All Forum Posts by: Mark Caiazza

@Scott Weaver depends on your strategy. You'll probably be able to find slightly better commercial deals in Fayetteville, but I suspect a bit higher appreciation in Bentonville if you're sticking with SFR. I agree with previous poster that it's all turning into one huge metro where the numbers are going to start to blend together.

@Dillon Squier I agree with @Joel Allen, you need to look into the DoD SkillBridge program at your base education office to take advantage of the 6 months of military pay as you transition to civilian life. Especially as an agent, you are not likely to have many clients as first start marketing yourself. Try to find a real estate brokerage firm in the area you want to serve and they can fill out some paperwork to become an authorized DoD SkillBridge company. They just need to describe the 6-month training plan you will accomplish to start your new career, which could be getting your license and local marketing training… it’s a win-win for you and the broker. Best of luck!

@Zachary Stanley The #1 driver of real estate prices is population growth, the #1 driver of population growth is jobs, which is why you probably always hear people touting Walmart, Tyson, JB Hunt, and University of Arkansas. The diversity of these industries also provides stability that you don’t see in other markets. In my opinion, NWA may not be completely insulated from a housing market downturn, but fundamentally much better off than a tech, leisure, or energy focused market.

I don’t have accurate data on this next point (I’m curious if some of you NWA realtors have it @Ryan Blackstone), but one thing that stands out to me is the percentage of homes purchased by investors seems to be relatively high compared to other cities. I’d be interested to see how NWA compares to cities like Vegas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Phoenix, where roughly 30% of homes are being scooped up by investors. Although it increases home prices drastically, it seems to be keeping rental prices subdued (still rising, just not at the pace of other areas) due to the competition. If investors start backing out you may see home prices soften.

Sprawling has been picking up rapidly in NWA over the past decade and it will be interesting to see if city planning can keep up with transportation development as the area grows. Rural/suburban areas like Centerton, Cave Springs, Elm Springs, and Farmington are showing massive growth, but it is yet to be seen whether its haphazard development or sustainable planned growth. Will big business investment grow to these areas or will they remain commuter towns? This goes back population growth and jobs… if you see more business investment in these areas, the fear of a bubble should subside.

Another potential concern is homeowners that have gained insane equity over the last 3-5 years have been trading up for new construction or more space, but keeping their property as a rental. This is restricting supply and driving up purchase prices. These individuals that weren’t cut out to be landlords may begin to sell those properties over the coming years, which may increase supply. Also, they may get nervous and want to cash-in on their equity if a recession hits.

That’s just a couple of my observations/opinions on the area, but I’d love to keep this conversation going and get some more perspectives as NWA will be my primary investment focus in the coming years.

@Evan Hosaka EastWest Bank will do a HELOC on an investment property. Its not the most convenient bank to deal with, but I was able to get a 70% LTV HELOC on my Vegas rental property.

@Howard Montaque Nobody can see the future, but taking a loss never seems to feel right. There is certainly risk involved, but why not try to find some money to finish the rehab and reap the full reward? Try to find a private lender, hard money lender, personal loan, refinance a car, HELOC, etc...

What is the $100K going towards?  Look at your rehab budget and see where you can save money to make it a desirable property without breaking the bank.  If you're selling to a retail buyer, they want it clean and move-in ready... in a seller's market, the buyer is willing to deal with some lower end fixtures/finishes that they can change after they move-in. Good luck with your decision!

@Joseph Breamer Thanks for taking the time and energy to bring us all together tonight! It was a great turnout and Theraisa and I had a blast talking real estate with everyone... excited for future meet-ups and the investments 2022 will bring!

@David Cam I think your list of questions is too long. The quality tenants you are after don't want to waste their time telling you their life story before they even see the property. I'd recommend cutting it down to around 5 questions that focus on the things that you NEED to know (income, pets, move-in date, how many tenants, reason for moving, and contact info). I'm assuming you will accomplish a credit & background check if they actually apply, so If there's something that will automatically disqualify them, just say it in your pre-screening email instead of make them answer a question about it. For example...

"A full credit and background check will be accomplished on all applicants over the age of 18. At this time, we are not renting to applicants with prior evictions, bankruptcy, or history of late payments."

These are probably unnecessary questions or they are covered in the lease/terms:
2. How long do you want to rent for? 
5. How long have you been living at your current residence? 
8. Have you already given your current landlord notice?
9. Please tell me about your job (each adult). Details are useful.
10. If you are offered the unit, do you have the deposit (1st & last months rent) immediately available?
13. Do you smoke?

These are covered when you do the background check:
11. Have you ever been evicted before?
12. Do you have any delinquent accounts or passed due bills?
14. Do you have any violent felonies?

Hope this help you get some more responses, good luck!

@Terry Lao why not pull some equity out of your Vegas properties instead of selling? If you think Vegas will crash in the coming months/years, you will have the cash to go shopping again at the bottom, if you're wrong you will still have the property and all of it's appreciation/inflation ;) Or you could redeploy your equity in a more stable market until some of this uncertainty blows over. 

@Delicia M. I agree with many of the comments above, you should set up pre-screening prior to sending them an application. I’ve used google forms and found it to have more unnecessary steps than I wanted to deal with. Instead, I just reply to their inquiry with an email template containing my pre-qualification questions...

-Requested move-in date

-contact info

-income

-# of occupants

-pets

-reason for moving

If they’re willing to share that info and it meets my criteria, I’ll set up a showing. If they like the place, and qualify, I’ll send them an app.

@Sion Harrington I’m glad to hear you’re getting started in real estate as a young officer. There seems to be some great recommendations about turnkey companies with some satisfied customers in the above responses.

However, I want to make sure you are also considering using your VA loan to purchase a primary residence or small multi-family at your next duty station (with the intent to turn it into a rental when you PCS again/move out/decide to house hack). In my opinion, that is the best way for a military member to get started. By using your VA benefits, you won't need any down payment and you will get lower interest rates than investment property financing.

If you were not interested in real estate and just needed a place to park your money, I may recommend turn-key, but from your post it doesn’t seem like your afraid of a little research and education.