All Forum Posts by: Alex Cole

Hello @Cliff H.

I'm in the area as well in Bangor/Brewer area, formerly Bradley/OT. I don't have any investments yet but I'm very familiar with this area.

The only other person I know for property management is Marsh Property Management, I have met and done some work for Kurtis Marsh with his vehicles. I know he is a great person, very active in Bangor Breakfast Kiwanis and a couple other good organizations around here, I can only assume he brings the same ethic to his work.

Here is the property owner information for their website

He's located on Odlin road, in an office above my old workplace at Bernatche Auto Body. 

@Mark Adams I agree on the Old Town/Orono being hard one landlords. But that is pretty much a college run area now, as for Orono anyways. The appartment I had in Old Town was a dump to say the least, but that was my first and with three other people, so I didn't know any better. The landlord would be what you would consider a slum lord. The building was falling apart, we couldn't control heat (down to 40-50 degrees inside one day). On top of it all, the pipes froze and he complained to me about his brand new water heater being broken AS IF it were my fault and my responsibility for it. I was in talks with the OT code enforcement officer but we all just decided to hike it after the lease was up.

My second apartment was MUCH better, in Bradley. About 5 minutes away, more rural. It was much nicer, freshly painted and cleaned on the inside as if it were new. Those landlords painted after every tenant left and that showed a lot of responsibility and ethic on their part. What did bug me was how they offered to pick up cash. I didn't think about the downsides to this until getting interested in real estate. But when they usually pick up cash on the first or a day  or two after, they started coming late. Then after 15 days they asked where the rent was, and I wasn't happy because we had an agreement for pickup.

So there are definitely things that could be improved upon existing landlords to stand out, there's no doubt. But I don't think it's as hard as people point it out to be, it just requires the attitude.

@Mark Adams @Chris Luksha sorry the @mentions weren't working in the last post.

And Mark I totally understand the passion of one's work. I love airplanes but man I'm smarter than making the average. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about all aspects of aviation so someday I could take on a more advantageous job. There's also a HUGE business in leasing aircrafts, engines, and even parts! That's a pretty lucrative business. But theres something about real estate that also gets me going. I'm big on creating or maintaining value of something, and my mindset brought from painting planes and fixing cars definitely helps in real estate.

But I am totally down to meet and talk! I'm really interested in some real estate investor meetings but I can't find too much information on them around here. 

It's all fine and good Mark and Thank you for the welcoming! Good to have a bunch of newbies to hang out with as we learn! 

As for the vacancy rates, I searched the census for information on the 04401 area code. Here is the information for Bangor. Under the 2015 Annual Estimate of Housing Units is where I saw the vacancy rate. I'm not sure how accurate that is. But if it's in the ballpark, it seems to me like the area is steady and improvable.

I may be a bit optimistic about the area but I feel it's definitely a good time to start here! and I will be more than excited to go grab a Moxie, I know Dysarts serves it!

I do really want to become a property manager, especially for the buildings I want to have with multi units, because wherever I have rented from, I see things that could have been improved on the landlords end. I know of a few property managers, but have no experience in real estate with them.

I do know of one contractor I would go to in a heartbeat, but I'm not sure he's into remodel/refit/flip work. Mike Nelligan from Nelligan Construction did the groundwork for my house, and he was very informative, quick on the site and did very good work. After the house was finished, I needed to get some top loom over my yard but kept pushing off the phone call until just a few weeks ago. The day after I called, he was out here working. Quick on the phone, he is to the point, and does very good work for the price. Out of 4 people that were contacted to do the work (all with fairly good reputation) he seemed to be the most qualified and knowledgeable. He also didn't mind stopping by on a sunday morning when he was driving through to see how things were going. That's a good man in my book.

I'm not sure of any other contractors I know too much about. I've seen work from a few companies around here when things were being done for a local body shop I used to work for, but I didn't pay too close attention. I pitched in on a lot of decon, construction, and painting and all that flipping stuff. I'm sure you know quite a bit about that life more than I do. But recently I have been helping my father on a lot of projects at his house, and I'm learning as hard as I can the fundamentals of construction. I have experience doing just about everything but I couldn't yet be confident in flipping everything myself, but I'm a really hands-on person and there isn't anything I wont figure out.

Let me know next time you're coming up to the stinkin' Lincoln.

Thanks for the input! The thing that really got my curiosity going was the appartment Iived in before I bought my house. My landlords were making 700 from my unit, and there were three more units on the same lot(this was an older house refitted to three units, and a tiny little shack off to the side as another unit.) Other than getting plowed out and getting our frozen pipes burst, I never really saw the landlords in the two years I have been there. 

   That's the passive income that I'm looking forward to having, but I dont want to be AS passive as my landlors always were. I see things that I could have handled better, but you really cant beat +/- 2800 a month with mortgage of around 600. Even factoring an extra 1000 for taxes/ins/repairs, thats still a damn good deal. I want that kind of investment. And that might be the deal I need to get started.

And In my experience trying to rent appartments, I haven't seen a vacancy problem. It's always been a struggle to get the appartment you've locked eyes on and there is a pretty penny to be paid monthly to live in some "decent" areas of bangor/orono/old town

Great! Thank you! I do have a question though. I know this area has a lot of older homes that now have mother-in-law appartments. I have lived in a couple during my time. Would it be a safer option investing in a duplex/triplex versus a single family? I know you're possibly trading off another exit strategy in a duplex but the cash flow would be there. I am looking for a very conservative approach, and I think my first investment will be hardest because of my house.

Hello everybody!

      I am Alex Cole, I stumbled across the bigger pockets podcast in search for some financial education in my life, and have been hooked since. I have been a member, but not much of a contributer to the forums until now.

    I am an aircraft painter by trade, based in Bangor; but my long hour work week and little appreciation for the ethic and skills I bring forth do not coincide with my bigger goals in life.
    As I imagine a lot of others have done, it all started with reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and quickly changed my mindset on how I want to operate financially. I have read some other big hitters like Think and Grow Rich and The 4-hour Work Week. One book I highly recommend is The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone, I feel it is not known enough and underrated.
  I also spend a lot of my time at work listening to podcasts from Bigger Pockets and the Rich Dad Radio Show.

But let's get into real estate. I am not yet in the game but plan to be very soon. The best thing would be to finance a fix&flip with then option to hold for a rental. The market here seems to be good and stable from what Ive seen. There is an ever growing hospital, another stable hospital, casino, aviation business, manafacturing facilities... you name it. Median income of 40k, 60-80k in neighboring towns. Vacancy rate at 7.2 percent, and rents around 900 dollars for a 2/1. I feel very safe investing here because I know the neighborhoods.
    I did a quick google search for "we buy houses" and cant pinpoint an actual investor that capitalizes in wholesaling, so thats a definate area I want to explore. 
    This is my city and I would be wrong if I said there wasnt an opportunity for me to jump in. But...

My significant other and I just bought our first home, built new. Before ever getting my brains wrapped around real estate. The potential for investing would have been a lot more open if I had invested first. Money is tight, and thats a problem, but problems call for solutions and I love figuring things out.
  So for now I will continue to learn and look for the right opportunities to flip and get in the game! I look forward to talking to those invested in the area!

Hello everybody!

      I am Alex Cole, I stumbled across the bigger pockets podcast in search for some financial education in my life, and have been hooked since. I have been a member, but not much of a contributer to the forums until now.

    I am an aircraft painter by trade, based in Bangor; but my long hour work week and little appreciation for the ethic and skills I bring forth do not coincide with my bigger goals in life.
    As I imagine a lot of others have done, it all started with reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and quickly changed my mindset on how I want to operate financially. I have read some other big hitters like Think and Grow Rich and The 4-hour Work Week. One book I highly recommend is The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone, I feel it is not known enough and underrated.
  I also spend a lot of my time at work listening to podcasts from Bigger Pockets and the Rich Dad Radio Show.

But let's get into real estate. I am not yet in the game but plan to be very soon. The best thing would be to finance a fix&flip with then option to hold for a rental. The market here seems to be good and stable from what Ive seen. There is an ever growing hospital, another stable hospital, casino, aviation business, manafacturing facilities... you name it. Median income of 40k, 60-80k in neighboring towns. Vacancy rate at 7.2 percent, and rents around 900 dollars for a 2/1. I feel very safe investing here because I know the neighborhoods.
    I did a quick google search for "we buy houses" and cant pinpoint an actual investor that capitalizes in wholesaling, so thats a definate area I want to explore. 
    This is my city and I would be wrong if I said there wasnt an opportunity for me to jump in. But...

My significant other and I just bought our first home, built new. Before ever getting my brains wrapped around real estate. The potential for investing would have been a lot more open if I had invested first. Money is tight, and thats a problem, but problems call for solutions and I love figuring things out.
  So for now I will continue to learn and look for the right opportunities to flip and get in the game! I look forward to talking to those invested in the area!

Greetings! This is my first post as well. I am always out and about the Bangor area myself as well. A few months back I tried pursuing a property that was listed by the Simpson Team (http://teamsimpson.realtor). They were very awesome to work with and like to take notes and listen to what your idealistic properties would be. That is as far as my experience goes. There are a few property management companies around here but I have not yet done much business with them.