All Forum Posts by: Maximilian Benjamin

I'm hoping to make the meeting on May 12th, but Monday's are harsh and the drive may be prohibitive. How long did the first meeting last? I'm just wondering because I may arrive 30-45 minutes late...

Welcome to the site and welcome to investing in Cbus!

I have slowly acquired several properties over the past three years focusing on single family to quads, and my first purchase (a quad) was a lemon. Despite that I have learned and continue to learn from that experience. It may sound goofy, but if your soon to be property is 1) rented (to good tenants), and I am hoping 2) able to at least cover PITI and maintenance (plus estimated vacancy, etc) then you are ahead of the game and should be proud!

And always count equity!

Started 5 years ago and bought my first property (my personal home) at age 37. Since then have been buying 1-2 homes/year for buy and hold. Everybody's circumstances are different and I don't regret starting when I did, at the age I did.

See if it would be possible to either capture the property closer to $220,000, or see if there is any way that the rents can be raised with minimal expense on your end (may clean up and fresh paint can increase the rents from $2,200 to $2,400 or higher) or a combination of the two. Consider trying to get closer to 1%. And as several people mentioned above, if the numbers aren't there, then they aren't, and you may need to walk away.

Welcome. You'll find tons of valuable information on this site. I dare say that you'll find more here than any book(s) could offer.

I have some tenants that use regular mail to send the lease payment to my PO Box (most use an automatic Billpay system) and some use electronic payments. The electronic system that I use is through erentpayment.com, which works very well so far.

Purchased a 4unit apartment and a SFH. Also just refinanced my primary residence (it actually appraised higher since my last refi in late 2010) and obtained a HELOC with 90% LTV. Doing a little rehabbing then hopefully more to come before the end of the year.

I agree with Don and Jon (for some reason Don Johnson's name just popped into my head...).

I prefer to look for Class A and B properties in my area and 1% would be considered "good" for a MFH. I could get 2% in a number of other areas, but I'm just not interested in those areas right now. That may not be the most cost effective and cash flow efficient mindset, but that's where I'm comfortable with starting for now. Another big factor is that I'm looking for a long term hold (10-15+). Now that doesn't mean that I won't consider Class C, but time will tell.

Another thing; look at slowly adding upgraded amenities to your properties as your capital permits, particularly when changing tenants. This may allow you to increase your rent more than inflation and capture higher returns above 1%.

One of my favorite shows is NCIS. I wonder how many of his rules can be translated to real estate investing?

Gibbs rule #5: You don't waste good?
Gibbs rule #10 (definitely): Never get personally involved in a case.

Anybody think of any others?