All Forum Posts by: Michael K Gallagher

@Brady Salcido 

I am located in central Ohio, so I'm a bit biased to that area, I am a big fan of the area for a couple of reasons. 1) There are major employers in the area that continue to expand. These include Abott labs, Honda, Facebook, Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, Nationwide, Root Insurance.....The list goes on. 2) Logistically you can get to, I think its 80ish% (don't quote me on that number), of the continental US within a 12 hour drive of Columbus, so it will remain a logistical hub. 3) Then there is also Ohio State or "THE" Ohio State as all the natives like to correct you...so that is an economic driver for sure.

From a REI point of view I really like that the cost of either a Single Family home in the burbs, or a duplex 5 mins outside downtown is attainable, even for a "normal person" with a day job. As an example our current duplex was 100% flipped, like gutted to the studs and re-done flipped, about 2700sf total, and we paid $318K for it. I also like that there are a couple "trendy" areas, that are leading the charge in bringing people (like my wife and I) out of the burbs and back into the city. The city is also offering 10year, 100% tax abatement on most areas immediately outside of downtown (with a couple exceptions).

I don't know areas like Cincinnati, or Cleveland as well, but again generally you will just find that your dollar is going to go a lot farther. I have heard good things about Indiana, and Kentucky as well.

But if you have any questions, or just need some general guidance of where to start/look in the area, or really anything at all, don't hesitate to reach out. There are a couple of us on here that are on the ground and in the forums all the time that are big fans of the area, so even if it isn't me someone will chime in with some good opinions/info.

@Deniqua Antoine fantastic questions!  Honestly wish I read rich dad poor dad when I was in High-school or when I was 20.  I also really aggressively paid down my student loans when I was out of school, so either 1) not have gone to college and just got into real-estate or 2) Instead of paying down my loans put that into savings and purchase an income property to pay my loans.  I was putting something like 15K a year into my loans when I first got out of school.  

@Ryan A. Congrats on jumping in and welcome! I totally relate to the stress of not wanting to be over-leveraged.  What I've found is that if you start small and bite off a couple little chunks and let yourself get comfortable you'll feel better and better about adding properties.  I think a great option for you guys starting out is a house hack!  either a duplex, or even triplex or up to a quad.  This 1, allows you to get some rental income form the other units, 2, allows you to dip you toe into property management slowly and gradually, and 3, gives you some street credit with the banks to get further loans down the road.  

With regards to your "extra" 7500 a month. If it were me, I'd find a really nice well rehabbed duplex, that you don't have to worry about making a bunch of repairs on. Now these won't probably have the best looking short term returns because you will have paid a premium in most cases because it's already rehabbed. But that premium is worth the ease of operation if you aren't having to replace a roof for 15 years, or put in a new HVAC system or electric panel. But move into that Duplex ( or tri or quad whatever is the best option for you) put down the 20% so you don't have to mess around with PMI or anything, and then just take that 7500 extra a month after you have your reserves built up and dump that into an extra principal payment on that duplex. Get that thing paid off and cash-flowing like crazy and then either rinse and repeat, or at that point find a nice "forever" home for yourself and your family and let the cashflow from the duplex pay for that mortgage.

I think you'll find after you get into it and do it yourself, you'll know what questions to ask and what you are looking for and will feel more comfortable looking out of state. I'd keep that in the back of your mind because taking costal money and putting it into midwest REI is a killer way to grow your portfolio...just to give you an idea theres a property I'm looking at, on the MLS for 98K, already been nicely rehabbed, so with about $25K all in you could buy a cute little Single family, rent it out for 1200/mnth all day long, and after all expenses, clear about $450 bucks a month. My long rambling point is get comfortable locally, and then start looking elsewhere where your money will go further, if you want to grow.

@Remington Lyman We are in South of Main, or as I'm trying to get it to catch on...SOMA...haha, we are on Lilley ave. I'm pretty sure we are not far from @Zeke Liston duplex on E Mound.  

@Joel Owens fantastic information and strategy.  I feel like everyone talks about how you get more and more clients and more and more deals, but what a fantastic point to bring up the quality of those clients and the quality of those deals.  I love the idea of screening clients for quality, and making them "apply" for lack of better terms.  It sets a good expectation of professionalism and seriousness for both parties.

Thanks again.

@Rene Lanthron is the best in the biz for Columbus OH area.  @Trevor Aydelott give her a call if you're looking in the Cbus area.  She used to be a commercial property manager, and hustles....hard!  Her guidance on finding our Duplex was huge, and that deal ended up being a huge mess because of our financing, and she was a major reason that we even made it to the closing table.    

Just have the 1 unit, but they paid on the 1st just like every other month.  Luckily they both work in healthcare so have not had any disruption to their income.  

@Tom Vanderlinden don't worry about deals falling through, especially if it didn't appraise.  Just stay consistent, if you are looking for deals, review deals, 1 a day, 5 a day, whatever works for you.  But I'd say to start with one, and track it, and stay consistent.

At 1 a day, thats 365 deals looked at in a year.  If you make an offer on 10% of those, thats 36.5 offers, and if you get 5% of those offers accepted thats 1.8 deals a year.