All Forum Posts by: Joseph Morris

I will say that I definitely have interest here, as I am looking to build a SFR portfolio on the SE side of Houston. But I have a major question on Harris County Tax Auctions: how do you get around Texas' right to Redemption? Do you roll the dice that the defaulter doesn't come back, just wait out the 6 months or 2 years as applicable, or are there other legal methods to limit your risk?

Congratulations - amazing story and shiny example of what most all of us want to achieve!

Welcome to BP! In what part of Cleveland are you looking to wholesale?

Welcome to BP ! What types of strategies are you thinking of employing?

Does anyone (brokers/otherwise) have any experience with commercial multifamily (5+ units) in Wayne County? Specifically, what seems to be the going CAP rate for the area? The property we are considering is in NE Wayne County; it is ~20-30 minutes SW of Akron, and about 50-60 minutes South of Cleveland. It's a 'nice/safe' area, but it's a small town with no real population/employment growth to speak of. Early 2000's construction. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...

Thanks for the replies everyone. We've been 'shopping' the MLS recently for potential rehab-and-flips/rentals (primarily REO's). We've had a couple strong potentials - though they've had some pretty significant rehabs needed. Along those lines, we'd like to get some more experienced "looks" at a house with whom to compare our rehab estimates. Do any of you NE Ohio folks work with any general contractors with good eyes that'd be open to walking through potential deals with us and estimate rehab costs (for a reasonable fee)? Thanks

Joined a couple months ago - just now getting to properly introducing myself...  I have to give a very broad "thank you" to the entire community: I've have spent LOTS of time reading (even posting a little) in the past couple months - and I couldn't have learned as efficiently without the help of BP!

My wife and I got started like many others: moved out of our house and couldn't sell the first, so we opted to rent it out. 2.5 years later, we've decided we didn't mind being landlords (I actually liked it), enjoyed the cash flow, and were able to 'wait out' the market in order to sell that house without losing on it. Now (recently) having sold that house, we're looking to reinvest the equity into flips (when the numbers/market allow for it) and rentals (preferably small multi's or small apartment complexes) - with the goal of building up a rental portfolio that supplements the W2 income (maybe one day near retirement it could replace it?). We've opted to start our focus 'in our backyard' here in Lake County, though may (likely will) branch out further with time...

Non-RE investing background:  I'm an engineer by trade (with all the anal-retentive number crunching that comes with it), presently in a 'Global Strategic Planning' role at my corporation.  My wife is a teacher by trade; she's had the tougher job of staying home with our small children the last several years while I have had it 'easy' working my day job (to note, my day job is pretty awesome, I work with some amazing people, and every day is a new and exciting challenge).  As @Brandon Turner says: do what  you love and invest on the side...

I've read many places now that it helps to write down a plan, even a simple one. Here's our 'simple' plan:

Short term goal: purchase our first (intentional) investment property

Mid term goal: BRRRR our first (intentional) rental (may happen with the short term goal above!)

Long term goal: cash flow enough to cover my children's college tuition (2 kids, 12 year clock counting down)

Looking forward to continuing to learn, contributing when I can, getting to know more of you, and (of course) building up our portfolio!

~ Joe

Keyword Alert TAGS: Lake County, Ohio, Cleveland, Wickliffe, Willoughby, Painesville, Eastlake, Willowick, multifamily, apartment

@Penny Clark

Thanks again for your help - we'll take some time and put together our binder, and then start talking to banks next week.  Here's to hoping!

~ Joe

Penny Clark Thank you kindly for the quick reply! We recently sold a second home that we had rented out for the last 2.5 years (recent large deposit AND landlording experience). We hadn't originally purchased that home as an investment property, though we're happy with the outcome (the cash-flow was positive, but the real 'gain' was waiting out the market to be able to sell the house without a loss). In the letter about us and our skills, how detailed should I be? Should I just 'tell our rental story' and how we've used that as 'training' for the next investment? I'll have the tax-returns to support the rental income/landlord experience. Do you suggest highlighting my project management experience, and/or home improvement experience? As I am writing this I wonder: does a 'real estate investing' resume make sense for the binder? For the financials - I of course can bring in the most recent bank statements, stubs, etc.; does it pay to put together a 'financials summary page' that characterizes all of the assets/debts in an easy to read single page (with the account statements behind it for reference)? Should I include revolving debt here (we have outstanding 0% debt on a credit card - we COULD pay it off though we'd prefer to keep the capital for purchase or reserves; in fact SHOULD we pay this off before applying for any loans?). Along these lines - can 401k or IRA account balances be considered as 'reserves'? I know there is an extra step there to cash-out in an emergency, but we have significant account balances available in an emergency... My discover card provides me a FICO score each month - should I print off that estimate for the binder as well (I know they'd ultimately run my credit before loaning me anything - it just seems that I'd be better off sharing my credit rating up front to help show the bank that how serious and credible I am... Should I bring in our analysis for one or two of the recent deals we've looked at? This way sharing our process (and ensuring that the bank is happy with our level of diligence)... We are targeting local banks, so are obviously motivated to sell ourselves, not just our financials... My apologies for the switching between "I" and "We" above - my wife and I are working together through this process, though it is highly likely that I'll be solo at the bank. Thanks, ~Joe

So we are looking for some advice... We've identified our 'farm' and have been studying and getting to know the recent market. Our primary interest is fix-flip (with BRRRR as a VERY acceptable alternate exit strategy - our long term goal anyhow...). We've been looking at hundred of listings, and analyzing dozens of potential deals, and have are just about ready to 'take the plunge', as it were... We would like to finance our first deal (first several) using conventional financing. We would like to secure financing prior to making our first offer (similar to a 'pre-approval' for a primary residence). We plan to visit local banks and meet with the loan officers with the above goal in mind... So here are our questions: - what should we prepare / take with us to the bank? - what questions should we ask the loan officer? - suggestions on how to approach the discussion to maximize our likelihood of success? Ideally we'd like to borrow purchase and part of the rehab costs - though we know that'll be difficult to accomplish. Any thoughts are appreciated...