All Forum Posts by: Douglas Larson

@Aaron Smith

I see from your profile that you are originally from Michigan. That's good. Many people buy out of state and they have absolutely no idea what a tough neighborhood looks like or how difficult a large property is to manage, let alone a class c in Detroit. It's all about knowing what you are getting and having the team in place to negotiate the deal, renovate where needed, screen tenants, collect rents, deal with maintenance, etc. If you don't have people you can trust to do these things, you will get killed!

I know investors from Salt Lake that have done well managing a few SFRs in West Valley and then they try their hand with a 6-plex or 8-plex in Ogden and they get killed! Crappy tenants, old buildings, bad management and vacancies can quickly eat up any profits!  

Kudos for wanting to make a bold move like this but be careful out there!

Hmmmm . . . sites for reliable, free information on real estate investing? 

Dude! You're on the 800 pound gorilla! Before Josh Dorkin started BP, there was nothing, except for biased marketing squeeze pages from "gurus" trying to sell you their so-called "turn-key rentals" or over-priced "coaching packages" or seminars and boot-camps! Now, if you have a question about REI, this is the site!!!! Search any term like in the upper right and you will find enough reading/listening material to last a month.

A bit of advice from one haole guy: Try to imagine buying a rental or two in Hilo, where properties are a bit cheaper and renters are common, but not 100% reliable. (No offense to any folks in Hilo). Then, imagine trying to renovate, manage, and maintain properties 3,000 miles further than the Big Island.  Yikes! 

Instead, there have been some great BP podcasts and threads in the forums about new investors adding great value to seasoned investors by finding motivated sellers or managing small renovation projects or even answering phones. If you can cut your teeth by hooking up with some local Oahu investors, you can make some cash, learn a ton, and probably find a deal or two near you. One thing that works great in Hawaii is house-hacking! On Maui I used 3 different SFRs as Multi-unit dwellings. I would live in the Ohana units and rent out the bulk of the homes for some good money. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Happy Hunting!

Hi @Alex Jaime

If I were you, I would make friends with @Jeremy Blackowl and see if you can make something work close to home! Oahu is pricey but there are opportunities everywhere if you look hard enough.

I moved to Utah from Maui in 2004 and still had one lease-option there in Pukalani. Bad stuff happened! Luckily, appreciation worked everything out in my favor, but long-distance rentals can be really tough. I just finished a flip in the San Diego area but I try to keep my rentals close to home. My farthest rental properties are 3.5 hours away and they have been troublesome because of maintenance and management. 

The investors I know that have had good success out of state have large apartment buildings with trusted, on-site management or they have at least a dozen SFRs with a proven management company. If you only have one or two houses, the management company only sees you as a very small income stream. With many properties, your business buys more service and loyalty.

Have fun with whatever you do!

Hi@Grant Keaton

AirBNB and VRBO are still going through some growing pains in the Salt Lake area. It's a lot like the trouble with Uber and there's been some push back from neighborhood groups and cities clamping down. Nightly rentals (anything less that 30 days) requires special transiency licenses and taxes in most areas of the country. Many people rent out rooms, apartments or homes nightly without going through proper channels but I wouldn't do it without having a good plan-B, in case your neighbors are not really cool with it. 

That said, If you have a home with some privacy and off-street parking, I think it could really work. The closer you can get to the ski resorts, the better, or in the heart of downtown.

Have fun!

Thanks for sharing the link. Is this your software or are you in the "sales" department? You say it's "free" but nothing is totally free. Is it software you download or is it web-based?

I have been very happy with the expanding services of Rentler.com in my area. They offer background and credit checks for $25 per person and they collect my rents by ACH for just $1.50 per address. They say they are soon to implement a repair request interface. How does your software compare? Most landlords need better systems and we will pay for them if they truly make our lives simpler.

I wanted to go but just too busy at the moment. Did you attend and how was it?

Great success and thanks for sharing! Always inspiring see how hard work and creativity come together.   I'm sure there are many other details behind the scenes you didn't have the space to share.  Some big takeaways  for investors at any level are, overcoming fear,  thinking outside the box, 10x effort, and tackling challenges as they come.   Almost all successful business models have these characteristics. 

Again, thanks for sharing! 

@Drew Darlington

I have been to a few tax auctions in Utah. Just as @William Hochstedler mentioned above, Utah does not sell the lien but the actual property after many years of delinquency. It was several years ago that I researched several properties and went to a couple auctions. Each county seems to hold their auctions on the same day at the same time in early May. Since you can't be in 2 places at once you have to have a team or just pick one county. 

The properties that make it to auction in Utah are usually vacant land parcels with no option to build or they are worthless old homes out in the boonies. I know of a couple people who picked up odd land parcels that had some value but most of the things I've seen are strange little pieces of land that have little value and no practical use. 

I did purchase a 12 ft. wide by 50 ft. long parcel a few years ago that adjoined my sisters home. It was an abandoned easement and would only have had value to one of the adjacent property owners. The price started at about $300 and got bid up to $800. It was worth something to my sister and her husband so they could expand their yard. I have no idea who the other bidders were or if they knew what they were bidding on. If you are the winning bidder, you have to pay cash that very day.

There may be some opportunities at Utah tax auctions but do the research and be sure what you are buying!

Hi Leslie.

I know several wholesalers and agents that always have deals. You will have to know the neighborhoods and numbers because many people will try to sell you a "deal" that doesn't work for flipping. Wholesalers will also want to know a lot more about you before they send you a good deal. 

Do you have your own cash or access to private money?

What is your price range and available rehab budget?

Do you have skills in construction?

Where exactly are you looking to buy? 

A wholesaler or agent will only take you seriously if you can be very specific, for example:

"I'm looking to buy a single family residence in North Ogden no older than 1960 and under 110K. I will be partnering with my brother and together we have most skills needed for a rehab. We need an ARV at least 60K over purchase price and we're not afraid of major renovations. We will be using hard money and we can close in 5 days on the right deal."

If you just read the above paragraph and are fuzzy on the terminology or your goals and abilities you will definitely want to get a bit more education under your belt. If you've got things lined up and you're really ready to pull the trigger you can start networking at some local investor clubs and start talking to agents.

Have fun out there!!!

Good replies so far!... My 2 cents is that you can ask for anything you want. They can say "no" but you can always ask.  Tenants who like their current arrangement and want to stay, might welcome the predictability of a new contract with the new owner. By law, you have to honor what's left of the contract in place, but again, they may be very happy to sign for another 12 months or more just to have a predictable future. 

Another piece of advice is that you will want to make your relationship very clear so that you are not having neighbors knock on your door at midnight just for a new lightbulb. Maybe @Brandon Turner will link to one of his posts I read about his experience with a shared multi. 

With my rentals I always mention that I own the home with "partners" or that I "manage the rental with some partners" so that I can let the partners be the bad cop in certain situations like late rent or lease violations.

Welcome to RE investing and have fun!!!!