All Forum Posts by: Brandon Heath

My wife and I are looking to purchase a larger house for our family. An ex-coworker has listed their home on the market and is open to a rent to own/ Lease option type deal. Everytime they mention this to the real estate agent he knocks the idea down. The one time I talked to him he stated that it sounded illegal and also mentioned capital gains would be an issue for the seller.

Im not an investor or an agent. I onnly know about this technique from listening to the podcast years ago. I'm wondering what else I can do before giving up. I feel that having an open minded Buyer agent on my side could help this process. I wouldnt know how to start looking for one though. We are located in San Diego Ca. 

@Bernard Reisz Thanks for the reply. So to clarify, there is a way to receive cash flow from a co-invested property, but it would depend on the percentage both of us invested. So if we are into a deal 50/50, he used IRA funds and I used cash. We could just split the rental income as long as we properly set up the transaction.

@George Blower Thanks for the official term. I was able to get a better grasp through Investopedia and some other sites. Is this the technique that investors use when group funding larger commercial deal too? Just curious

Thank you both for your replies

Hello BP,

I am doing some reading on Self Directed IRA's and using them for real estate investments. I don't have anything lined up or anything. Just looking to get a better understanding of how it could be used during creative financing.

So I've heard of people putting deals together with family and friends. Using retirement money that is sitting doing nothing. I wondering how this works when i believe you are unable to touch any money gained from the rental property? Is this true? Does this mean that if I partnered with say my Dad, and he is using an IRA to fund his side of the deal. Can I not collect cash from the rents because its considered profit?

What would be great is an example anyone could provide. 

Hello BP!

I have recently taken an interest into possibly investing out of state. I currently live in San Diego California and I'm starting to see that out of state may be a better way to start. 

I want to start looking into turnkey investing. I have read that it is very important to research the actual market you are interested in first. Looking at things such as potential growth in the job market, population...... Everything I have come across seems to some from someone who is selling the area for some type of personal gain. This worries me because I don't know if the their information is a little biased or not. 

Im wondering if some of you would share some ways you find good unbiased market information. Feel free to offer any tips or hints on what I should pay close attention to.

Hi @Krystle Padilla,

Welcome to BP! Sounds like our situations are very similar. My Wife and I are also looking to get started with REI by house hacking a small multi. We currently rent and can't stand the money just going down the drain anymore, lol. Im currently trying to find creative ways to find off market properties for sale.

You've definitely have come to the right place. BP has more info than you will know what to do with! Be sure to set up your keyword alerts as well. This is a great tool that will let you know when someone is discussing a certain topic you are interested in. You can set up things like San Diego or Escondido. Its really keeps you connected to other BP users who are in our local area. 

There is a local BP meet up on the 19th, be sure to check it out. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/26...

Best of luck!

Thanks @Justin R.

You legitimately stumped me. I didn't consider that side of my idea. I think I was hoping that a few "tired landlords" would by some miracle be moved to contact me about selling. You're right, without being able to close fast or offer cash there isn't anything for them to gain. In your experience, what else could be beneficial that I would want to highlight?

Thanks @Jeremy T.

Any suggestions on what the copy might include? As Justin pointed out, I don't really have anything to offer that they couldn't find or get on their own. Im trying to come up with what might bring a current landlord to contact me. All the templates I find wouldnt work either. I would really have to start from scratch. 

Thanks for the pointers @Jeremy S.

Do you mean narrowing down the amount owners on the list in order to possibly hand write the letters?  Do you think a real hand written letter will really up my response rate?

Hello BP,

Current Situation: I currently rent 3 bedrooms from a family friend. This was supposed to be a short term way for my wife and I to save money while she finished school. A few years and one kid later, we are still here! We will be moving in the next 6-7 months and planned on buying a house. We think this would be a great time to house hack a small multi-family rather than paying extreme rents or carrying a complete mortgage ourselves.  

Intentions/Goal: I would like to find a 2-4 unit multi in my local area where we can Owner Occupy. I plan to use an FHA loan putting down 3.5%. Though I would be living in the property for a few years (most likely more than 1 year) I still want the property to be a legitimate deal that could cash flow after we leave. The problem is I would have to search for off market properties in order not to over pay. So i'm going to attempt a direct mail campaign to hopefully locate this 1 property for me and my family.

My actual Question: With all the reading I have done on BP about direct mail marketing, I'm wondering what I should change for my specific situation. I feel that I could have a better chance of cutting through the junk mail with a legitimate personal story. Things that I think might help would be:

• I am NOT a real estate investor yet. I thought some owners might willing to call an actual person interested in their property rather than a company.
• Maybe using family photos in the marketing materials. I know people already kind of do this but my secret weapon is this..Don't lie, you basically want to sell me your property for 30% arv right now! (i am joking)
•  I have not decided what marketing material i'll use (yellow letter, postcard) but from what it looks like it more important to make any move rather than stress over these details (at this stage in the game)

Can anyone offer any other perks that I may have missed? Should everything else be the same as if it was SFRs? I know there is more than enough info here on the site, just looking for specifics.

Thanks for your time and help!

Extra info: just in case you are wondering my list came to almost 600 properties. 

I follow plenty of investors here in southern California who are still able to cash flow with GRM over 8. I'm interested to hear which markets you are able to get below 8?