All Forum Posts by: Michael Kellogg

Quote from @Aditya S.:

Hi there. I am also in VA and have two toddlers, so I know how you feel about time haha

I would advise you to start much smaller and go from there. Maybe buy a duplex or single family home and see if you enjoy being a landlord before diving into an apartment complex. I recommend self managing at first so you conquer the learning curve, and can later realize if a property manager is BSing you or not.

As an agent who focuses on commission rebates a lot of my clients are newer investors like yourself, and I have seen those who start small and scale after learning to have more long term success.

 Thanks for this advice! I’m already leaning this direction. However I will say after looking a good bit there isn’t a lot of cheap multi family homes for sale (or any at all) in my area. Certain areas do have this but not very close to me. So either I have to pursue investing out of state or consider another strategy in my area. I’ll keep my eyes peeled 

Quote from @Nicholas L.:

@Michael Kellogg

go to this:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1166287-cash...

Thanks for finding this for me! Appreciate it!

Quote from @Mark Cruse:

You want an apartment complex in 5 years but dont have time to go look a them? Do you have a plan? Do you understand what is involved? Do you know how complex and the capital you will need to make this happen? Even if you have PMs and other team members do you understand the degree of time you need to devote to it? It can be rough and rough just picking up a few single family homes, but what you are talking about is that on steroids. Itś not easy and has a very high failure rate because its extensive. Not saying its not doable but too many newbies over simplify it. It sounds sexy to wake up and say I want a complex but just like it the programming world, once they see what´ś involved its a new reality. If it was that simple, everyone would just go around picking up apartment complexes every day. LOL 

I started off programming myself! 

I feel you man! It’s definitely not all based on sound logic or experience and plans change, they’ve already changed in the last few days, but I’d like to do an apt complex in the future regardless it’s just a question of when. Not bad to give a dose of reality. either way it’s just a goal, goals are supposed to be scary and tough to achieve otherwise they are probably too small. I’m sure there will be many stepping stones along the way before that. Thanks for your post!

Quote from @James Wilcox:

@Michael Kellogg good points above. If you don't have a DP now for a SFH or small MFH how are you going to have the DP for an apartment complex? Apartments or bigger assets in general are usually bought through syndications. Maybe look at just being a part of one of those so you "own" a portion of a larger MF if that is what you want. I agree going the smaller MFH route seems to fit better for you at this stage.

That’s a fair question. In theory if I save hard enough I could start the snowball with a larger multi family instead of saving up via single family homes as rentals. I do have a day job with pretty good income, but honestly after learning a bit more I foresee starting smaller if not because of the down payment requirements then because of feeling uncomfortable making deals..lots to learn still

 This refers to cash out refinance right? I’ll look up the cash and hold loan, not familiar 

Quote from @Nicholas L.:

@Jamie O'Connell

are you buying with conventional financing and 20-25% down on each property?

That’s what I was planning because if I can get fixed rate it feels less risky, but I’m not sure what else there is…I don’t want to heloc if I don’t have to. But your other post does feel like the case I’ve had a difficult time finding something that would produce profit so far. I don’t have the equity to buy right now anyway I’m just trying to learn how to evaluate deals while I save

Interesting, I’ll definitely start evaluating some stuff in wv and Ohio. Looking at and managing a property in another state would probably require a property management company, or something

Maybe I’m not evaluating them right but I was quoted like an 8% fixed rate mortgage and I don’t know how I could make that work. Do you use specific loan vehicles that differ?

Or did you just mean if I find the right deal that it should support a PM? 

Any tips to finding deals? I’ve just been trying to look on Crexi and LoopNet. Also been trying to look at properties and run some basic underwriting to evaluate the deal, but a lot to learn still

yea, I’ve been looking around for duplex, 4plex and stuff, but even with a couple of those I looked at it’s seemed like the numbers don’t work. It’s seemed like my loan payments would be higher than the income I’d bring in. Maybe just a case of finding the right deal I assume