All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Makovsky

@Jimmy Koerb, glad to chime in although I think at the end of the day the answer is very personal because only you know how much of a workload you have and what you can take on.

The class sounds great and very interesting, and actually something I would love to learn as well. However, with that said assess your workload and see how much time you really have to spend on it while achieving your other collegiate goals for the semester.

With that being said, if you think it will be too grueling I am sure there are lots of books, websites, forum posts, investors in your areas, etc. that you can "study" from to gain the knowledge you need without the intensive course that you will be graded on and whatever the cost per credit comes out to be.

Again, it's a personal call. Hope this helps.

Welcome @Jason LeMessurier! If you're looking for a mentor, first ask what can I give to my mentor that they will want to take the time to invest in me.

We all have skills, talents and resources to bring the table, even if it's just time.

Best of luck and welcome!

Welcome @Catherine Dickerson! Your experience from 06 is a great education and it sounds like you are coming into 2016 knowing what to look for. Looking forward to reading about your successes!

@Carlo Marroni Great question!

I think these are some of the ROI components you need to be conscious of to answer your question:

1. It's personal: what ROI are you happy with? 

- What would you be happy with? You are going to see investors with all types of returns to ridiculously high ones to negative returns and some people that BS with their numbers (intentionally or unintentionally). So I think the first question is are you okay getting 3%, 5%, 7%, do you need a double digit return? Also, when do you want to start earning your ROI? (More about this last question in #4.)

2. [As you mentioned] what ROI is your local-Montreal market trading on?

- This is something that hopefully local investors in your market will chime in on. However, I imagine the returns will differ significantly depending on where in Montreal you are investing in. So knowing the micro-market in your city is really important to understand what cap-rates are trading on.

3. What asset-class are you investing in?

As you know, the higher the risk the higher the reward: Class A properties in a high-end. growing market will likely yield lower returns, than a Class C property in a non-growth population. (At least this is likely true in the short-term.)

4. How long are you looking to invest for/when do you want to realize the cash-flow?

- What is your timeframe for making a return? 

- If it's very short-term (<1 yr) then maybe private lending or investing with a hard-money lender will work best. If you want the year-over-year cash-on-cash return then maybe a Class B/C property will work best for you. If you can identify a growing area where you believe the appreciation will be forced up due to stronger rents then maybe you take a hit on smaller year-over-year returns and gear up for a big splash down the road. 

5. How are you measuring ROI? 

- This is more of a technical question. 

But if you are using IRR to measure your ROI then the more cash you can earn as quick as possible is the best play. (Personally, I don't think this is the best approach for the small mom-and-pop investors because this assumes you consistently reinvest the returns earned into other deals almost immediately and I don't think most of us are sophisticated to do this.)

Then if you are looking at a cash-on-cash return, when are you okay with it starting to pay out? As mentioned in #4, what you are comfortable with will come into play here.

Hope this is helpful.

@Joshua Wagener Here are the things I would recommend:

1. Research and gain an understanding of the language and key terms of the type of investing you want to do (e.g. wholesaling, rehabbing, buy-and-hold, etc.), 

2. Be an expert in your target market. Know all the streets, how much properties are trading for, go to all the open houses, research what is going on in the local business market (local newspapers, online forums can help with this).

3. Find local successful investors who are doing what you want to do and tell them that you will find them what they are looking for in return for mentoring you for a certain amount of time per week or month. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IF or HOW MUCH YOU GET PAID FOR BRINGING THEM THE FIRST DEAL OR TWO - you will learn first and make a lot of money later! 

4. Possibly become licensed, it's a pretty cheap way to get in the game and then you can make some side money and be an asset to local investors.

5. Make some money doing something else and save it for REI - you will need it no matter what stage of the game you are in.

Best of luck!

@Tyisha G. like so many businesses, there are some turn-key ("TK") opportunities that are excellent operators and hitting the returns they promise, and there are some awful, inexperienced and/or crooked TK operators.

I think the best thing would do is to reach out to many TK operators and just start talking to them and learning and discussing their business model with them and what you're looking for. You should speak to as many TK operators as you can! This way you can understand how they operate their business and you should definitely ask for referrals. It would be great if you can find reputable BP members that invest with some of them.

Bets of luck and please keep us posted!

Welcome @Walid Elfoly

Bump-up!

[SIMPLE REQUEST: If you plan on attending this meet-up please post below.Also, it will be great if you can post where you invest so people will get their key-alerts and see us! The more people that post for this Fairfield Connecticut meet-up the more people will come and the more will network!]

2016 Kick-off!! For those that haven't been yet to this Fairfield real estate investor meet-up - it's awesome!!

Date: Wednesday, January 26th, 2016 (it's last Wednesday of every month - so please mark your calendars)

Time: 7PM mingle. At 7:45pm we go around room to introduce everyone so you can let everyone know what you do and who you would like to meet at the event (brokers, lenders, wholesalers, investors, attorneys, insurance agents, and more.)

No Cost: It's FREE (yes, really)! Okay it's almost free - please buy a drink(s) from the bar. Remember the more you have, the more you'll enjoy it. Just kidding. If you're driving or don't want to drink there are food options and non-alcoholic drinks.

Very Important Note: There is a Happy Hour from 4pm - 7pm before the event starts. I think it's half-off most drinks ($3 craft beers).

Happy investing!

@Christopher Collins Personally I am not a big fan of Gross Rent Multiplier ("GRM").***

GRM is strictly a function of Revenue, where as Cap-Rates (my preference in evaluating a deal) takes into account Operating Expenses ("OpEx").

I think this is especially important Connecticut where OpEx can be high because of 1) high taxes [especially in Bridgeport], 2) the majority of properties are old (requiring more for both reserves and ongoing repairs), and 3) the high cost of labor/service contracts in the state.

That being said - and somewhat contrary to the above - many commercial brokers in CT of mid to large multi-families typically trade properties on a price per unit basis (and the price will fluctuate depending where in B-port).

***Exception to GRM: If you are an experienced investor and understand a certain area and/or have excellent operations then GRM can be a good measure to use. Because if you have strong operations in place and can scale your OpEx (for example, if you have an in-house management company and your expenses are typically fixed no matter how many units you own for contractors, leasing agents, etc.) then you might only be concerned with the rent since your expenses are more-or-less fixed.

@Raj Tirur, echoing what was said above: It will be difficult to find 10+ caps in West Hartford through anything on the market (excluding BS pro formas that some brokers put together). With that said if you are scrappy and look for your own deals anything is possible.