All Forum Posts by: Matt Leber

@Nicholas Munford I enjoy looking for deals, seeing properties, and owning something tangible. I had a hunch that I liked it from my days in college when I realized my landlord had a pretty cool gig going. He was not tied down to a 40 hour desk job, had 20+ houses in a college town, and his job was to manage them. I liked that idea. When I realized how impactful real estate could be toward creating more time (through passive income) for my future family (and maybe an early retirement), I was hooked.

@Fred Buechel I’ll advocate for Cocoa Beach. The weather is great year round and you get all kinds of tourists visiting for Ron Jon’s, the space center, cruises, and you’re just a skip away from all that Orlando offers. My wife and I go surfing there all the time at the Cocoa Beach Pier!

@Brooke Morton can you partner with someone other than your Dad? It’s doesn’t seem like mixing business and family in this case is going to go well.

If I were in your shoes and I thought I was going to have a big year savings-wise, I would probably wait until 2020. With how long this market run up has been, 2020 could be a great time to have some cash on the sidelines.

If you had a partner lined up or the funds to do the deal now, I would say go for it today! If the numbers work, the numbers work. Regardless of where we are in the cycle.

@Ariadne Latorre welcome! I invest in Central Florida (Brevard County) and in North Florida (Duval County). I live in Orlando. My wife and I had a goal to pick up one cash flow property per year and have been able to do six doors in 3 years. Central and North Florida are great markets for cash flow properties. Just make sure you are confident in your numbers. Good luck!

@Daniel Bronstein I'll probably be the only one to say this but if you like them both equally, accounting. You'll have almost a guaranteed job and a good one at that. One of the biggest assets for funding your REI will be your personal savings from your career. You can do all the REI math you want without a major in real estate finance. You cannot do all the accounting you want without your CPA. Plus, your accounting degree should teach you tons of useful things for when you get into REI. Maybe you can specialize your career. Tons of investors on here are always looking for a CPA with real estate experience.

I majored in finance and minored in real estate. I learned tons in my two real estate classes and it grew my interest. And the classes overlapped and counted for my major. Are you able to minor?

Of course if your passion for real estate finance is so strong it consumes you, you should go for it. Good luck! Sounds like you can’t go wrong either way!

@Michael Mayes I’m seeing plenty of cash flow opportunities in my west Jax 32210 submarket. Appreciation less of a sure thing. But then again, appreciation on the properties we have purchased there would be icing on the cake.

I’m sure there are better appreciation opportunities on the east and south sides and by the beach. But you may sacrifice some cash flow.

@Melanie Kent my wife and I wanted to start out buying our own place to live right out of college and getting married. We had the mindset that we didn’t want to be throwing money out the window paying rent to someone else. We found a starter home in a great area in 2016 and moved forward to purchase it. We knew we wanted to make it a rental one day so we made sure the numbers would work from that standpoint. We still live in it (househacking one bedroom to a friend of mine), but it would be a great performing rental if we decided to move. The rental metrics have improved even further in the past few years. The mortgage payment we have is low, much lower than if we were renting somewhere comparable. We have also seen a lot of appreciation with the area becoming better and a hot residential area in Orlando.

We would go on to acquire 4 more rental properties (6 doors) in the next 2.5 years. This has largely been possible because we save roughly one of our two incomes for investing in real estate. Each rental has kicked a bit more into our savings rate each month. We have also increased our W2 incomes quite a bit since we were new in our careers. For the most part, we have been able to avoid lifestyle inflation and keep our cost of living low.

@Michele Emerick welcome! I invest in Jacksonville on the westside (west of i295). You will find quite a few properties in the $50-70k range in Jax, but buyer beware. These properties can definitely cash flow but you may be buying into D class areas which will have higher crime, maintenance, and overall risk. If you have reserves to weather these issues and the properties help you meet your goals then go for it. Just make sure you have a good property manager who is experienced in those areas. Expect to have tenant issues in this price range. We have a couple duplexes that fall near this price range (a little higher) but are a little further out from the urban core in a less shady part of the city. Good luck!

@Helder M Da Silva Santos my wife and I are vacationing in WA state and Oregon this summer to see Olympic, Seattle, Portland, and the Oregon Coast. But you're right, not sure I would want to endure the weather there year round. We live in East Orlando (Lake Nona). Its a great area to raise a family. The schools are excellent and there is a lot of development going on in the Nonahood. There are lots of medical jobs in the area, and a new VA hospital and the UCF medical school campus. Tons of money is being invested in constructing a sports district and a mega town center nearby. We already have the US Tennis Association HQ anchoring the sports district. And we're only 50 mins to the beach! We love seeing everything going on in our area. You should check it out!

Our primary here in Nona would be a 1% rule rental if we decided to move.  We are currently house hacking out a bedroom to a buddy of mine.  But we could stay here forever and be happy.  Good luck!

@Jake Sink it looks pretty good. I think the other comments on this thread cover most things you might consider tweaking. Capex looks a little low to me. My properties this size and specs usually come in around $200. Also, double check taxes and insurance. Your property taxes could increase once you close if the previous owner was under a tax shield. Awesome way to practice and get comfortable with your market!