All Forum Posts by: Michael Reilman

Hey @Muhammad Elzeibagh ,

Came here to say this. If you self manage, Cozy is great and I use it myself and is free. I think it's best used on 1-8 properties, and even the owners said it was designed to target the "small" investor, people who have a few single family homes. 

My property manager uses Appfolio and I think it is excellent at generating reports and especially good for apartments. 

What part of Cleveland are you at or looking to network in? I am local also, and there are a few good REIAs' around. 

 You know I've seen this on Michael Blank's analyzer, and I've wondered at what size does this make sense, or when would one consider doing this. Posting to follow. 

To add to @Greg Dickerson 's point, most banks (if you don't have a track history with them) require 2 years minimum to refinance. I agree that you want to negotiate the loan as long as possible. 

Also, if you have the cash and the deal is good enough, it might be worth it just to buy it with normal bank financing which is the easiest way to own it, with (usually) the lowest interest rate. 

 Hey David, 

If the numbers don't work and you can't negotiate it, move on. Wholesalers are notorious for not leaving enough meat on the bone for the true buyer and I haven't yet done a deal through one. It's okay to overpay a little for seller financing, but this sounds like you are chasing this deal. 

Just explain why the numbers don't work for you and find the next one. 

Hi Zach, 

Full disclaimer, I have never seen this calculator tool before, but the first thing I see is between Year 10 and Year 30 the total annualized return is 7%-8%? That seems bad? I may not fully understand the calculator, but I'm averaging about 24% Cash on Cash with my condo now, not including rent bumps, appreciation, or anything like that. 

The deal satisfies the 1% rule, but you also are putting $20k into it to get $2,000 in equity? Are these your assumptions or the calculators? That alone would make me move away from this if that is accurate. 

I feel there are better deals out there. Interested to see others' opinions. 

 Hey Dagan, 

Biggest thing for me has been mindset and doing what people say: it all starts with one investor, one broker phone call, one post on BiggerPockets and you soon realize that you can explain to someone that real estate is an awesome investment, and you can explain to a broker that you are the real deal, and you can provide value on the BP forums.  

Hi Sam, 

My last post had to be edited. I would consider an eQRP. You have much more control over the funds, can invest in real estate, and avoid UBIT tax. Not sure if this applies to a solo 401k, but can happen in an SD IRA.

 Hey Pascal, congrats for getting started! 

There are actually quite a few metrics to look at, and I would imagine you could find the cash flow you were looking for in most places (minus places like New York, New York and California, where prices are skyrocketing). Also, each of these places have a lot of cities to look at, so do you have specific cities in these states to invest? 

Seems fairly broad, but I would focus on areas that have the best population growth and job growth, which can be found online. Other things to consider are which of these states are landlord friendly vs. tenant friendly? 

 I currently listen to 

-Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever  w/ Joe Fairless
-Apartment Building Investing with Michael Blank
and I recently started listening to Accelerated Investor with Josh Cantwell. 

These are all for apartment buildings though, not sure if you are looking for something more general or focused on something else.