All Forum Posts by: John Kunick

@Aakshay Subramaniam, first, good luck and hope you attain your goals! Second, I've done a wide variety of REI starting with SFH in Tulsa and built my portfolio. I transitioned to MFH via syndications and have put most all of my new money there the last few years as I got tired of the tenant headaches and also my ROI is as good if not better.. Let me see, I get same or better results with almost no headaches - hmm think I will take that path! I've also done hard money lending, some development deals (build from ground up), self-storage, etc.. I'm sticking with MFH via syndications. But, you gotta know how to do it and find the right syndicator.. DM me if you want to know more.. My goals have always been to build passive income leading to financial independence (which I've been fortunate enough to achieve). Willing to help!

@Alex Clark, it would all depend on what you bought and how much you paid vs. how much you could rent that specific property for.  Overall, Bixby is a terrific sub-market with high demand for quality rentals. I've not had a turnover of any of my properties in Bixby  for several years as tenants just keep renewing leases..  So, I keep renewing them with reasonable increases in rent and I make sure to take good care of tenants by always maintaining the properties and being responsive whenever a need arises.  I try to not give them a reason to want to leave - and that keeps the cash cows producing!

@Sunny Karen, I've been a long time investor in Tulsa and live here.  All of your characterizations of Tulsa area are correct (stable appreciation, not volatile, good cash flow, etc.).  It's a great place to live, raise a family and invest.  My only concern about your two deals is location.  While I can't tell unless I had specific addresses, Sand Spring and West Tulsa can be iffy.  There are some good areas and some bad areas.  But, your game plan sounds solid.
All of my "homeruns" have been in South Tulsa, Bixby and Broken Arrow.  Remember, "location, location, location"!

@Sandeep Dhall, hi, I've been a real estate investor in Tulsa for 10+ years.  Since I also don't like C kind of neighborhoods/tenants, I would avoid North Tulsa and/or anything to do with Section 8.  My focus continues to be Bixby, Broken Arrow and South Tulsa (Union Schools).  Avoid Tulsa public schools.  Focus on Bixby, Broken Arrow, Union and Jenks school districts as the people you want to attract tend to flow to those school districts.

 Jonathan, I totally agree with your take on this.  I bought eight houses a few years back in C area.  Fortunately, I bought them really well and did some remodeling/repairs.  I held on to them for only ten months as my tenant experiences were so inconsistent.  Half were good tenants and the other half....  I got to point I really didn't care how much $ I might make, it simply wasn't worth the hassle.  Fortunately, I sold all 8 to one investor (at a nice profit) who had several other similar properties and had the right management and temperament to handle that niche.
There's just too many other ways to make $ without all of the headaches!

@Arn Cenedella, while the title of this thread is provocative, I honestly think it's misleading.  Perhaps Cash Flow is King IF the goal of the investor is to build cash flow to replace W2 for whatever reason.  In my case, Cash Flow was my #1 objective as I wanted to build up enough cash flow so I would have the choice to leave (or not) my W2 corporate gig..  Fortunately, after several years of buying cash flowing properties, I did get to point I could make that choice.  I still kept working for a couple more years, but ultimately did retire and now spend my time managing my various real estate holdings.

I've had the honor of mentoring several others, several that I've met on BP, as they were getting started in their REI journey. I always tell them the #1 thing they need to define is "what are your goals".. Depending on your goals, your strategy will be different. To your point, those in their earlier years may decide capital appreciation is king. But, it all depends.

Hi Ankit, there are many ways to attack this, but the key is to build cash flow long-term (I like the stone wall analogy).  I was able to do this and totally replaced my medical device income to the point I was able to retire and have complete financial freedom.

Similar to what @Bill B. did, I bought my first rental in Tulsa while also working full-time. I put 20% down so I was cash flowing every month. I then bought house #2 a few months later using both cash flow from property #1 AND the excess from my medical device job (BTW, we lived well below our means so had extra cash each month to invest - all I did was invest all of it in real estate instead of what I normally did in stock market). Houses #3+ (I eventually built up to 20) happened in orderly fashion.. Once I got to 10, I started paying cash for the houses both by converting my 401k to a Self-directed IRA and then using those funds to buy houses out right and then also using all of the excess cash flow from the first ten houses plus my medical device job excess income.. Having those houses with no debt allowed me to pay off the first ten loans in a disciplined and timely fashion. Once I had no debt... that was financial freedom and gave me choice to continue to work - or not!

Get started and then build it..  It doesn't all have to be done at once.