All Forum Posts by: Michael LaGarde

Man it sounds like your deals so far are killing it. We would need to dive into way more and over a stretch of time to truly see how they perform, but as far as I can tell more likely than not you are set on the right path. Personally, I don't like to self manage while in acquisition mode. I manage one house that is 2 miles away from me because historically that tenant does not bother me for anything, and source out my other 7 units. But I think (especially if you work a day job) that when you are getting properties you do not need to be worried about finding time to show to tenants, fixing toilets (or even lining up calls for toilets), writing leases, taking photos, fixing floors; you get the idea. When you have enough units, you actually would end up better off creating a position for 1 or 2 people to work directly for you and have a team to manage properties so you can still continue to focus on the big things.

Edward: lots of opportunity in the area. I'm a member of the NOREIA and just recently signed up to start meeting with the Baton Rouge REIA, check them out on meetup.com and search for the ring. Primarily work out of the bayou region. If you're willing to find a good rehab opportunity you can BRRRR all day and snowball pretty quick in BR.

Amazing story and truly some good take home points. Our favorite holding period is forever, but we should still prefer to buy what could be sold with little hassle in a pinch. 

Absolutely awesome flip Ben!

Awesome job on the Reno!

Awesome renovation!!

The only examples I could think of where a buyer could go after you post closing is if you intentionally covered up a symptom of a larger issue. Like painting over a stain that would reveal a roof leak.

I typically would nicely tell them that you did your due diligence and hired a professional to assess it pre-close. He likely feels that since you wrote it off as routine maintenance and it ended up being larger that it is something you should handle. But if they wanted a second opinion pre-close it should have been taken care of then. 

Now personally, I offer to go above and beyond to try to make sure everything that they could feel slighted by is remedied even after close. All I have is my reputation and my investment area is not densely populated. We all know how people can ruin your name especially with social media even if you did nothing wrong. It's all about perceptions.

I am not an expert on the selling side as far as an agent is concerned, but I can try to at least give ideas. One thing I've noticed is that the turnover rate within the first year for RE agents is very high. This was the same way for me when I did outside sales. 

-It really took about 10-12 months for me to get traction and get my name out. I feel this is the same for RE agents, just keep at it.

-Personally the agents in my area don't do much direct mailing, but have a great social media presence and everybody knows their name. Instead of time and money on direct mail, maybe think about sponsored posts online and signs.

-You are active on BiggerPockets and investors buy more and more often. This may be a great tool.

-You're in an active market in Columbus (I imagine) so I would focus more on just finding sellers. Buyers may take forever to find a home even in slow markets. This will also accomplish points one and two of getting your name out. 

-Be honest and don't go crazy trying to oversell anything. I can't speak for everybody but I can certainly sniff this out. The agent I ended up listing my recent renovation with was the one who didn't come in and go "oh this is beautiful what do you want to list it for? XYZ price okay great lets do it!" He came in and said "honestly I would fix this, this, and change this, and I think we should list it closer to this and that it will ultimately sell for this." He was within $3,000 of the final sales price and it sold to the second viewer in my market which is very over saturated and slow moving.

Joseph this is a great story that echoes a wonderful sentiment: small daily steps compound over time to get you to your goal. It only accelerates more as you keep at it. You don't need to do anything crazy or massive, but small steps create massive actions. Congrats and I dig what you're doing!