All Forum Posts by: Brandon L.

Hi @Michelle S..  I can't speak to AL, but I can speak to SEC 8.  I wrote a blog that addresses several misconceptions and gives lots of good tips.  You can find it here.

I bought a house out right at a tax auction. Need to find a loan to fix it before I sell it. Whats my best option?

Hi all, I am a fairly new landlord in northern Virginia, and have been renting my 2 bedroom town home for the last two years. I just had new tenants move in and within two weeks, the closet shelves in the master bedroom (wire) collapsed on one side. I hired a contractor to repair the damage, and reinstall the existing shelves within a few days of the issue being reported to me.

While the contractor was on site, the tenants then bought new shelving after the contractor told them wire shelves tend to collapse (I was not made aware of any damage to the shelving itself that would otherwise have made it impossible to re-install properly). The tenants then sent me receipts for the supplies and new shelving they purchased and asked the contractor to instal, and asked for reimbursement. I never authorized a change in shelving, or purchase/installation of new shelves (I did authorize restoration of the closet shelving to its original condition, installed properly). That said, I offered to cover half of the unauthorized costs, and reminded the tenants that alterations/modifications require prior written approval. They have since quoted Virginia statute at me stating I am required to provide a living environment that doesn’t cause hazard to life, and the wire shelves were a hazard to life. One of the tenants is a lawyer. I’m just uncertain of where to go from here. have others dealt with similar issues? I worry that if I reimburse them for the total (only $200) it will set a precedent this early in their tenancy that they can make whatever upgrades they want and then charge me for them. I also don’t want to deal with a lawsuit, or in trying to get rent if they just deduct the shelving from monthly rent dues. Open to any and all advice!

Can anyone refer me to a good REI attorney in the northern Virginia area? I'm looking to start setting up my LLC and would love any and all references.

Recently I have been seeing a lot of negative posts about how there isn't a way to invest in real estate in the current 2023 environment. (High prices and even higher interest rates) I am here to present an option to help the Real estate investing community.

Unfortunately the strategy isn't available to everyone, only Veterans, but hey they served our country and deserve some special treatment. (Yes I know you can assume a VA loan without being a veteran, but that is a needle in a haystack opportunity and far less common to find because most veterans aren't willing to keep the VA Loan entitlement in there name, they want to transfer it to the new buyer.)

In my market of Northern Virginia, I am seeing an increasing number of agents offering, their seller clients, Assumable VA loan at 2%-4% interest rates.

If you're a veteran take advantage of this opportunity to "travel back in time" to when rates were below 4% and lock up a great deal!

Are others seeing the same opportunity in your market or taking advantage of it already?

Live in the DC area, but looking into the Richmond area, have family there and if considering out of state investing perfect place. 

Are there still some areas for BRRR for buy n hold and cashflow?

Any networking meetups? Would love to meet some fellow investors.

Hello, I am based in the metropolitan DC area and looking to invest out of state as this market is very expensive and it's hard to find a good deal. Does anyone have any experience investing in the Midwestern states? Was considering looking into markets such as Detroit, MI, Cleveland, Oh, St. Louis, MO, etc as from my understanding cash flow tends to be higher in those markets. I am primarily focused on cash flow vs appreciation at this point in time. Any thoughts on investing in those markets would be greatly appreciated.

Also, by chance does any have any contacts of real estate agents they can share in any of those markets?

Hey all! New to the Real Estate game. Bought my first single-family property 4 months ago and rehabbed it myself. 

I have three rooms in the house and am living in one and renting out the two other rooms. 

For each tenant, would I do a normal lease, or would it be considered to be a roommate agreement? 

And the last question is, can I use any State of Virginia lease template I find online, or there's some that aren't legally correct?

Thank you!

Transactions are down and there is a reason that many people did not see early on. One prominent YouTube (ask @Dion McNeeley) personality saw this and I noticed it months later in my home market of Lynchburg Virginia. The middle of the market is gone. How does this reverberate throughout the market? It limits the ability of qualified buyers to buy on the front end and it will decrease the price of higher-end homes on the back end. With sub 4% and 3% interest rates, this middle is simply just sitting there and waiting for time to pass or another life event to occur before they are nudged to move to another home. Until that time, we will see two separate markets one for first-time/ entry-level homes and one for all the others. In economics, some supply-siders talk about trickle-down economics. In the housing market, it is always trickle-up. Someone buys a starter home for their budget, then moves up every 5-7 years until they begin to move back down. Now the middle of this market is forgotten. You only buy one entry-level home and one retirement home, generally. But in the middle, there are several transactions that are now forgotten! This forgotten middle is the cause of the new, slower transactional market. But... what is the cause of this? 

Be kind on my image, it is from a video explaining the market on YouTube. 

Does the Fed have a hand in this?

Someone recently said the Fed broke housing and it seems accurate as the trickle-up and trickle-down has halted. Those in large homes without kids living with them cannot sell because a smaller home will cost more (this is my sister's situation in Richmond). Those trying to get on the property ladder (not really investors, but people simply looking for a primary residence) are priced out of the market by continual demand increases (demand increases daily, supply does not in this section of the market continuum). How long will this run its course? If I knew that, I would be interviewing on CNBC and with Marketwatch. Since I don’t, I am just like you taking in little bits of information on a dynamic market to make better choices every day.

Hi ,

I'm looking for some advice to help me get started in real estate investing. 

I am a 30 year completed my grad school and just landed a good paying stable job and interested in making my first real estate investment . I can save around 20-25k in the next 5 months and in this time i am planning to acquire the knowledge possible for future investment. Please recommend the rental model I can opt, resources to learn. 

Currently I am living in the northern VA , please suggest if the current residence area is suited .