All Forum Posts by: Maggie L.

I'd add in property management fees (if applicable) and maintenance. Usually there is some differed maintenance (which may fall into capital depending on severity) that should be dealt with when you acquire a property.  Depending on how much you're comfortable doing yourself e.g. fixing leaky faucet, changing light fixture, cracks in wall, new paint, 10% of rent per month is a reasonable first guess. You should have a better idea after seeing the property, and update your estimates based on that.

10% vacancy is a reasonable guess, but like the interest rate I would spend some time trying to get something more precise before making an offer. 

As a fellow agent and investor I feel your pain.  I've had investor clients who (half-jokingly) ask me to use a different voice when I'm answering a question as an agent versus as a fellow investor.  Needless to say, it's a bit of a tightrope.  I also work for one of the big national brokerages, which I chose because it offered more training to new agents and my particular office is number one in sales for our metro area.  For me, that means I can give better service to clients, especially listing rehabbers properties.  That said, I don't know if I'll want to stay with this brokerage in the long term.  Right now it's helpful, but some of the priorities don't fit with the type of business I want to run.  Part of that is unique to my situation.  I choose to ignore some of the opportunities in the office that won't be as helpful for me - medical issues mean I can't sit in a "class" prospecting for an hour without pain, let alone 2-3 per day for weeks.  There is also advice I take with a grain of salt because I work a lot with investors, and that's very different than most of the business in my office.

There were two thoughts that came to mind when I read your post.

1) Look for a different brokerage.  Someone a bit more focused on investors rather than the retail market may be a better fit and make you feel like you're free to spend some of your time on investing.  If you're lucky your competitive side can shift to the investor side rather than retail.

2) Shift your niche as an agent.  Start to focus more on investor-clients.  Repeat business may become more important than referrals, and it requires a different mindset.  You're be dealing with more agents who are comfortable with the low offers; it's more common in this business.  It's helped me not feel guilty making a "low ball" offer to an agent.  There's a certain amount of you do it enough for a client ("they've run the numbers and this is the offer") and you hear the responses from the listing agent...and the client taking the offer.  Might help you get over that fear of offending the other brokerage.

Welcome Brad! Great to meet you.  BP is a great way to network and learn.  Anything in particular you're hoping to accomplish here?

@Ivory Hayes let us know how it goes.  I'd agree with the advice of small banks or national lenders who are investor friendly rather than the typical big banks, and would love to hear who gave you the best experience.  I'm always looking for good lenders for my clients.

Hi,

I saw the recent post, and as a buy and hold investor in St Louis I'm really curious how things are going.  Would love to hear an update.

Congrats on the new addition!

When you looked into buying last year did you look into first time homebuyer resources?  I'm a real estate agent (South City) and I know there are a lot of good resources out there for things like optimizing the credit score or downpayment assistance e.g. MHDC http://www.mhdc.com/homes/index.htm , Justine Petersen http://www.justinepetersen.org/credit_building/cre....
Fannie Mae also has some rules about including rental income that might make one of the duplexes ready for owner-occupants helpful for you as well.

https://www.fanniemae.com/content/guide/selling/b3...

Welcome to BP from another buy and hold investor in Missouri! Have you had a chance to check out the podcasts? It's a great way to hear the stories of different investors and how they succeed in RE.

Welcome to BP! There's a lot of great opportunities out there; anything piqued your interest?

Welcome to BP! Love to see others from South City :)

Have you started on the podcasts?  They're a great resource - I listen to them while I'm working around the house or doing work on my current rehab.

@Bill Gulley and @Rick H. make some good points, which I would summarize as there are routes to a destination.

A question I would ask you is how do you learn best?  I learn well online - able to stay motivated - but due to medical issues sitting in a classroom would be really painful.  Personally, I found that the 100% online school (which had been recommended to me by an investor-broker) fit my learning style best, and didn't feel like the afterthought of a school that really wants to get you in their classroom.

I'm not familiar with Illinois law, but I'm guessing you don't currently have a brokerage where you're working?  If this is the case, you may want to talk to some brokers to find out where you want to work.   They may be able to recommend a school, and some will have special discount codes, or even cover or reimburse some of the costs.