All Forum Posts by: Manny Vasquez

I want money now and I want to invest until the day I die.

I totally agree with you @Devin James.  To summarize what you said above:

Don't wait to buy real estate.....Buy Real Estate and wait!

I think that most people here on BP stacked their portfolio 1 property at a time.  There is no "magic number" of properties to own, everyone has different goals and financial situations to get to their personal "magic number".  

While 4 homes may work great for investors like Mike Zuber, it may not be enough (or maybe too many properties) for other investors.  The journey to wealth via real estate will have different paths for different investors.

Yes.  If she has already agreed to move out by the 28th, consider that a win. Kudos to you for reaching out to her immediately (after missing her July payment) and coming to an agreement with her.  Waiting 30 days, plus hiring an attorney and going through the whole eviction process will only make you lose valuable time and money.

Keep the communication open and the dialogue flowing with her so that you know exactly what is going on and you are not caught by surprise down the road.

First off, congratulations that you have taken this first step.  A lot of people decide to enter the world of short-term rentals without first checking the municipality's short-term rental policy.  Once they are knee-deep in furnishing their property or after posting their property on Airbnb for a few days/week they get hit with a violation notice from their city.  So congrats for taking this first step.

I would highly suggest to start with Google searches.  Type in search words/phrases such as "City" and "short-term rental permits" or "short-term license" or "vacation rental certificate" or something similar.   Usually, this does the trick.  Usually, this search will take you to a municipality website portal that will provide you with information and requirements for vacation / short-term rental permits.  

Remember, some cities have them, some don't. Some cities have a "wait-list" to obtain a permit (i.e. Palm Springs, CA.) If you can't find any information, then I would call the municipality just to make sure.  I hope this helps and good luck!

Derek - Welcome to the BP community! Sorry to hear about your recent layoff, but welcome to the wonderful world of real estate where the possibilities are near-endless! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. As soon as you get your new job, keep saving.  Furthermore, since you mentioned that you are in the process of obtaining your Real Estate License, you can ramp up those savings by earning sales commissions by helping sellers/buyers.  You will also get to see a few "good" deals come across your desk that you may want to jump on!

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. Buy a property(ies) as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

4. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

5. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing. You might also meet someone that could be a potential business partner. Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup. Keep an open mind and try to meet everyone at these meetings. I've developed some great relationships and also a business partner from these meetings. As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

6. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

7. Take Action! None of the above works unless you take action and put it into practice. Don't wait for the perfect deal to come up, the most important thing is to get started. Just like everything else in life, get started, keep honing those skills (i.e. keep reading, keep learning, keep attending the meetups) and watch yourself get better and better witch each property you buy.

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

As an Airbnb Superhost for several properties, there could be a number of things wrong here:

1) Like @Collin Hays mentioned above, there could be a housekeeping miscommunication problem

2) If there are holes in the wall, cameras all over the place (inside and outside), etc..then this could also be a host problem.  Or the host may not know about the problem if the host happens to be living far away or hasn't been inside the property for some time.

I recommend the following:

A) Communicate with the host of the property AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Try to have all communication through Airbnb, meaning that they use the Airbnb platform to communicate. If they happen to be communicating through text (as is common), then make sure your son saves all of the text messages.  Demand a full refund from the host.  Your son should also leave the premises of the property right away.  Staying at the property longer than necessary may not be a good idea.

B) Take pictures of the holes, wires, and cameras inside the property.  

C) If the host refuses to provide a refund to your son, then email Airbnb direct.  Have the pictures and texts/emails ready to provide to Airbnb just in case its necessary.  Airbnb will usually side with the tenant, especially if the property is as bad as you describe.

I hope this helps!

What is the cost of the Airventure MTR Class?  Are there different class-levels?  What do you @Keeya WangJones @Dylan Sevcik @Dunn Dela Cruz recommend?

Patrick -  Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. Keep saving as much as you can. Depending how much you earn you can step up those savings by getting a side-hustle. It could be any side-hustle you want just as long as you like it and your able to save some extra $$$.

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. Buy a property as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

4. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack. This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

5. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

6. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing. You might also meet someone that could be a potential business partner. Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup. Keep an open mind and try to meet everyone at these meetings. I've developed some great relationships and also a business partner from these meetings. As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

7. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

8. Take Action! None of the above works unless you take action and put it into practice. Don't wait for the perfect deal to come up, the most important thing is to get started. Just like everything else in life, get started, keep honing those skills (i.e. keep reading, keep learning, keep attending the meetups) and watch yourself get better and better witch each property you buy.

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

The colors & housing-materials that you described above are a "sign of the times".  Similar to the "natural wood, white tile counter-tops and brownish-hue white paint" of the early 2000's.  Most house flippers ARE NOT interior decorators.  Most house flippers want to get in and get out of that flip as FAST and as CHEAP as possible.  So guess what they will do?  They will select materials, colors, and fixtures that are "IN-VOGUE" at the time. They will make their selections based on what appeals to the majority, because they want to cast a wide net of prospective buyers.  Usually, the "materials, colors and fixtures" that are "in-vogue" will also be mass produced (which also means "cheaper") and sold at your local Home Depot and Lowes.  Most house flippers will refrain from coming up with eccentric or special color palettes just to appeal to the 1 or 2 buyers out there that may like their color choices.  

When showing houses, I'm now beginning to see more of the colors (off whites), materials (lighter oak) and fixtures (brushed nickel or brass) that you described above.  They seem to be the "In-Vogue" go-to colors for now.  Soon, these too will be mass produced and they will join the "grays" and another style will be "IN-Vogue".