All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Zayne Ruth how are you finding your deals? If they are all on the MLS and you haven't done direct marketing or list-making, there are likely deals there, you just don't know about them. You can build a small list on ListSource that might help you target some properties with owners who maybe haven't thought about selling, but when someone tells them they want to buy, the light bulb goes off.

Weird flex but ok

For small multis, my best money in vs. rent out is on segmenting the areas for parking and backyard. I want to reduce the chance of tenant arguments so if there are two spaces or four spaces for parking I mark them for each unit when possible. When I have a backyard that is big enough, I fence half of it for each so that they each get some privacy and never bump into each other in the yard. Low costs, higher feeling of home, higher rent.

I agree 100 percent on allowing pets. You will get very good renters this way who are desperate because they have a big, but friendly dog. BUT I always suggest meeting the pet first. So many rentals don't take pets that those with two pets or big pets will overpay for a nice place.

I don't think of micro-flipping as speed wholesaling although that may be what most do. To me, micro-flipping is what I call lipstick flips. They are undervalued small houses or condos that don't need a lot of work, but too much work for a new person and not enough for a contractor to make what they want. These are ideal for AirBnb glow up renovations.

A lipstick flip is just one that needs minor cosmetic adjustments to get back on the market. When I started in real estate I usd to find a community with multiple units for sale in the same area. I would buy the lowest priced one, add new carpet and paint everwhere, maybe a couple small upgrades on cabinet handles or appliances and then put it back on the market and make 20k before the other units even sold.

@Julio Velazquez In NY and NJ if I am looking for investments to hold and rent or even for house hacking for someone else, the train lines are my guide. Even an imperfect neighborhood on a train line with direct access to the city will be good as a rental. Renters can get 2x the square footage or more for the same price they would pay in Bushwick now.

@Julio Velazquez yeah, definitely harder for you, but it might just take a few more towns over. Since you are bordered by water and then Williamsburg is close, you have stocked 'hoods everywhere. Maybe if you venture further out in Queens and beyond. For NYers I sometimes suggest watching the Metro North train routes out. Most areas have blown up, but on the way there may be a couple stops left that make sense.

@Zayne Ruth if he has solid contacts there and the numbers work it would definitely be an upgrade to just blind investing OOS, but I would still always stay closer to home for a first one, even if it takes longer to find. The main reason is so you can learn. Investing OOS as a newcomer doesn't help you learn anything in real life and most investors who do well over time don't just evaluate markets, they know how everything works in a house or multi and what to look for whether they are in UT or TX.

If you are looking for a more hands-on local approach to this, I think the easiest way to find the next up and coming market is to find the hottest market in your area first. Then, track each next neighborhood to the E, W, N and S. See if those numbers are growing year-over-year, in sales at the same pace. Drive the areas to see where there are more renovations happening. Then when you think you've identified the next hot market where renovations are going on, move to the next one. That is the one where you will find upward growth longer-term, especially if you factor in the sites everyone talked about above. But I think it's safer to see and touch the areas and know for yourself why it's coming up. If you find out a Starbucks or Whole Foods is going into an area that isn't up yet, that market is ripe.

@Zayne Ruth are you saying you would move to house hack in this property and live in it? If so, then it's not OOS investing and in that case you would just need to target where you want to live and start searching, but it seems like you might want to invest OOS and stay where you are for your first investment. In that case, my advice is never to do that. Some succeed, more turnkey options, but all first-timers going OOS aren't making as much as they could be for the last point you brought up. If you haven't spent any time there, met people face-to-face, built relationships, you will never know who you can trust and will overpay for things from afar. When you say the market is dismal where you are? Why? Prices too high, no options, prices too low and no renters?

@Account Closed that's a great point as well. I made several Bro decisions when I was new, but I had the foresight to learn from it. No one is saying don't invest or all Bros are stupid, people are missing the obvious sarcasm built in because it touches a little too close to home, it's just that Bros need to chill before overspending on the advice of a couple Bros on the internet who want to sell them a course on how not to be broke. It's hilarious to me that sarcasm and satire is lost on so many when they will spend all day reading HALP posts and encouraging people to follow their dream when they only 5k to their name that they need to protect first and not invest yet.