All Forum Posts by: Michael Sjogren

The key factor in determining whether a market will grow is job growth. We look at the previous 2 years and the forecasted 5 year job growth. You can get these numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also subscribe to sites like AreaDevelopment,  National Multifamily Housing Council, and read the Milken Institute's Top 200 Performing Cities. 

Besides job growth we look for the following items:

• Population 100k+
• Average household formation size less than 2.5 
• Well diversified economy (pull up list of largest employers from the Chamber website)
• Percentage of population between 24-35
• Percentage of male vs female
• Rent price trends
• Vacancy rates
• Supply (look at number of new permits pulled & compare to current available units vs. forecasted household demand within next 24-36 months)
• Active Economic Development Committee

If you're interested in learning more about emerging markets and how to identify them, I'd also recommend reading Dave Lindahl's Emerging Real Estate Markets book (link to book on Amazon). 

Feel free to reach out with any questions.  

Mike

@Clinton Holmes - Do the developers own homes themselves? If so, they may be able to apply for a home equity line (HELOC) as well for short-term capital. I recently went to a local bank on the north shore to get more information on this and they had a program where they offer 12 months at 1.99% then after that it turns to prime minus a half point. Interest only for 10 years then principle & interest for 10 more years. Functions like a credit card where you only pay when you draw on the account. Happy to chat if you're interested.

Hi @Abou C. Personally, I like Michael Blank's syndicated deal analyzer. It is extremely thorough for underwriting multi-family properties. You can find it on his website at www.themichaelblank.com 

@KJ Smith and @Account Closed If you are looking for free resources, you're in the right place. Biggerpockets has a ton of great content in the forums and blog articles. One of their regular contributors Michael Blank also has a lot of free resources on his own site, including a podcast, dedicated entirely to apartment investing. In addition, I purchased his deal analyzer template to underwrite my deals and I have found it extremely useful and clean for presenting to investors. For paid education, I attended Dave Lindahl's Multifamily 3 day bootcamp and learned a TON of information. The bootcamp came with a home study kit and access to a coach to review any deals that we put under contract. The course was not cheap but the value I got from it far outweighed the cost. 

For books to help with understanding NOI and the various underwriting calculations, I'd recommend Frank Gallinelli's "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow."

Feel free to reach out with any additional questions. 

Chris is absolutely right. What I used Loopnet for was to find brokers with multiple listings then reach out to them. I let them know I've underwritten their deal but the numbers don't work for me because of xx reasons. I'll let then know what my buying criteria are and ask if they have any properties that meet that criteria. 99.9% of the time they'll say no because as Chris said, it's a relationship business. Now it's your job to find some commonality with the broker and stay in contact. Ask if you can take them to lunch/coffee. If you both like golfing, talk about the latest course that really wowed you BEFORE you dive into the details of real estate. Be genuine about your interests and when you find commonality you'll build a relationship with the broker faster. Rather than call them every week and simply ask for any deals, if you build that relationship you'll make more connections, more fronds and get more pocket listings. People do business with those they know, like and trust. 

Hi Laura,

Loopnet.com is probably the most popular. You can also go to the major commercial broker sites like Marcus and Millichap and CBRE where they lost their deals. I know CBRE just released their new CBRE Deal Flow site within the last couple weeks. 

Happy investing,

Mike

I agree with all the recommendations from @Jesse Lynch and @Edward B., 

As far as real estate books, I would also recommend:

1. The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy

2. The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No and Low Money Down by BP's own Brandon Turner

In addition, here are some of my favorite, non-real estate audible.com purchases, starting with my new favorite (totally a game-changer in my opinion)

1. Six Months to Six Figures by Peter Voogd (narrated by Peter)

2. The One Thing by Gary Keller (narrated by Gary)

3. Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff (narrated by Oren)

4. Sell or Be Sold by Grant Cardone (also narrated by Grant)

5. The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason

6. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Enjoy! 

Thank you all for your insight. I will reach out to some local property management companies. I'd ask for recommendations but I had a post taken down last time I asked about reputable property managers.

Thank you @Jeff Kehl, @Mark Mosch, and @David Monroe for the information, I appreciate it. 

Thank you all for your input. @Christian Brodin and @Jeff Kehl so 10% would be conservative and include all lease-up and other fees based on your experience. This would be the total cost of property management and there would be no payroll costs? Just want to confirm before I get back to the broker. 

Thanks again,

Mike