All Forum Posts by: Kevin Manafi

Whenever possible, I still purchase with cash. Given the elevated pricing in the market and high interest rates are compressing margins on already tight deals, using cash allows me to at least generate extra margin and simplicity by avoiding all of the additional financing costs.

I live and work in Northern NJ and from monitoring the auction lists, I'm not seeing much of an increase.

Hi @Raj Kumar,

It's pretty common in these situations (where the lease start date is further out) to require a non-refundable deposit--different than the security deposit--to essentially hold the lease for the tenants. I would also have them sign the lease in advance, even if they are not willing to pay the full security deposit and 1st month's rent that far in advance, so at least you have a fully-executed lease contract and are protected both by the signing deposit and the actual lease.

If they refuse to do either of those things, then it should probably be a red flag for you that they are still shopping around and looking at other places.

Hey @Noah Keyishian, I'm an investor and investor-agent based in Bergen County. I service and invest in Bergen, Hudson, Essex, and Passaic Counties. Happy to connect!

@Robert Medina Congrats on getting started with real estate. BP is a tremendous resource, so you're definitely in the right place.

Finding a mentor--especially one that you want to hold you accountable--is a personal process. You want a mentor that is similar to you and someone that you get along with, but also someone who can challenge you and has skills/qualities you'd like to emulate. Networking is the name of the game here...I've found that for the most part, the best mentors usually come around organically as opposed to setting a goal for finding one.

Hi @Paige Bostic, to answer your first question--you cannot purchase a property with an FHA loan in the name of an LLC. It's also quite risky to try transferring it to the LLC post-closing as this could breach your mortgage contract and cause the lender to enforce the "Due-on-Sale" clause--basically, this allows a lender to immediately call due the entire balance of the loan if an unauthorized transfer is made or certain other conditions are breached.

@Steven Bialecki J Scott's Book on Estimating Rehab Costs is fantastic and one of my favorites, it's definitely a perfect primer for you to get general frameworks for all different types of rehab. In terms of furthering your knowledge, I'd recommend YouTube--it's such a great resource to look into all different types of rehab. You can write down a few different rehab categories a week and watch a few videos (i.e. Framing, Plumbing, Roofing, etc.)

Another great way is by real-life experience--you need to walk a ton of properties! And if you can walk them with a contractor, even better. Home inspectors are also a great resource if you use them properly--be attentive during home inspections, ask thoughtful questions about things/home components you want to learn more about, and a good home inspector will usually have no problem explaining these things to you.

@Toby Shacalo Unfortunately, what you're describing is pretty common....you'd think something as simple as responsiveness would be at the top of the list for real estate agents, but that is sadly not often the case. Even though it's in their best interest and would probably help them sell more properties, a lot of agents just aren't great at getting back to people.

As to the perceived change in treatment once you mentioned you were an investor: it's normal, especially if you're a newer investor. Most realtors deal with regular retail clients and are not versed in dealing with investor clients unless it's their specialty. They could also not have the time, or not be willing to put in the effort to educate a newer investor as they start out.

@Gabriel Rouse There are a lot of things to consider when evaluating real estate opportunities. Specifically in terms of choosing investment locations, you'll want to consider demand drivers like: major employers/employment opportunities; population growth trends; demographics; safety and school ratings; proximity to major transportation; and more. You'll also want to consider supply factors: is there an oversupply of housing there? Undersupply? Just the right amount? 

@Nina Rivera To answer your other half of the question for future reference--you do not need to re-invest the entire profit when using a 1031. You will just be taxed on whatever portion you choose to retain and not roll over into a new property.