All Forum Posts by: Kevin Scanlan Jr.

Hi All! 

Are there are any real estate agents you would recommend from personal experience or from follow investors that focus in Michigan City, Indiana? 

Hoping to get in contact with agents that focus with investors and have good insights on the area and returns. Two investors and myself are looking to purchase our next multiple family property together. We are currently between two cities, with Michigan City being one of them and love to learn more about the area from an experience agent.

Thank you in advance for your help! 

@Jonathan Klemm Thank you for the recommendation. It was great meeting you at the meetup last week that Weston and he's team put on. I was able to fix the drain issue myself that I was talking about, but I'll keep NestEgg in mind for the future if more issues arise. 

Hello fellow Chicago BPers,

I just bought my first rental property in Chicago last June. It's a 3-unit property. I'm currently renting out the bottom and top units, with me living in the middle one. I also Airbnb my other two extra bedrooms on my floor for extra income. In 2019, I also did major rehab to both the top unit and the one I'm currently living/airbnbing in.

I wanted to reach out to fellow real estate investors in the Chicago land area about their accountants:

1. 1) Do you have a recommendation for an accountant that you've personally had a great experience with from the Chicago land area that is very knowledgeable about real estate taxes (especially about house hacking/airbnb and rehab depreciations)?
2. 2) Only looking for an accountant to fill out my Schedule E and Form 1040 for CY19.
3. 1. Are there any other tax forms I should be aware of, besides the two listed above?

I have bit of a mess when it comes to my normal tax returns due to my income and sold assets with my side business with Youtube. I currently have two of my close friends who were in the Big 4, handle my personal taxes, so that's why I'm only interested in doing the Schedule E and Form 1040 from a specialized accountant in real estate.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best,

Kevin

@Steve Vaughan Awesome advice! Is this strategy something you applied for purchasing your first property too? Would you say this strategy takes on average a few years after building these relationships to turn into acquiring a property? 

@Chase Louderback Thank you for the advice! I've been reaching out and meeting up with investors in the same situation as me, but I think that's a great point to start going to the real estate meetups as well. How often do you go to local meetups? 

@Diana Muresan @Bjorn Ahlblad - Thank you both for the help! I originally wanted to go with a 203k fha and roll in the renovations, but I figured there would be too much red tape and with my busy season coming coming up for work, that'd it'd be too much to handle this year. 

I don't mind doing cosmetic upgrades and would prefer if there was quite a bit of cosmetic upgrades to be down, so I can add value and then increase the rents. I think the key for me is finding the properties owned by a distraught landlord and acting on the situation. 

@John Warren - Thank you for the tip. I'm currently work with Ronan :) 

With my post, I just wanted to confirm I wasn't missing any obvious ways to source a deal and that I had the right mindset for my situation. 

@Jake Fugman @Zack Karp - Thank you both for the advice! I agree that you mostly hear about home runs on real estate forums and I should focus more on the singles and doubles. I think it's more about adjusting my expectations for my first deal and think of it more as learning opportunity too. Plus, focusing on the big picture and realizing that I've only putting down 5% to help me get into the real estate game. 

@Henry Lazerow Thank you for the guidance! How would I get notified of listings on TAN? 

That's a great point about the 1% rule and depending what class the property is in. I'll keep looking everyday and use more of the .8% as a new rule of thumb for me. Seems like I just have to look a little harder to find the deals out there. 

@Zack Karp Thanks for the words of encouragement! Seems like I just have to remind myself to stay patient and keep looking everyday. 

@Taylor Chiu I'm planning on get financing with a conventional loan with a 5% down payment. I thought about getting a hard money loan for the last deal I was under contract with, but it would have required too much cash out of my pocket and left me strapped for cash in case I needed to repair a major item.