All Forum Posts by: Jiri B.

That's great to hear @Ben Brown . I'm local investor my self. My portfolio is mainly Single Family Homes and Townhomes in Raleigh. All of them are long term rentals that we also mange. 

I actually just created new discussion this AM for new investors like yourself. Here is the link: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/553...

Let me know if that is something that you could benefit from etc. I think there is more we can do to help beyond just meet ups and forums. 

I think real estate investing is all about getting started. The local market appreciates about 4-6% year over year so every year you wait, you are loosing money. Prices in 2018 are above what the 2007 levels were before the crash so its getting tough to find good deals in order not to get broke when the market corrects.

I believe there is never bad time to invest as long as you are careful and smart about every deal you do.

Let us know what we can do to help you get started!

Jiri

I've been part of this forum for a while and noticed a trend. They are many new local members that are trying to start investing but have not made the move yet. They did all their homework on learning and understanding the basics but just need to make the first step.

So i'm thinking about creating a free online and onsite workshop for bigger pockets members.

This is how it would work:

1. We will identify a good potential investment property online. (Price, downpayment, expected cashflow, etc).

2. We will then go and see the property. (Walk the property, find potential issues, identify and estimate repairs, pros and cons etc)

3. We will the decide if that is still a good deal or no deal. We will figure out if we were to purchase the property, what the offer should be to meet our goals.

Is this something you guys would be interested in and benefit from? Would be nice to get at least few interested people and we could give it a try.

This would be hands-on experience so the next time you go out and purchase property, you already went through the process and feel more comfortable and mainly more confident.

Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks,

Jiri

@Jason Curfman sounds like you know more than i did when i started. 

Regarding your downpayment, 30k if you are doing investment in Raleigh in 2018 won't probably get you far. If you take out closing cost (about 4-5k) you will be left with 25k. I've seen many lenders starting to ask 25% down rather then 20% in the past several months. But this would also depend on your personal income etc.

That would allow you purchase 100-150k property. Might be very tough to find SFH for that price in Raleigh so you might need to look for surrounding areas.

I only work with investment properties and 1031 exchanges and have my own portfolio of homes as well.

If you have any properties in mind, i can help you do the numbers. I can also go with you to look at it and provide some feedback as well.  Many times you purchase an investment property, you will need some cash to get it move in ready. It could be as simple as new paint and new carpet and sometimes i personally think its ok to put those on the credit card if you have to.

As for the pre-approval, as that was already answered here, you will need that when putting an offer in and most realtors will ask you that even before going out with you to show properties.

Good luck!

@Matt Berklacy you don't need a real estate license or mls access to write your own offers as long as you are the buyer. You can get the same forms that realtors use without the realtor logo that you can use to write your own offers. So you don't really need a realtor to write the offers for you although im not sure the benefits of doing that since you don't pay any commission as a buyer.

There are multiple ways to get access to the mls. You can be licensed real state broker, appraisal, home inspector etc. The key is the "licensed" though.

In your case, you would probably just need to get a real estate license in my opinion.

To get the license, you have to take a class. That will cost you about $400-500. About 75 classroom hours (here is the link: http://www.members-base.com/ncrec/oecgi3.exe/O4W_P...), then you can take the real estate license test. Its about $100-200 if i remember correctly. Then you have to join couple of associations / boards (relators, tmls). Both are about $50/mo. Although you might get away without the realtors association.

The license renewal cost is about $45 for a year.

I was actually an investor like you but got tired of the constant realtor calling to see a property so i got my own license. Although i worked with a really good realtor so really the only reason for me was to save time and be more independent.. Maybe you just need to find the right realtor to work with.

It really just depends on your specific needs. But you should also consider the disadvantages of being a licensed as well. 

Hi @Kelly McIntyre, welcome to the real estate investing world! I my self invest in buy and hold properties. I usually buy homes that needs some work, then we rent them out and a year later refinance to pull money out for another property downpayment. So the only investment i have ever had to make was the first property. The rest was paid by the first property and then the subsequent ones.

I'm a realtor as well so i can tell you, Raleigh is getting very tough to buy a good investment property. It's really not hard to go and buy, but its hard to buy the right property that will allow you to grow your portfolio without dumping your own money into it.

In my opinion if you are starting out, i would recommend looking into town homes or smaller single family houses. It's easier to get a loan for that if that is your first property and you also lower your risk. You will probably make some mistakes with your first property so starting small lowers your expenses as well if you make mistakes.

You also need to think about who is going to manage your property once its rented out, that might be another expense unless you are able and willing to do that your self.

It's very rewarding business and not as hard if you do it right!

You might be able to find some lenders through this website. Personally i try to avoid any large institutional banks for doing investments. Smaller, local banks or unions might be better when starting with investing in my opinion.

I would really recommend talking to lenders first to even see what kind of loans / amounts you can do and afford before diving too much into details.

I mostly invest in townhomes and single family homes. Reason i don't do any condos is exactly the HOA fees. From around triangle, for single family, its usually 0-$100/mo if they even have HOA, for Townhomes, i would say about $100-200/mo and for condos, it's usually $200+, mostly in the $200-$400 range but can go even higher depending on amenities so to me, that would take most of the potential cashflow.

One of the main benefits on house hacking is that you get a low downpayment, low interest loan for the home that would be your primary residence while you get it all fixed up. I would probably check with your lenders first to make sure you can get those type of loans for what you are trying to do.

Thank you guys for the warm welcome!

I'm a real estate investor and realtor in Raleigh, NC and happy to connect with other investors.