you need to be realistic about what you can get for rent.  I know in the past we talked you were always surprised what I list my properties for.  The demand for nice rental homes is there in north west ohio.  

I'm still fairly cautious when buying, usually doing a 1031 exchange or using financing (30 year fixed).  However I think with investor rates in the low 4% range, you can't really lose if you buy at a fair price.  What I've learned in Phoenix is that you may not start at the 1% rule but you'll end up there some day.  Example, we bought a house for 145K in 2015, I leased it for 1200-1400 throughout the years, tenant moved out this month, relisted for 1700.   Had I stopped in 2015 and said 1200 rent on 145K doesn't meet the 1% rule, I'd be kicking myself now.  

Last point, I'm actually seeing appreciation in NWO similar to Phoenix.  With low interest rates and investors moving from extremely hot markets to tertiary markets it is forcing the prices to go up.  Plus with all the new money in circulation, I have a hard time seeing how that money will not eventually end up in assets.

@David Lee Hall, III  I agree with having to hustle and do all the networking and self education.  I just thought the suggestion of them spending all their money on a website and some business cards was a bit too risky for a noobie with no experience and limited capital.  

 So.... instead of my suggestion of working with an investor and learning the trade, you would suggest they put all their money into wholesaling on their own.  Got it.

If she had said we have 50K but only want to spend 4K on real estate, then sure go create a website and get business cards.  The way she put it was 4K was all they had.  So any hiccup in life, they would need to worry about how to pay rent or buy food if they spend all their money on a wholesaling operation that still required them to essentially give up all their free hours.

Maybe I'm too risk adverse.

@Helen Hernandez I would say the first thing you need to do is go work for a real estate investor.  Make some extra money knocking doors or driving for dollars on weekends.  This will give you some extra capital but also a mentor/knowledge provider.  $4000 is not enough to do anything in real estate in my opinion.   I think more doors will open up once you have $25,000 to deploy in real estate.  Best of luck.

@Kazi Tasnim About 20 years ago we lived in Portland PA, the area is beautiful. We've also managed STR for about 7 years in Phoenix. I would say the #1 thing is location and then #2 is amenities. If you buy in the right part of the area then you will get renters, most vacationers want to be in a nice SAFE neighborhood. You can always add on a deck for a few thousand dollars at a later date.

@Dominic Olguin  From what I hear the students are all still out of mom and dads house and doing online school.  I only have 1 unit that is rented to a college student and she is online learning from there.  You might have missed the window for this year but next year I wouldn't see much issue.  Plus I hear that some dorms are having less kids reside which creates more need for housing off campus.

@Jason Anderson with today's interest so low you can refinance into a 30 year pull out a bunch of cash and still keep your cashflow.  Use that cash to either house hack or buy additional properties.  Having dead equity is okay if you are not planning on buying anything, however from your post it seems you will be needing capital to deploy shortly.   I would definitely treat your question as 2 parts.  1) how do I pull out cash from equity.  2) how to best buy a second property.  They are not connected in my opinion

Just squeaked in at 210 PP and 30K rehab.  240K all in with 2500 in rent.

@Darius Ogloza We have a house in Sylvania schools on 2 acres 4bed 3.5 bath 2800 sqft.  It rented for $2500 in about 6 hours of being listed on Zillow.  Just to provide some perspective.

Stone