All Forum Posts by: Michael S.

@Reilly Casey - true story for you.  This occured in 2017.  When I told my wife I was going to start investing in real estate, she told me I was crazy to do it and was not a fan.  She told her mom about it after my business partner and I had a contract on our first property, and her mom saw the house and how amazing the location was (mid century modern property in the heart of Jones Valley), and asked if she could be our tenant when it was ready.  The expression on my wife's face when her mom said that was absolutely priceless.    

@Raza Dhanji - what happened to the cash flow?  Did you not apply any of it to loan principal given that you were in a short term interest-only loan? 

@Don Konipol- that's because a lot of people on BP are not actually real estate investors.  They will either never buy a property, or just want to brag to their buddies at the next poker game that they are on the way to 200 doors and a ferrari in the garage.  

I do not aspire to get "200 doors" - I aspire to have a porfolio that I am satisfied with, period.  I am the only one who knows how many "doors" I own (well, ok, my CPAs can see it as well). 

For those that do have 200 doors, if they achieved their goals with REI, kudos to them. But I doubt they feel the need to thump their chest about it on a website / discussion forum.

@Samuel Coronado - your hesitation tells me that you think the CapEx is going to be much higher than you're estimating - were you able to walk every unit? Age of the HVACs and roof? Where is the 5 unit located (not the address, just what general area)? Honestly, just from your description, I will bet the CapEx will be higher than you estimated.

@Jay Hinrichs - you called it.

https://iid.iowa.gov/press-release/2024-07-15/iowa-insurance...

@Melissa Justice- I have no doubt you are very knowledgable about your own market in Detroit.  That said, how much experience have you directly had recently in the Huntsville market?  Your comments above suggest that you may have been active here several years ago.  However, for the sake of OOS investors on BP not familiar with the market here, I'd like to make some comments to your statements above.

You recommended Huntsville for the following reasons, with my notations as follows:

"If your main goal is cash flow with fewer headaches" - actually, cash flow is non-existant currently for turnkey in Huntsville for A-C+ areas;  off market with rehab, perhaps, but not in A to B neighborhoods right now

"Landlord-friendly laws" - agreed

"Stronger rent-to-price ratios" - disagree;  average ratio here is now down to around 0.5 to 0.7%

"Options for fully renovated or new-build SFRs and duplexes" - duplexes are non-existent in Huntsville compared to other cities

"Professional property management built in" - certainly may be true, but I do not know who you use for property mgmt here

If you haven't truly been investing in Huntsville over the past 2 years, things are now  dramatically different.  FYI

@Don Konipol - you forgot to add point #5:

-Be a hard worker.  Don't expect anyone to hand you anything.  Working 7 days a week, and 80 to 100 hours a week until you achieve your ultimate end point should be anticipated and embraced.  Live below your means until you have a sustainable income stream.

This is why the majority of people fail at real estate as well as running any business in general. 

Not in the Huntsville / Madison area of Alabama.  

@Joseph Tubbs - fair point. But the real problem here is deals that I've looked at wouldn't even work with interest rates at 5%. I find it hard to believe that the ROI for institutional investors is better here than a lot of other locations at the present time.

That's fine - they will quickly discover the numbers don't work here in Huntsville presently, and head somewhere else