All Forum Posts by: Kyle Shankin

@Stephanie Money the biggest hurdle is wasting time, typically through analysis paralysis and "being busy". This is true for more than just real estate. A lot of people try too hard to accomplish a goal in the "most correct" way, without committing any mistakes or failures. Emphasis is often placed on how a project unfolds instead of the end result. Ironically, this can tank your project/goal or drag it out forever, where there's no completion/success.

It's important to take action and be ready to persevere. 

Using your examples, if a lender doesn't take you seriously, it's because you've failed to give them a reason to do otherwise. If a lender will not give you a loan because they've judged you instead of your deal and financial soundness, then they're probably not someone you should be working with anyway. Move onto the next lender, there is no shortage of them.  Regarding a potential issue with a real estate agent, it'll be near impossible for one to take advantage of you if you've done your research on the type of property your buying and the terms of which you buy it.  

@Ronald P. If you're looking to get into investing in Detroit, there's the renegade group : https://renegadedetroit.com/meetings/

There's also a group in Oakland County: https://www.michiganrealestateinvestors.com/

as well as Macomb: http://reiaofmacomb.com/

And if you're on Facebook, there's this group as well: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MetroDetroitRealEstateInvestorsGroup/?ref=bookmarks

Have you taken any action towards finding a wholesale deal yet?

Hi Ronald. Have you tried going to a Meetup to network with people yet? What kind of real estate investing do you want to do?

Hi @Tony Mi,

Speak with a real estate attorney in the state that you're looking to invest. Many real estate lawyers will give you a free consultation with advice on how to best structure your business; they'd get paid when they prepare and file the documents.

IMO, it's always best to consult a professional to ensure that everything is done: A. Correctly and B. Tailored for your needs. 

Edit - Im also going to add, talk to an attorney in the state that you live in and also find out in which court potential lawsuits would be held. You'll want to consider if it's worth it to you to fly across the country for a lawsuit.

@Josh Caldwell Take a picture of a single tile and do a google image search (or use google lens if your phone supports it), you might be able to find a vendor online.

My wife and I have a rental that we've been rehabbing for 6 months, this house was the pits when we got it. Structural issues, dirty as all get out, holes in the garage roof...the list goes on. We're at the end of the rehab and nearly have our certificate of occupancy. Yesterday I get a call from the city, the final inspector is out there checking out one minor thing he had asked us to fix. "Did you know that your furnace and water heater are missing?". I obviously don't know this, but she responds with "well, at least the fridge, dryer, washer and stove are still in the back yard." 

I left work and headed to the house and called the cops. They came out and fingerprinted the place, took photos, etc. Their theory is that the thief saw the house online (we had listed it for rent), figured it was vacant and decided to help themselves. It looks like the thief smashed my lock box to get at the key. I secured the remaining appliances changed out all of the locks (the original key was missing) and even went as far as to purchase a wireless security camera system that saves to local and cloud storage, ya know, just in case the thief came back last night for the rest of the items.

I'm finding a renewed sense of respect for the old adage "an ounce of prevention...". I plan on moving this camera system around to each new project we take on. I'm also going to be looking at the cost of automatic exterior lights and keypad deadbolts (in lieu of lock boxes). Curtains in all of the windows will be a new standard. I'm also going to ensure that my contractors use 4" screws when installing new locks and knobs to make doors harder to kick in. One semi-radical thought that I had which I probably won't do, because it doesn't scale, would be to buy a beater car and just leave it parked at the house(s) to give the impression that someone's there.

Ultimately, provided my remaining appliances all work, I'm going to be out about $4,500 if I pay for new mechanicals out of pocket. I could also pay a $2,500 insurance deductible and face whatever headaches that comes with. Neither cost tanks the investment, but the situation is quite unfortunate.

So that's my story! Has anyone else gone through this? What measures do you now take? 

Oh, and one more bonus tip from the police officer who collected the evidence: clean the outside of your windows. Burglar's will first try to open windows before breaking down a door and a clean window is a fingerprint magnet. 

Thanks @Dylan Whitcher! This isn't my first deal. I've flipped a couple and have two other rentals, however, this IS the first deal to go through the official BRRRR process. I'd really like to see $850/month for rent, but the numbers are still good if I had to drop into the 7's. I believe this house would appraise for ~75k. That best case scenario would leave me with a 55% ROI.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Roseville.

Purchase price: $42,000
Cash invested: $12,000

Found this 2bd,1bath 700sqft house via a snail-mail marketing campaign, the (at the time) owners are in their 50's, were renting out the house and were tired of taking care of it. We agreed on a purchase price of 42k and I put 12k into the rehab; the house was already in pretty good condition.

How did you add value to the deal?

When all was said and done, our $12k got us:

New windows throughout
Interior and exterior painting for the house and exterior painting on the garage
A small amount of roofing - The house's roof was only a year old, but the cover for the back porch never got redone for some reason
Gutter guards along the whole house
New floors throughout
New kitchen appliances
New bathtub enclosure (including moisture-resistant drywall)
Some light electrical work (new lights, flipping out receptacles, etc)

What was the outcome?

At the time of writing this post, the house is on the market for rent and has been getting a lot of views and saves. I'll be touching base with our property manager at the end of the week to check the status.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

A still-in-progress challenge is that we want to refinance this house, however, it has another 3 months of seasoning before we can do so. At the same time, we don't want the house sitting vacant, so finding a tenant who will keep the house in good condition is crucial.

Hi @Pope Lake. You've already alluded to this, but focusing on predicting the future is probably going to cause more grief than profit. If the numbers make sense for your strategy, then it's a good deal. With a buy and hold, it theoretically shouldn't matter if you buy a property which then gets put underwater (LTV-wise, not literally). So long as the property is cash-flowing, you've still got a good investment and would just continue to hold until the market rebounds.

Congrats on the success @Lewis Myers! Good luck with your next project.