All Forum Posts by: Jon K.

@Dan H.

agree.  there is no such thing as 'cash flow from day 1.'  is there a way to buy without paying closing costs?

I want to bring some reality to the situation which is 99.9% of us do not become financially free through rental properties (or real estate). Its a great asset class that is a long term play, but those thinking to get financially free at a young age, I would say go into tech.

I graduated with a friend, same degree. In 2011 he went and worked in tech for NVIDIA, I have been in real estate. His net worth is 5x mine and mine is pretty darn good. He is financially and time independent. Getting their through rentals is great for building wealth but do not count on leaving your job unless you are becoming active in real estate which is still a job.

Sorry just my 2 cents.

When I acquired a 6 unit property in Hartford, CT in 2022, the neighborhood appeared as just working class. Soon after, the neighborhood went from class C to class F. I stuck with the same PM, owned by Tom Kopchick, because they knew the building and neighborhood quite well. Unfortunately, things went South really fast. I thought, let me evict the non-paying tenants and replace them with paying ones. Well this was like pulling teeth. Units were not flipped because the PM blamed it on the bad neighborhood and said that govt programs were the way to go if I wanted a consistent rent roll. He never told me that it would take several months to get funds from these entities. I ended up with 4 empty units and 2 paying tenants, then only 1 paying tenant. I still paid the mortgage on time, but was a struggle at times borrowing money from friends and family just to do so. A veteran was finally put in one of the units (the one paying tenant), however, the PM failed to tell him to open his own electricity acct and after 6 months, ended up with over $2000 of charges under my LLC. When I went by the building one day, they refused to let me into another vacant unit because they said once a govt program takes over while they find a tenant, I as the owner cannot have access to it. This unit ended up costing my LLC over $1800 in electricity charges when it was supposed to be vacant. The electricity shot up to over 3000 kw over the winter prompting me to think they had a grow house in there or a squatter the PM was collecting rent from himself.

In a neighborhood like this, you need a very competent PM. Instead, I ended up with the worst and most incompetent in the state, if not the whole country. They never got back to me on anything. It was, "yeah I'll take care of it" and I'd never hear from them again. Some of the problems were not taken care of at all. Homeless people were shacking up in the basement and breaking windows on the ground level trying to get inside one of the units. The PM had a manager who stuck her "friend" in one of the units prior to my acquisition and because they had a fall out, she stopped paying rent so I got no revenue from that unit for 7 months. The PM was horrible at trying to evict her and she finally abandoned the place, costing me over $9000 in lost revenue. When I attempted to replace them with another PM, Tom begged me to keep him on. Like an idiot and a firm believer that everybody deserves a second chance, I proceeded to continue on with them. Huge mistake. Things got much worse. He deliberately used a plow to destroy my driveway when there was snow, prompting my insurance company to come after me. In the two estimates I got to repave the driveway which were around $7000, Tom wanted 15K for it. It seemed to me that things were broken so they can make money off of the repairs. A PM could easily get away with this. There was a leak in the skylight above the inside hallway and they implied that I needed to redo the entire roof because of that one leak. That would've cost me over 20K. 

In trying to get another PM to come on board which none would touch with a 10 foot pole and my hemorrhaging money left and right, I decided to put it on the market. Tom the PM got upset because he wanted to sell it for me, but I told him that if he was inept as a PM, what made him think he would be great at selling my building? All reviews of this PM on the internet are all horrible. Goes to show you that before you contemplate hiring a PM, ALWAYS check their reviews first. Most lie through their teeth. Additionally, he never charged me a "percentage" of the rent roll as stated in the agreement. It was always a flat fee of over $600 whether I had 4 tenants or 1. With the appreciation, I didn't lose as much money as I thought, but had I held onto it, I would've gone bankrupt and had the building go into foreclosure, all because of their incompetence. Again, I tried my best to find another PM, but there were no takers. It's PMs like these that ruin the reputation for the others. I truly believe that they can steal from under you and get away with it. Even the REIA in CT was of no help. An entity that supposedly "helps" investors, but said nothing on how to avoid bad PMs. Besides them, I contacted the AG of CT, the mayor and an attorney to see about suing them. I got no help whatsoever. The state literally has enablers that allow rogue PMs to get away with a lot and I'm sure this is like this across the country. The Dept of Consumer Protection was a joke and was of no help either. Everyone assumes landlords have bottomless pockets so they don't really care about them. I sought advice on Biggerpockets, only to get berated and spoken condescendingly by other investors. It's as if I was supposed to have a crystal ball and why didn't I do this or that. Were they successful on their FIRST INVESTMENT? Crickets. It was more like "look at me, everything I touch turns to gold". Yeah right. Now, I'm focused on fixing and flipping. An endeavor I look forward to, as I refuse to get discouraged in my real estate journey.

Most real estate investors fight over the same overpriced, outdated properties—when they could be building for less and making more.

I’ve been in development for years, and I can tell you firsthand: new construction is one of the most overlooked ways to generate six-figure profits.

Here’s why:
Build for WAY less than market value
Skip bidding wars and competition
Rent or sell brand-new properties at top dollar

Yet, most investors avoid new builds because they think it’s too expensive, complicated, or risky. But is that really true?

I want to hear from you: Have you considered building instead of buying? What’s stopping you? Let’s break it down—drop your thoughts below! 👇

Hey everyone – just wanted to put this out there and see if anyone else has been through the same thing. Lately, I’ve been deep in research mode... digging into markets, running numbers, listening to podcasts, reading books – basically doing everything except actually making a move.

I feel like I’ve hit that classic wall of analysis paralysis. I want to take action, but I keep second-guessing myself, waiting for the “perfect” deal or trying to learn just a little more before pulling the trigger.

If you’ve been here before, what helped you finally take that first step? How did you push past the fear and just start?

Appreciate any advice – or even just hearing that I’m not alone in this.

Hi,

I have a 3bed 1bath single family house which is rented at $1,400 a month. Current comps in the area are around $2,000- $2500 month and should be able to easily get that.

My current tenants have been there almost 10 years now and always pay on time. They are usually several days or even 1 week early paying the rent. They are great tenants and rarely ever have a maintenance call and small stuff they just take care of on there own and don't charge me or even let me know. I already went a couple years without even talking to them.

I have been slowly rising the rent like $50 a month every year but its still way under market value by at least $500 - $1000 a month.

It is a old house and does have its flaws which is expected in a 100+ year old home.

What would you do or how much should I raise it at renewal? Its a yearly auto renew lease.

Thanks

I have an investment property that I would like to take money out of by using a line of credit. Are there any Lenders this offer Line of Credit for investment property?

Hey everyone,

I'll keep this short and would love to hear from investors who have successfully leveraged a HELOC to scale their real estate portfolio for both short-term cash flow and long-term wealth building.

I’m about to unlock $200-250K in HELOC from my primary residence (a condo in NYC), and I know there’s a powerful strategy I can implement.

My current plan:

✅ Acquire a 10-15 unit multifamily in a mid-sized market (AL, TN, OH, etc.), targeting a $700-800K deal with value-add potential.

✅ Use 20% from my HELOC for the down payment and finance the rest with hard money.

✅ Force appreciation over 6 months, then refinance into a DSCR loan to pay off the HELOC.

✅ Rinse and repeat!

Has anyone executed a similar strategy?

What challenges did you face, and what lessons did you learn?

Would love to hear about pitfalls, lender restrictions, and any alternative approaches you’d recommend.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!