All Forum Posts by: Alan Brown

@Ian Boyd and @Matt M.,  mum's the word! 

After living in the Colorado mountains for many years, it's sad watching CO turn into CA as the outdoors get loved to death.  I'm now out East, which is far far worse, always a good reminder of why we love the West, and am working on getting back to MT before it, too, has gone the way of the Indian Peaks and the Sierra's.  That being said, BZN has an economy like I"ve never seen anywhere else, which seems to be able to weather almost anything, with a massive aquifer below it that might even, after climate change, be the "last ONLY place".  I just quoted myself. @Brandon Turner  and @David Green take note!

Yah what @Ned Carey and @Tamara Deering said!  Welcome @Daniel Fitzroy to the place where you can get a PhD in Real estate on your own time, for free!!  I'm not kidding--there's nothing missing from the podcasts and the books, other than your own drive to make it happen.  I so wish I had Bigger Pockets when I was your age.  I can't believe the deals I missed that were right under my nose but I had no idea how to make it happen.  Literally I had a banker laugh me out of his office when I finally summoned up the courage to approach someone about how I could buy something... and looking back, I know of at least 3 deals on $30k houses that the owners would have been tickled to carry the note with no downpayment, if I just made payments to them!  they're all worth 10 times as much now!

Poughkeepsie is a great place to get going I think... especially if you have family there and you know the area a bit. First thing I'd do if I were you, would be to get into a two or four-plex with an FHA loan for 3.5% down, and house hack it! that's an awesome way to to get rolling, and to learn about managing renters and how buildings work. Newburgh and Kingston are nearby too, and also have some great opportunities.

Good luck, and don't miss @Eric Hrlbock's meet up opportunity-- you will be so happy you did it!

cheers

Yep, @Corey Meyer, and @Nathan Gesner, you nailed it.  Seems extremely rare to find anything that will cash flow in BZN let alone Big sky!  
A pretty amazing market for those that have the luxury to not cash flow.... 

what’s the cheapest piece of land you can find there, do you suppose?

And I think I’ve heard that ahort term rentals in BS are tightly regulated, no?  At one point I was thinking if I could just get ahold of a condo that would just break even for a few years I’d go for that.  Probably not, right?

It’s really my favorite place on earth geographically, but apparently I’m not alone!!

Thanks @Cheryl Vawdrey!  Yes lots of good stuff going on it seems, a lot of new jobs for sure...

@Moshe H. Thanks!  I'll look forward to hearing from you.  Do you come up this way much?  Always looking to meet up with comrades in arms.  

@Cheryl Vawdrey and @Moshe H., I know this is a very old thread, but I wondered how your progress has been in N Adams and Pittsfield, with your properties and Management?  

I've bought a couple of things in Pfield and have learned the hard way (again!)  that my due diligence was a bit lacking...was in a 1031 hurry and hadn't looked into MA's landlord laws nearly well enough, and relied on a lame realtor to educate me... now I find that you cant charge late fees, eviction is expensive, (especially if you have to deal with a tenant's personal Items),  and pet rules.. it all seems like it serves no one.

Anyway, I often think about N Adams, and wonder how you feel it's doing?  And how has your management been in both places?  Have you found great mgmnt in N Adams?

Thanks in advance

Howdy other pittsfield investors!  You guys really did nail it in your description, @Cory E. and @Jaysen Medhurst... Welcome @Matt Deochan!  

I've got a couple of buildings in Pittsfield now;  Cash flow can be great I'm finding, and I do think there are a lot of good deals out there if you're willing to look off market and put in some capX.  Right now there's a billionaire who's buying up some areas near where some new higher paying jobs are coming in, but there are lots of other areas that are at the margins of the good areas, that might do well with some fixing up.  

I'm hoping I can bring up my area, and buy some more properties in some other sections of town that will be coming up.  

I do have some serious issues, though, with the landlord laws in MASS.  I was not warned when I bought in, which kind of pissed me off (why was I paying this realtor to rep me???  why did my new property manager not clue me in?  These issues were so dumb I never would have thought to ask about them), such as:  if you evict someone, and they bolt, YOU the landlord have to pay a certain moving company (apparently the only one in pittsfield authorized by the city to handle this endeavor) to move the tenant's belongings into storage, until such time as your loser tenant finds another place to live, and then, YOU have to pay for their stuff to be professionally moved again, AND you have to pay for something like 3 months worth of storage!!!   

My tenant had just been busted for selling oxycontin on a street corner, so she was a proven loser, yet I would be responsible for her sad disgusting belongings... $2700 later you've still got to clean up and make ready for a new tenant.  

Cant' charge late fees!!  none!  Why DOES anyone pay rent, I wonder?  I have to pay late fees to my mortgagor... Who came up with these rules?  I'm all for treating tenants well and fairly, giving them great places to live, but these ridiculous laws make no sense.

I'm not positive, but I don't think you can charge extra for pets either... And I've been told you may not necessarily be able to charge a tenant out of their deposit for cleaning fees... only for actual damage.  So why clean when you move out???   What are we trying to teach these good people?  that you don't have to make your payments on time, don't have to clean up after yourself?  

Cory, do you know why these laws are like that?  obviously a lot of slumlords or something, but these rules don't make any sense in any reality I know of.  Do you know if anyone is trying to change these laws?  Any landlord associations that you know of trying to change things?  

BTW, I'm just discovering (I bought in a hurry on a 1031 schedule, so my due diligence was a bit sloppy on these!) that water bills for my 4 plex are almost 3 times those of my tri plex.  Also, for a 4plex you have to pay $800 a year for garbage pick up, while a 3plex is free!  They seem to not like anything over a 3plex....

Also, I've just recently found a Fannie mae lender who will do small multi families, but most lenders there seem to consider investor properties (of any size) commercial, and charge commercial rates for ARMs and 20 year amortizations... not sure what that's about.

Very different place from other states I've invested in so I'm up in the air how much more I'll put into MASS, but I love the Berkshires and Pittsfield is an excellent market, on it's way up I think.  

Zillow's zip code yearly market report (not that I've ever trusted Zillow much), if I remember right, said appreciation there was around 7%, and they figured it to be about the same for the next year. That's certainly not bad, I'd really like to get to know the SFH market better and would love to do some flips.

Meetup anyone?

Ok Thanks, @Alex Bekeza, will keep your info handy here!

That could work out well for my projects

oops @Alex Bekeza, forgot to put your handle in.  see above

Hi Alex,

Up front points?  any other substantial fees?