All Forum Posts by: Lee Yoder

Where is your property located, @Andy Rousch? 

I would recommend Bridgestream Property Management, but they are picky about what areas they'll manage.

@Evan Zeigler, it all starts with saving as much money as you can. You and your wife are young, have no kids, and I'm assuming you'll have good jobs, so you should be able to save lots of money. This will provide you with the ability to purchase great real estate assets. 

The next thing to consider is how active you want to be. Unless you are investing in someone else's deals as a limited partner, you are going to be active. I would highly suggest you utilize third-party property management, but you'll still be somewhat active as long as it's you who finds, buys, and runs the deal. 

A lot of people get started as limited partners. I think this is a great way to get started. As soon as you can come up with $25k, you can invest in a syndication. This allows you to get your money working for you in real estate, but more importantly, it allows you to start learning how to invest in real estate. 

Good luck and God bless you and your wife!

@Angela Beers, if I'm the seller and you ask me about seller-financing, I've got to see how seller-financing is better for me than selling it in a traditional way. I believe you can offer 3 benefits:

1) Decrease the seller's tax bill by spreading out his gains. 

2) Increase his return by paying him interest on the money he is loaning you.

3) Give him a piece of the equity you are going to create through your repositioning. 

Here's an idea: what if you get a loan for $700k, but the seller agrees to a purchase price of $200k and let's you put the other $500k back into the property. So, he's only paying taxes on a $200k gain. 

You can pay him 5% interest on his $500k during your repositioning, and then give him another 5% on the back end when you complete your cash-out refinance. 

@Scott Erdmann, I'll give you an example: we're close to getting a 48-unit under contract with seller financing. The seller owes $1.3M, but he is currently refinancing that loan, and he'll use our down payment to pay that down to around $800k. He's selling to us for $3,500,000. We're putting 15% down, $525k, and he's financing $2.95M. So, we don't have to get any bank financing. We have to pay him off in 3 years. By that time, we'll have increased the value by a lot, so we'll be able to get a loan that gives us cash back. Or, we could sell in 3 years. 

@Alissa Hyder, I would not replace your boiler. Boilers get a bad name that they don't deserve, in my opinion. They can last for a really long time. I do not believe the new boiler will make that much of a difference in your monthly bill. I also don't think you'll sell the building for that much more in 5-10 years just because you replaced the boiler in 2023. Heck, if you're going to sell in 10-15 years, you'd be better off replacing the boiler closer to when you sell. Don't replace it now when you're having no serious issues!

@Jacob Schmidt, I would suggest you reach out to Slocomb Reed, TLP Property Management. 

@Dan Gorman, I am selling two 8-unit properties in Dayton, OH. I'm selling them as a package deal for $1M, so your $400k is plenty to take them down. Let me know if you'd like more information. 

@Matthew Pino, I would recommend Bridgestream Property Management. Ask for Mike Mefferd. 

@Aruna Abdool, I would echo what some others have said; The key to your success when investing out of state is to find a property management company you trust. They can help you decide on what property to buy and then, they are the ones who will control the property and decide if it does well or not. Almost nothing else matters if you don't get the PM piece right. 

I would still like to buy, but it's very hard to get properties to truly "pencil" right now. We're making offers, but we haven't been awarded a deal in a while. I don't know how buyers are still making such high offers when their debt costs are so high. If you're buying based on an assumption that market rent continues to climb, I think you're making a mistake right now. I would highly suggest investors be very cautious right now. Sentiment seems to have shifted from expecting a nasty recession to thinking we're going to avoid having one at all. This is a mistake in my opinion.