All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hi Abe,

As others have told you, nothing can beat years of experience and on-the-job knowledge. With that said, it could be worth it to take the course you have described and get certified.

But first, I would recommend getting informal experience. Asking to tag along with an inspector is a great idea, but before you do that, watch as many youtube videos as you can on home inspection (and renovation for that matter) and read as many books on the topic as you can. When you're a home inspector, you need to know a lot about every single aspect of a home. So you need to be a roofer, a mason, a structural engineer, a contractor, an electrician, an HVAC guy and more, all at once. And it's just not easy to get and retain all of that knowledge quickly.

Our home inspector is the kind of guy who knows his stuff backwards. He gave us very accurate estimates for repairs and even put us in touch with friends and contacts who did the repairs we needed for reasonable costs. This is the kind of mastery that people look for when they look for home inspectors, and you just can't get there in a few days.

Here's a strategy I would consider.

Get informally educated by watching videos and reading

Tag along with home inspectors and contractors

Go back to step one

And then, depending on how you feel, go ahead and become a home inspector.

As you pointed out, home inspectors are expensive, and if you get a place inspected and decide against closing on it, you do lose a fair amount of money. But it's like an insurance policy. Spending a few bucks on a good home inspector can save you a fortune if he spots big problems.

Greetings all, 

I have come across a package of waterfront condos in Florida that I am somewhat interested in. I can buy as few as five or as many as twenty of them in order to take advantage of quite a good deal the seller is offering: that he will pay HOA fees and taxes for two years.

So that's the good news, HOA fees and taxes are covered for two years after closing. More good news is that rent is presently a bit below market, all units are occupied, the condos themselves are in excellent shape, the community itself has everything you could want and more (multiple pools, piers, a restaurant and bar, et cetera), and I expect that they will appreciate pretty rapidly. Better yet, the current asking price per unit is less than what I estimate each condo can sell for if you sell them off individually

Here's the bad news, though: after negotiating, I expect that monthly rent will equal just over 1% of the purchase value. I won't get close to 1.5%, maybe 1.2%ish in a best case scenario. However, my team owns and manages a  multifamily locally that just about hits the 1.5% and this is just fine for us, since we're keeping costs down.

I guess these are my questions.

Is it a good plan to buy the properties as a package, rent them out until the seller's two year deal to cover HOA fees and taxes runs out, and then sell them off piecemeal for 20%ish profits (assuming no appreciation or depreciation)? Naturally I am betting on appreciation, but I think it is justified in this case, since the location is excellent. Without appreciation, this leveraged investment should yield a return of upwards of 30% annualized (!) but is this too good to be true? Or should I stick to buy and hold, or should I blend my exit strategy?

We have never managed or even dealt with remote RE investing before. There is a management company that the seller's RE agent said is currently managing properties in the community, for something like 8% of monthly rent income. What should I be looking out for with respect to remote management? We're currently used to micromanaging every detail with our current multifamily, so this will be a big step in the opposite direction.

Since the rent to purchase price ratio is so low and won't get much better, should I just call the whole thing off?

I've already asked for and received rent roll, information about management and some other things. Apart from asking for detailed financial statements including all expenses (repairs/contracting) and talking to management to figure out how quickly and how effectively they get on filling units, is there anything else I should ask for at the moment?

Are there any other concerns you have, and is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance, all advice is greatly appreciated.