All Forum Posts by: Julie Macd

@Joshua Ibarra at first glance this does not seem to be such a good deal. If you buy it for $120K and put $30K into it and sell it for $160K by the time you pay closing costs you just lost money. Most investors would want to see 70% ARV (after repair value) taking into account the purchase costs, repair costs, and sales costs on both ends.

That said, do a bit of work to see what the ARV might be - is there anything special about the property? Also, how firm is the price? and what work has been done recently or needs to be done to get it to the point you can sell at a profit.

Good luck

Hi @Tim Richardson

The first thing to decide is what are your long term goals and what to do you want to do. There are as many ways to get involved in real estate as there are people in it. Where do you want to be in 5 years? Are you more interested in wealth accumulation, cash flow, appreciation or some combination of both. Where do you want to be in 4 years when the payouts from the sell of your business run out. Real estate is a business. Treat it like one and you will be better off in the long run.

 You say you are a good helper but not a handyman, but do you want to be a handyman? are you really interested in using the hammer or just directing other to do so. Do you want to be a landlord? or would you rather leave the day to day management to someone else. What do you bring to the table besides cash? what kind of partnerships might you be interested in or do you prefer to work in your own?

Once you answer some of these basic questions, then you can decide whether you want to focus on buy and holds or flipping, or perhaps you prefer to invest in loaning, or find a partner to work with, etc. With $100K you have lots of options but what works for others may not appeal to you.

Best of luck!

great info. thank you

You could try checking with the city or county. Any funds available would most likely be geared towards low income housing. You could try to find a grant or low money down loan and house hack your first property to get up and running.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets Wendell. This site is a wealth of information and contact to help you on your way.  The first step is to figure out what you want to do and create a plan to get there.

Good Luck!

@Zeke Marshall

 I also invest from overseas. My first house I found while I was home for 2 weeks, completed the purchase through email and fedex. (ie. the title company emailed me the docs, I printed them, signed, notarized, and fedexed back.)  The US embassy will notarize your documents for a fee. You just need to make sure that the lender and closing agents will work this way. The bank initially was reluctant, but they came around as I could prove assets, income etc.  Note: the first closing agent was much 'nicer' as set up the documents so only one page needed to be notarized, whereas for the refinance I had to pay for 4 notary stamps. (i.e. you pay by the stamp around $50 each).

I agree with @Bryan O. assessment on choices for investing from afar. As my key concern now is for cash flow with moderate appreciation  I have decided to purchase turnkey properties in Kansas City. While I have had great luck with my first purchase, the chances of finding another cash flow property in Seattle is slim as I bought the first one in 2010. I have decided to travel to KC for a few days to look at the market and meet with TK and property managers. 

I think you are focusing too much on the cap rate with or without repairs. You can pretend you will have an 11% cap rate. However, the repairs will need to be done most likely sooner rather than later. When you do them your return will be much lower than you think. Therefore, You can plan for them or just pay for them later That said, to determine if you want to invest in this property you should consider these very expensive cap ex items if not at purchase within the first years of the investment. If the numbers do not work taking into account major repairs that most likely will be needed then it is not a good deal.

I have rented for years as I have to move a lot. Neutral colors is important preferably  off white as it goes with anything and lets the tenant complement as necessary. Definitely put in the laundry. If it is only a duplex, I would consider charging slightly higher rent rather than charging for the laundry. If it is a larger complex than coin operated would be ok. 

As a renter, (and landlord),  easy to clean and maintain is important especially in the kitchen and bathroom. The problem with tiles in the bathroom it can be hard to keep clean and free of mold. Once the grout starts to get mold, it stains and is hard to get rid of.

Good lighting in both the kitchen and bathroom, often overlooked but is important, especially for us ladies : )

@Lauren Norman

you will not be taxed on money set aside per se.. you are taxed based on income less expenses including depreciation.

having a reserve is to ensure that you have the funds to cover yourself when something unexpected happens whether vacancies, repairs, etc.

I would also like to join in. I am actively looking at properties and hope to buy something in the next month or two