All Forum Posts by: Josh Gesler

Good luck with your investment plan. I've pretty much decided that the cap rate in WW is too low for me to consider at this point, but there are certainly deals to be found.

It's a small world. I'm also from Walla Walla.
Welcome.

If there is other tools you would like to see, let me know. Give me some ideas of tools that don't exist or are too expensive to buy.

Josh

There are a lot of myths surrounding Pit Bulls and showing prejudices toward Pit Bull owners simply furthers the problem. According the the ATTS (American Temperamental Test Society), Pit Bulls have a passing rate of 85.3% compared to the average of 77% for all dog breeds. (Schnauzers, on the other hand, have a passing rate of 66.1%.) During the first part of the 20th century, Pit Bulls were the most popular family dogs. Over the years people began to take advantage of Pit Bull's loyalty and willingness to please and thus began the Pit Bull fighting trend.

I am not saying that you should allow all dogs to be on your properties. There are dogs out there that are just going to be a liability, but basing your decision on breed and not the temperament of the individual dog is nothing more than bigotry.

Josh Gesler

I'm using Jon Holdman's spreadsheet.
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/30682-figuring-out-max-purchase-price-from-mo-rents-

It's great for doing quick "Can you possibly make money on that?" type of calculations.

Are you using a mac?

Josh

I've used a simple spreadsheet to do quick analysis of prices vs rents using the 50% rule. I'm working on making a Dashboard Widget of it so I don't have to leave the spreadsheet open all the time. Is anyone else interested in using it? I'm happy to share.

It will calculate the following:
Input: Monthly Rent, Expense Ratio, Desired Cashflow /month, Term of loan, Loan Interest Rate
Output: Maximum Loan Amount

I've also thought if there was enough demand I could create some other tools for investors. Any suggestions? I'm also toying with idea of creating an app for the Palm Pre and maybe the iPhone.

Josh

It would probably help to have a link to the chatroom in a prominent place in the navigation. Maybe better than list status for each user, you could simply show how many people are currently in the chatroom. I might also suggest that you use a chat application based on IRC. For those of us who are chat junkies, IRC is a nice option. I'd be willing to assist in a chatroom upgrade project if you like.

Josh Gesler

LOL...I see what you mean. My feeling is that overpaying for an SFH that was cashflow positive would be practically impossible. I've yet to see a market where houses are renting at twice what the mortgage would be if purchased at fair market value. This is the argument that RE agents will give you. Agent: "This house is 30% lower than FMV." Me: "Um, ya...but it still doesn't cashflow." Agent: "Well, most investors put 50% down and they don't calculate 50% for expenses." Me: "Well then they messed up!" I'm certainly not saying you should pay more than FMV, I just don't think I would spend a lot of time trying to figure out how much it's worth if I were to sell. If I can buy it at 50 times the monthly rent, then I'm golden. Does that better explain my thinking?

I should have mentioned that I would research the area first. That would be the topic of another thread. Thanks for bringing that up though. We certainly need to keep the area in mind.

I understand we should figure out rental rates, but I'm not sure that home prices are really that important. I might be all wet on this, but my feeling is that I am buying these to hold them and don't plan on selling. Would home prices really make that big a difference?

Rehabs would have to be handled with great care. I agree that it will be difficult but I'm sure there will be a way to deal with it. Like I mentioned, I am not going to be buying anything in need of rehab for awhile. Carpets and paint might be needed occasionally but that shouldn't be a big deal.

Building a team seems to be one of the hardest parts of the whole process. I have a great network locally, but sometimes I don't know where to start when exploring a new area. It would be great if we could start a list of contacts in different areas to refer investors. In the mean time, I'm leaning on my wholesale contacts and hope that they have a good local network.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate your thoughts.

I am looking for suggestions on what things I should be asking for when looking at out-of-state investments. Nothing beats an on site walk around, but that isn't possible. I'll lay out my "plan" for checking out properties and feel free to point out holes.

I'm working with a wholesaler who is finding the properties so they are providing tax information, pictures, and rehab estimates.

If the property needs rehab I would ask for two actual quotes from contractors. To begin, I'm going to stick with properties that are rent-ready.

If the property is already rented, then we are ahead of the game when determining rent rates. If it's not rented, then I would contact a local property management company and try to get them to do an estimate. Does this sound logical? I would also get vacancy rates for the local area broken down by property type. (eg. 2/1, 3/2, etc)

I'm not sure that getting an actually appraisal would do much good since I'm basing the buying price on the cashflow not comps.

Ok, go ahead and rip it apart. :-)

Josh