All Forum Posts by: Nancy Brook

I should have said rent above was $675 and it's $625 after property management fee.

I don't think this is a complicated business model. I buy a house for $35k. I'm getting $625 in rent. The place is fixed up. The renter is in place. I'm paying $50 for property management a month. (Yes, AWB has an exclusive property management company they deal with.) I'm making 15% net. I'm not banking on appreciation. Seriously, this is the easiest way we have bought houses. In contrast, we have other homes in Florida that we have bought at discount. We fix them. We work with the property managers. We establish the insurance, etc. THAT is way more difficult.

And for those people who are snooty about buying a $35k house, I would say there are many investors who would be thrilled to be able to buy a house! In markets across the U.S., owning real estate is out of many people's reach. I live in Montana and Florida, and the Montana market requires at least $100k for a basic rental. The only way I could become an investor was to find properties in other markets. Right now, my boyfriend is selling two rental houses in Montana to buy four to five rentals in St. Pete, Florida, and Columbus, Ohio. He can easily triple his rental income with this move.

Columbus is a great market for investing, in my opinion. You have Ohio State, state capital and lots of industry. We are looking at buying more properties there. We have owned our first property through AWB for a year and have not had any issues. Our second property we have had for about four months and it was sold with a long-term tenant. We recently bought a third at auction so this one we have to set up ourselves. I'm questioning whether this was a good idea, even though the property sold for less than our other two. We have to buy plane tickets to Columbus, stay at a hotel, interview property managers, determine repairs needed.

@Andrew Wydra, AWB has a fantastic business model! So many people want to be investors and do not have the time to go to other markets to find houses. I'm doing this in a small degree in Florida.

Hey Peter - My boyfriend and I have bought two houses in Columbus from American Wealth Builders. The experience has been awesome. We own 15 properties between us and the rentals from American Wealth Builders are stress free. They take care of the tenants, managing the property manager, repairs, setting up insurance (which is a great company by the way) and all the other details. We just collect the ACH deposit each month.

The returns are as promised. Ours are around 15% for our properties, but of course, it depends on the area of town you want to buy in.

If you have any other questions, feel free to hit me up on the thread or through PM.

Nancy

Thanks for the info, @Michael Westberry 

@Michael Westberry and @Brandon Proctor 

Thanks for your comments. I hear you on mailing to more people. I am trying to be realistic as I still have that job so will have to fit it in. If I'm handwriting letters, it may take a bit of time. LOL!

Hi All -

It looks like I will soon be laid off from my J.O.B., which isn't a bad thing. For the past two years, I have been investing in rental properties. I have one four-plex and my boyfriend and I have invested in two duplexes, three single families rentals and a single family house that is being renovated. We are also waiting for approval on a short-sale.

Due to the change in my employment situation, I'd like to get started as a wholesaler. I have been reading forums to get some ideas as to how to find a mailing list, what letters to send out, how to measure response, follow up. There's a lot of good info on here.

I live in two states: Florida and Montana. We also invest in Ohio. I decided to put my focus on Florida and focus on the vacant properties. I have a list. I've set up a PO box and a google phone number. I just want to know the best way to start.

Do I hand write some yellow letters and send out 20 or so each week? Do I target the properties based on where houses are being sold to investors? (There are, of course, rougher areas of town but everything seems to be selling like mad lately.)

I'm in sales, so I have no fear about taking calls and closing deals. I will need to find comps so I can make sure I'm negotiating a good deal. I know there is Zillow where I can find sold comps. Do you have any other recommendations?

I'm actually quite excited to begin my future. I just want to have things set up so I am approaching things as efficiently as possible, realizing that I will also have a learning curve. I want to make a go of this and so need some cash to start coming in so I don't have to find another J.O.B. :-)

Thanks for your assistance!

Thanks, @Laureen Youngblood 

We were able to make it through and get some additional visibility into why the project changed scope. I expect people I work with to make money. I just want to understand why costs increase.

Hi all - Just want to thank you for sharing your ideas! I am also going to send out some letters to property owners of vacant houses.

Great question. I have a contractor that I have worked with on several projects. Now that we are working on a major reno, the budget has expanded 4 times the original scope. I'm not comfortable proceeding. Curious what you require in a bid? I asked for a scope of work and itemized budget. The contractor said she would not provide it, only a total. We will need to get other bids now so wondering what you would require.

Thank you @Wayne Brooks

@Wayne Brooks