All Forum Posts by: Julie Kern

@Al Pat Yeah, to be honest, I'm not even looking in the metro ATL area.  I'm looking at markets in TN and AL that are within a few hours driving distance.  Feel free to PM me anytime to connect!

@Kurt Michaelson Hope it works out for you!  What is your criteria for multi-family deals? Are you looking to syndicate the 17-unit if the numbers work or would you be taking it down yourself, or with partners?

@Joshua Diaz If you're looking specifically for MHP Brokers, I would start on mobilehomeparkstore.com and look for brokers with listings in your target market. There are also MHP listings on LoopNet; contact those brokers as well. You can also contact other brokers in your target market off LoopNet who have apartment listings because there is always the chance that they'll pick up a MHP listing. And be sure to check the MLS. That's where I found the one I mentioned in my post. Those can sometimes fly under the radar, although the ones I've seen are typically smaller than what you're looking for. Hope this helps, and best wishes to you!

@Alina Trigub Thanks for the encouragement, and that's a great blog post you wrote!  Very true.  

@Kurt Michaelson Thank you so much!  Is the 17-unit one you're considering buying, or were you just using it to practice underwriting using the SDA? 

@Charles Kao For me, it's shiny object syndrome because my commitment at the beginning of the year (from the post I referenced in this post) was to focus on acquiring 50 units this year and to move away from the transactional side of real estate, because (a) I don't really enjoy it and (b) it's not moving me and my husband to where we need to be.  

If you enjoy flipping, then you should flip.  I like staging my rental properties and holding open houses with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and soft music playing.  Some would say that's a complete waste of time , but I actually really enjoy it - it makes me happy when a prospective tenant walks in and says "it just feels like happy and cookies in here" (quote from the last open house I did) :)  I do that because I enjoy it and I want my future tenants to see that I care, not because it will necessarily yield the max money.  So I do get what you're saying.  

@Joshua Diaz Thank you!  Appreciate the encouragement, and I will! :)

@Vern Elizee Glad it helped - best wishes to you on your journey!

@Terence Lee Sorry for this very delayed response - yes, we use my husband's insurance, and having his W-2 income definitely carries a lot of weight when getting loans.  Those are valid questions, for sure.

@Victoria S. - see the post I just shared above!

For those of you kind of enough to post your thoughts, questions, encouragement on this post, here is an update on my multi-family journey. :)

So I posted here a while back about my shift from transactional real estate (wholesaling with a bit of flipping) to multi-family acquisitions after I realized I had gotten away from what initially attracted me to real estate... buy and hold/passive investing.

I wanted to give a quick update since I got so many kind and encouraging responses to that post.   

1. Have I purchased a multi-family property yet? The answer, to date, is "no", but I'm getting close... I think.  More on that.
2. What have I done in pursuit of my first multi-family deal? 
   • I've read several books on multi-family investing and consume podcasts on the subject.
   • I joined Michael Blank's Deal Maker Mastermind which may have been one of the best things I've done in terms of education, boosting my confidence and networking with other multi-family investors.
   • I've spoken to a boatload of commercial brokers, although honestly not nearly as many as I should have.  But as I've spoken to more and more brokers, I've gotten much more comfortable having those conversations and not feeling like a poser :)
   • I spent a day touring a market that I'm interested in with a broker with whom I have fairly regular contact now.
   • I've toured a couple of multi-family properties in markets outside my local one.
   • I've submitted 4-5 LOI's on properties - again, not nearly enough.
   • I've analyzed somewhere around 60-70 deals using a multi-family deal analyzer (again, kudo's to Michael Blank for his Syndicated Deal Analyzer - love that thing).
   • Early on, I had conversations with about 8-10 lenders, even when I didn't have a specific deal to discuss, just to get a feel for their terms, what areas/types of properties they like, etc.  I highly recommend doing this - it came in handy once I had real deals to discuss.
   • I created an app in Podio to keep up with brokers and lenders: I set follow-ups so I remember to reach back out to them on a regular basis (at least the brokers) and record all the details of my conversations so I have it all in front of me the next time we speak.  
   • I've spoken or met with numerous other multi-family investors (both active and aspiring investors), many of whom I met through my BP post from 4 months ago, and learned a ton from them.
3. Why do I feel I haven't contacted enough brokers and submitted enough LOIs?
   • Sometimes I get shiny object syndrome and go do a flip (just closed one this past week :))  or decide I'm going to explore AirBnB in my area or just drop a little mail campaign to try to buy more houses to flip.  Nothing wrong with these things but they did take me off track for a bit.
   • After reading (and beginning to implement) the 4 Disciplines of Execution and Deep Work by Cal Newport (thanks @Brandon Turner, for those 2 podcasts.  They were game changers for me), I've gotten much more focused on my goal than I was there for a couple of months.  Simply defining the "whirlwind" and recognizing it for what it is has made such a difference.  And knowing that it's ok to turn off my phone, remove the distractions and go super deep into analyzing a deal and getting lost in it without feeling like I have to constantly be connected has helped so much.
4. Where am I today in my pursuit of 50 units by 12/31/2019?
   • I have an accepted LOI on a 24-unit property in a small market about 1.5 hours from where I live.
   • I should be going under contract next week on a 25-lot mobile home park about 2 hours from me.  
   • IF both of these go to closing (and there is still a whole bunch of DD to be done and financing to be finalized), that would put me at 49 "units", and get leave me 1 unit shy of my goal.
   • Both deals have some shaky areas that will need to be explored heavily during DD; I'll post with updates.

So, on a scale of 1-10, I would give myself about a 6 or so with respect to my commitment to doggedly pursuing my multi-family goal, but I'm hoping when I update this post in a month or so, I can say it's more like a 7 or 8 :)

I have 6 rental properties in Kennesaw. It’s an excellent area for rentals, although currently tough to buy at numbers that make sense. Is the listing on market? 

Also, since we're in fairly close proximity, I would be happy to get together and talk real estate.  I'm not super focused on flipping but should do a few this year, so I'm happy to help if I can.