All Forum Posts by: Julia Ann

@Jason G. thanks for the update! Great idea to get local agents involved, I think. 

I don't understand how someone that comes into 100K-300K would be an accredited investor to take part in a syndicate? Maybe I'm missing something.

Hi Sunitha! I am also in MA and met up with another like-minded investor looking at out of state investing, through Roofstock. What sources are you using to find properties? Maybe we can meet up again and get a little group started.

Pics are blurry and could be better even with a simple Instagram-ish filter. Looks like its on a golf course, right? Is there a club where you can post about it or let people know about it? Advertise on something golfers read?

Another thing you may not have considered is the AirBnB option. Since VT and the Burlington area is a popular vacation area. Check out the recent BP podcast about it. Not sure what VT local laws are about short term vacation rentals though.

Lifelong Bostonian here. Yes, Somerville and East Boston had somewhat bad reputations but nothing like Mattapan and Roxbury. Mattapan especially I think is many decades away from gentrification, if at all. Dorchester is a bit different as it was previously a very wealthy area so has some gorgeous older Victorian homes in certain neighborhoods that are always valuable and some neighborhoods (thinking of Pope's Hill and such) that have never really been that bad anyway. It's one of those were you have to go and see street by street. For Roxbury, maybe the closer you get to the South End border you may have some appreciation.

But yes, 1% rule in MA is very hard to come by, I think you'd have to get a stroke of luck.

Gary Vaynerchuk talks a lot about playing to your strengths. You mentioned (the OP) that you didn't feel like being a landlord was suited for your personality, so that's OK! That's great to learn now and not a negative thing. Either find property managers to take over the part you don't like or sell and find other investment pursuits that suit you and thereby create less stress. No investment is worth setting yourself up for constant stress.

@Ryan Fox I happened to read an article in New York Magazine last week about the current status of HUD. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/ben-c...

An interesting excerpt: 

After word emerged in early March that the White House was considering cutting as much as $6 billion from the department, Carson had sent a rare email to HUD employees assuring them that this was just a preliminary figure. But as it turned out, Carson, as a relative political outsider lacking strong connections to the administration, was out of the loop: The final proposal crafted by Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney called for cutting closer to $7 billion, 15 percent of its total budget. Participants in the Section 8 voucher program would need to pay at least 17 percent more of their income toward rent, and there'd likely be a couple hundred thousand fewer vouchers nationwide (and 13,000 fewer in New York City). Capital funding for public housing would be slashed by a whopping 68 percent — this, after years of cuts that, in New York alone, had left public-housing projects with rampant mold, broken elevators, and faulty boilers.

“By the time I left, almost 90 percent of our budget was to help people stay in their homes,” Shaun Donovan told me. “So when you have a 15 percent cut to that budget, by definition you’re going to be throwing people out of their homes. You’re literally taking vouchers away from families, you’re literally shutting down public housing, because it can’t be maintained anymore.”

I have no political agenda here or anything but am seriously considering turnkey investments and evaluating areas. Even though I don't think the whole Section 8 program will disappear, this is something to consider if you're looking at properties that have Section 8 tenants. Those 100% covered easier checks may be harder to come by. 

@Jason G., congrats! Is it close to Property #1? Was your first offer accepted on it?

@Jason G. Thanks for the update, please do keep BP posted on how it all goes. Hope it is a  big success.