All Forum Posts by: Joseph Cacciapaglia

Search your MLS for recent rehabs, and then visit properties that have the level of finishes you're looking for to see if it's actually done well. The San Antonio MLS allows you to filter by "recent rehab". I would guess your area has a similar function. Once you find a few that you like, you should be able look up who pulled the permits on your city's website or by calling the building department. This is how most of the flippers/BRRRR investors I know have found their best GCs.

I like 1 and 3. 2 hasn't been great for me. I've only had bad experiences on Thumbtack. I don't think the fact that they pay for it has anything to do with the quality of the vendor.

Our PM team in San Antonio has volume discounts based on dollars collected each month. The benefit to the PM is that it's easier to deal with one owner of 10 properties than it is to deal with 10 owners with one property each. I find that owners of a single property tend to cause more problems than more experienced investors with larger portfolios too.

I have one client that has worked with several investors to collectively bargain for lower rates with a couple PMs. He is acting as a single POC for that portfolio though, and is very easy to work with. I don't think a PM would be as open to the group bargain, if they then had to deal with a bunch of individual owners anyway.

I completely agree that making predictions, especially macro predictions, is a fool's errand. Instead I've tried to focus on protecting my downside while also taking advantage of market conditions. 

Here's what I did this year:

I sold a large portion of my portfolio this year, but mostly did so with owner financing. This enabled me to create cash flow with no associated liability, and without a massive tax consequence. With high interest rates, I'm very happy with the CoC returns going forward.

I made new investments in cash, so I don't have to fear a downturn or pay high rates.

I invested heavily in my agent business, and have recruited 3 new agents to my team. The uncertainty in the real estate market has made this the ideal time to pick up new talent, because being on an investment focused agent team provides new opportunities in a downturn.

I don't believe my market, San Antonio, is going to have a real crash, but I'm well positioned if we do. I'm also taking advantage of the current fear, because there are already a few sellers willing to take big discounts today, because of the panic created by national news.

I don't understand why people spend time arguing about where the market is headed, instead of simply preparing themselves and their portfolio for whatever they expect. 

I've used LegalZoom, and would not recommend it. The price I pay my current attorney is only a couple hundred dollars more than LegalZoom charges, and I get the benefit of expert counsel. I'm a former attorney, and was still a bit uncomfortable when I used LefalZoom, because there is no good way to know when you're missing something. They try to sell a bunch of up charges, and it's not really clear if any are necessary.

I use http://www.lawofficeofmichaelv... for all my real estate legal needs here in San Antonio. 

I agree this probably isn't going to be an '08 scenario. I think there is just a lot of fear mongering, so there will be some fantastic individual deals made, if you can find the sellers that are spooked right now. I don't expect the whole market to drop to a similar extent. 

I think there will be at least a few panic sellers in every market though. I'm in San Antonio, and we're not doing too bad here yet, but people listen to the national news, and some of them will make a decision to sell below where the market is actually headed, based purely on fear. Waiting and watching prices won't make those deals happen though. You actually have to be out making the offers.

I would suggest doing some math related to the cost of capital of that $40K. You have to look at the rate you're paying on that $40K directly, and look at the increased interest you would be paying on the rest of the loans. My guess, without knowing those loan amounts or your new rates, is that you would be paying at least 15% on that money, and it could be a lot more. I wouldn't give up profitability for scale.