All Forum Posts by: Andrew M.

with the help of this forum and several books i have been reading in the past couple weeks i have decided that in the near future i am going to buy my first rental property.
my plan is to buy a relatively low end home for cheap with a 25 to 40 percent down payment and rent it out using a management company. my hope is that by doing this it will be less of a struggle to create cash flow and minimize my risk of buying a property that ends up costing me money. i understand that i could better leverage my money by buying a more expensive house with a smaller percentage down payment but im really more concerned with learning from this first home than maximizing my returns.

so if you have any criticism or ideas about what i should do i would really like to hear it.

ps - i am already completely intent on investing and plan on doing so in the near future, and im very optimistic about my ability to suceed in investing.... so please no replys trying to get me over the fear of buying my first property or motivating to do my first deal or get started

do non competes last indefinately are do they usaully have a time frame

on the subject of non competes...

i have a possibilty to have a free mentor for the whole summer by working with with my roomates dad who is a real estate investor. his only condition is that i sign a non compete. if i am interested in buying property and investing in the same area he operates in in the future could the non compete stop me from doing so? any hidden dangers or downsides to signing one ?

what are the biggest problems people have run into with using property managers? What do you look for in a good property manager?

also how much harder is it to have positive cash flow on a property with the extra expense of the manager? what is a normal percentage for a manager to take?

THANKS!

would someone please explain the concept of depreciation in regards to renting RE. i keep seing the term used but never understand how it works
thankyou

drweltman- ahha sorry about the connection problem, thats never fun to write alot and then lose it

im gennerally open to anyhing but for now i guess the process of rehabing seems to make the most sense to me... are there any god resources for learning how to wholesale. also does anyone have any ideas for finding an rei mentor ?

sorry for the random interjection but what does seasoning mean ?

i would like to rehab a property so i can make some money to get into renting. i am currently 18 and in college and have very little money. because i have such little money i want my first property to be the cheapest property possible so im basically looking to fix up from a shell. does anyone think this is way to much to handle for someone without experience? does anyone have any experience with shell that could give advice. any help would be appreciated.

would it ever be worth it to buy a property that will not create any cashflow just to acquire the property with a shorter mortage? has anyone ever done this ?