All Forum Posts by: Leor D.

It's good to hear this, I bought my first property and am utilizing a property manager.  Have been debating with myself a lot if it's better to go without one, but this story gives me the feeling maybe I should keep them around.  Might be worth the headache if anything like this happened to me!

Leor

Hi BP,

When I made the purchase, I spent well below my "purchase power" if you will because I wanted to ensure my 9-5 job could cover not having a tenant (which at the time wasn't an issue because there was a tenant). Short run down, I purchased a place and sat on it for a year plus until I discovered the upside to real estate outside of "saving on taxes". So, the apartment got rented but for the last year plus my income has just been covering all expenses. The tenant that was there shortly moved out and I didn't move as quick as I should. I feel like I just got myself a raise since now I'm getting rent payments each month!

Quick edit : I think right now I'm looking mostly for buy and hold. Not sure if that matters to either of the questions below.  

Couple quick questions:

1. With the new "income" is it better to save the cash for the next property (higher yielding savings account, Alley at 1%) OR aggressively pay down the mortgage and gain more equity in the apartment to utilize for property #2 (110k left at 3.875%)?

2. Is it worth going to a real estate investing club in a state you're not investing in? Seems like i'd be wasting people's time once I say "Well, i'm looking for properties in Fl. I'm just here to...chat?"

Thanks BP!

Leor

Thanks for the replies!! Great community, everyone seems so friendly.

Thanks so much for the replies, yea looking back I wish I considered some of these things.  I'm glad to hear the first deal wasn't a total debacle, i've already weathered the cost of no tenant for some months.  Just seemed wasteful having it unoccupied and now it's got me thinking, "why can't I have a few of this going?"

Taking a lot of info in, enjoying the community so far. Thanks for the replies @Jean Taveras @James Wise & @Shmuel Harris !

Hi BiggerPockets,

My name is Leor and I purchased a condo April 2015, figured I'd stop lurking and throw up a post! Hoping to hear from the community about how I did for my first investment.  My father convinced me "even to build the equity and save on taxes" I should buy a place. I currently live in NYC but lived most my life in South Florida and am very comfortable with that area. We looked at multiple places and I didn't really think of this as a stream for "passive income". Unfortunately, I didn't really have a clear concept of why I was buying a place. Maybe for when I eventually move back to Fl?  

So, after closing on a pretty great apartment in Fort Lauderdale, Fl and letting a friend going through some tough times stay there I finally decided (a year later) to get it rented out.  That's where we are today, I finally got my first rent check and started reading as much as I can around real estate investing. I think I got the bug!!

Again, this deal probably wasn't the ideal property for an investor but I'm happy with the property and lesson learned for the future. 

The financials:

Purchase price - $138,000

Downpayment - $28,000

Mortgage payment - $728.97

HOA - $382.37

Money invested back into the property (post first tenant) - $400 

Current rent - $1,300

Property manager fee - $104

So each month I basically get $1,196 deposited into my account and paying $1,111.34 netting me $84.66.

Just hoping to get some good ol' honest feedback or just meet some new people interested in investing!  Now that I'm getting a rent check I'm torn between paying down the mortgage OR saving up for property #2!  Current interest rate is 3.875%, so thinking another property may be the route to go.

Happy to be part of the community and hoping to learn a lot! Thanks for reading,

Leor