All Forum Posts by: Tim Johnson

Welcome to BiggerPockets Jack! You might consider connecting with your local REIA, they might be able to connect you with local contractors.

Best of luck with your project!

Hi @Kristina Bynum, welcome to BP. 

I see you have not gotten any responses on your request yet.  Perhaps, can you be a little more specific?  You mentioned you are looking for a real estate investment firm, are you looking for them to buy your property?  Or what are you looking for them to do?

Also, by adding other cities you might get more people who have keyword alerts.  For example; Atlanta. 

Best of luck to you!

You mentioned Germany.  I worked for years for a German multinational.  I visited the home office on several occasions.  

When you say German's have a higher quality of life, are you referring to the fact that they make 14 percent less than US and prices are 4 percent higher than ours?  

Believe me, I would love more vacation, but there is no free lunch.

@James R.  Throwing your neighbor under the bus is not a great analogy....Wal-Mart closing a store is not the same thing as physically hurting a person.  Here is a closer analogy: If I had a rental home that was losing money every month, I would look at my options.  Raise the rent, cut expenses, or sell the property.  My renter would dislike all those options.  Yet I (and Wal-Mart) are not evil...even though I live comfortably each month and could easily absorb the loss of a not performing property.

Free markets are a beautiful thing.  Wal-Mart should close any store that is not profitable. It is the right thing to do. The customers of that Wal-Mart will be served by another store...one that can do it profitably.  It may get more expensive for the residents, but if it does it is because their market is more costly.  I won't speculate on why this would be.   

 This seems to be a common attitude recently.  What is the purpose of a corporation?  If you answered, "to put people first and improve their circumstances" then guess again!  

With a few notable exceptions, corporation are in business to earn a profit for their owners and investors.  If you expect the core of who corporations are to be altruistic, you will be disappointed.  Corporations do many good things.  At a minimum they provide jobs.  Most corporations also serve their communities in various ways.  Some are downright philanthropic.  Ultimately, most corporations conclude they need to be primarily focused on the bottom line to survive.

Imagine if someone told you that, instead of focusing on your own interests you should focus on the betterment of other people.  What an awesome world we would live in if everyone lived that way!  But don't hold your breath.  Corporations (like people) are ultimately self-serving. 

The best bet would be to find a local investor willing to do a contract for deed.  They would buy property and then sell it to you contract for deed.  You would make a big down payment (like 20 percent) and pay, say 8 percent interest.  You are paying a premium to make it worth the investors time and risk.

You make monthly payments until the loan is paid off, or (ideally) until you can refinance with more favorable terms.  But realize, if you do not make your payments you could lose the house and your big down payment. 

Best of luck to you!

Welcome @Liz Hansen.   Yes, the calculators may help but I agree with @Pavel U....it will depend very much on the condition.  Go through every aspect of the home and include all of repair costs.  Ideally, the cost of the home plus all of the rehab costs should equal 70 percent of the after repair value.  As Pavel mentioned, there were a lot of those deals a few years ago.  Right now, it is very difficult to find a deal and make the numbers work.  I don't mean to be a discouragement, just realize that you will need to look at a lot of deals before you will find one where the numbers work.

Avoid these mistakes...

1.  Under estimate repair costs.

2.  Under estimate the time it will take to do the rehab

3.  Over estimate the after repair value.

Or, you can be like me on my last rehab and miss on all 3!  I broke even on the deal but it's discouraging to put in all that work and make no money.  

Best of luck to you!

Hi @Kyle Kipka.  Sounds like you have a great start in real estate investing!  

It sounds like the BRRRR strategy would be a good one for you. Basically it's what you've been doing: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat!

Best wishes as you continue your real estate journey!

Hi @Jacob Ricks

According to the census bureau, the average cost of construction in the Midwest was $81.70 in 2010.  

http://www.census.gov/const/C25Ann/soldmedavgppsf....

If you are building a four-plex with basic finishes, the cost might be a little less.  But I would expect you would be in that neighborhood.  If you could put up a 4 plex for $250,000 and rent each unit for $750 per month, I'd say go for it!

Hey @Barbara Bach, I had never heard of Climax, Minnesota.  I thought it might be a made up town.  Who knew?  I like that Climax Minnesota is near Fertile Minnesota.  Some early explorer had a sense of humor.