All Forum Posts by: Maggie L.

Welcome to BP! There's lots of great info on here; I'd recommend setting up forum keyword alerts for your location and type of RE investing (buy and hold, rehabbing, flipping, etc) if you haven't already. Have you been to any of the REI groups in the St Louis area? Much like the BP podcasts, I find the meetings informative and the case studies excellent motivation. They're also great networking opportunities, though their different styles (SSIC meetings are big with lots of active networking beforehand, for example) may mean one is a better fit for your personality type and what you're trying to accomplish e.g. learning, finding a mentor, finding like-minded individuals, finding good contractors. Feel free to reach out if you think I can help!

@Sam Harper welcome to BP! I really recommend checking out some of the REI groups if you're already in the St Louis area for work. As @Mackal Smith mentioned, SSIC is a great group with monthly meetings I'd encourage you to attend; I'd also recommend getting on their list serve.  It's quite active and there are a variety of topics, from the best way to collect rent, how to get rid of bed bugs, or asking about a good plumber. STLIPA has a weekly lunch at Cecil Whittakers near Carondelet Park that can be helpful for informal conversations, and I see a lot of investors focused outside the city at the monthly STLREIA meetings.

It sounds like you're in a great position to rehab and rent out or fix and flip with your construction background and enthusiasm for increasing that knowledge. I'd also encourage you to seriously look into financing if you haven't already - I have some clients (investor friendly agent) who want to look at RE as a way to change careers, but financing criteria (the importance of monthly income) can be a BIG factor in when they decide to quit their day job.  When I was running through BP podcasts while working on a rehab (favorite time to listen is when I'm working on a property) it seemed like there were several weeks in a row with a guest who would tell listeners to keep their day job as long as possible to have that income to qualify for loans.

I'd also encourage you to chat with a few local investor friendly agents for market perspective - they should be at those RE meetings too.  I focus in South City so I don't know your local market but feel free to PM if you think I can help in other ways.

@Trent Kruessel welcome to BP! There's a lot of great info on here, and @Paul Timmins covered a lot of what I would've said. I definitely recommend keyword searches in the forums if you haven't set them up already, and looking for nearby REI groups to learn and network in addition to everything on BP.

There are LOTS of them on Meetup in my area (St Louis, MO) and I'd wager you'd have some luck on Meetup as well. If you're not finding much near you it may be worth a trip to KC or St Louis for a larger REI group meeting. I've always found the president/organizers to be excited to talk to people getting started, and they may know of someone (or know someone who knows someone) who invests near you.

@Branden Spann I believe I replied to a similar post you had about where to buy in St Louis, but I wanted to add a bit about financing.  There are lots of great opportunities out there for owner-occupant situations looking for a multifamily, especially if you're a first time homebuyer. MHDC has downpayment assistance, and many local banks and credit unions have special mortgages for first time home buyers (usually the criteria is no home ownership in the last 5 years).  There are also organizations like Beyond Housing or Better Family Life, Inc for additional downpayment assistance.  Just something to consider - let me know if you'd like more info.

@Adam Pierce my boyfriend is my tenant, and we are both more comfortable with that arrangement.  Really, this question depends SO much on the type of relationship you have and the local laws.  People have discussed tenants rights, common law issues (6 months seems short for this, but I'm certainly no lawyer with the right to practice in California or any knowledge of your local laws and I don't know how long it will be before you both move into the property), and possible relationship implications.

May I recommend asking her what she thinks is a good idea before doing anything recommended by anyone here?  I'm hoping you have some sort of arrangement already - splitting certain costs like dinner or joint vacations rather than one person paying for everything?  This is the sort of arrangement my boyfriend and I have.  When I first moved in with my boyfriend I gave him a check for part of the rent (and a percentage of utilities; percentages mutually agreed to based on differing income levels) every month.  When we moved into my place he started paying a portion that we both found acceptable - cuts me a check every month, +/- other things we need to balance out for other expenses or someone paying for someone else.

It may not sound romantic, but I think it's an important part of a healthy relationship.  We don't want to commingle funds (we're adults and appreciate keeping parts of our lives separate even though we spend A LOT of time together - more stereotypically mushy than any relationship I've had before) so for us a monthly rent check to one or the other was the ideal situation for our relationship.  

@Branden Spann Chris (the author of St Louis Patina) is an incredibly knowledgeable individual and I can't say enough good things about his blog. @Kathy Henley is the first time I've seen him mentioned on BP, but I must say it's a great resource and I second the recommendation.  
This is a more complicated question than it may appear on the surface - there are so many different neighborhoods in St Louis (79!) which offer such a wide variety of investment opportunities and all have unique character.  I work with a lot of clients looking to house hack in St Louis (investor friendly real estate agent) and I do it myself - live in the downstairs unit of a South City duplex.  

There are MANY questions I'd ask you to figure out what I'd recommend for a property for you.  Some of it comes down to what you're looking for - duplexes are all over the place, but are you also considering some of the four families for better cash flow (75% of units vs 50% in a duplex)?  What's your price range?  What kind of tenants are you hoping to find?  How important is appreciation - are you even considering it?  What risk are you comfortable taking on and what do you want to avoid?

In addition to the investor questions, I'd want to know more about what you like - you'll be living in it after all.  Are you planning to fix up your units?  Are there certain areas you prefer (or dislike) or amenities you really desire (off street parking, proximity to restaurants, a quiet street) in your home?  House hacking is this interesting hybrid between investment and retail that I find myself asking these clients more questions than any other group.  Feel free to PM if you'd find it helpful.

@Marci H. welcome to BP! I'm a small time buy and hold investor as well as an investor-friendly agent in St Louis.  I'd second the recommendations to go through the podcasts, set up forum alerts, and start reading some of the great guides on here.

If you haven't already, I'd also recommend you check out some of the local RE groups in St Louis.  They're great opportunities to learn and network - there are a few monthly meetings this week (SSIC and STLREIA) if you wanted to take a look.

http://www.meetup.com/TheSouthSideInvestmentClub/e...

http://www.meetup.com/St-Louis-Real-Estate-Investo...

and STLIPA has an informal weekly lunch every Thursday at Cecil Whittakers on South Grand

http://www.meetup.com/STLIPA/events/230140760/

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat.

Maggie

This is awesome! I'm all about green real estate (green up my rentals, have GREEN designation from NAR and and always trying to find ways to be green as a real estate agent) and everyone once in a while I get people asking about something like a tiny home. We have a few builders around here, but don't really seem them in around St Louis.

Very cute place!

@Tony A. I got my license last summer, so it's still fairly fresh in my mind. A lot of your fees depend on you broker - E & O insurance and broker's fee for each transaction, but there are also general fees like Supra, MLS, Realtor dues. In addition to your initial costs you also need to consider how long it takes to start making money; time to find clients and get them under contract, then 45 days is the typical timeline from under contract to close. You'll want to have a way to get by until then.

Have you started looking for a broker?  You'll need to find a brokerage to hang your license after you pass the exam.  The exam doesn't really cover the business side of being an agent, which is where your broker becomes so important.  Happy to discuss this with you if you'd like.

The licensing process is pretty straightforward; it's really about how good you are at taking an exam.  If you're at all worried, I recommend taking practice exams beforehand - I did my coursework online and they included a few practice exams for the base package.  There were options for additional prep work; once you feel like you are confident with the material I'd do a practice exam mimicking the actual conditions as much as possible.  Finally, try to minimize the time between completing the coursework and taking the exam so that the material is as fresh as possible in your head.  Really, most advice I'd give for the RE exam is the same as prepping for any other standardized test.

@David Coombes you're right, the reasons are varied - from divorce to debt to deferred maintenance that they can't afford to address. I think St Louis is a lot like other markets - the most common reason is the current owner doesn't want to deal with that property anymore. Unless it's extenuating circumstances like divorce, it'd be challenging to turn it into a competitive advantage. You may have someone who's sick of being on call to tenants 24/7, but more likely there's work that needs to be done and it's too challenging to rent in its current shape. In the markets you've mentioned the properties that seem like the best "deals" usually have some work to be done in at least one of the units (assuming multifamily) before they can be rented out. Or, they're going to be a challenge to fill, so the vacancy rate drops the ROI once reality sets in.

I'd also want to echo @Peter MacKercher's comment about turnover of current tenants.  Sometimes tenants are in at a rent you like with no desire to move, and they're fine.  But, especially if you're planning to do work in their unit, assume high turnover rates for anyone that comes with the purchase.  You're likely to manage the property rather differently than the previous landlord, and since you didn't get to screen these tenants you're not going to have a good feel for the type of tenant you're getting beforehand.  If you're a good landlord, that should make you a little uncomfortable, and the current tenants will probably pick up on that.  
I'm fairly small time, but manage my own properties and still have plenty of stories and thoughts on the neighborhoods you're considering.  We're both in St Louis so I'd be happy to chat a bit more in person.