All Forum Posts by: Nicholas L.

@Britt Arlen

hello and welcome.  difficult to answer without more background.  as a business owner you're probably pretty busy.  but, just to be candid, with the market the way it is right now, it's the most hands-on, time-consuming, gnarliest projects and strategies that are generating the best returns (and i am not recommending those - just stating a fact.)

plain vanilla LTRs are still a great strategy in the long-term - they're just tough to acquire and they're not going to cash flow.

can you tell us a little bit more about your background and what time you do or don't have available?  are you in a position to be able to house hack?

other may chime in that you should just jump in and buy any old property.  i don't think that's a good idea - the market is unforgiving right now.

@Jaron Walling

I'm in the exact same boat - any time away from family has to be wisely invested.  I'm going to see something on-market that is fairly distressed later this week and will probably make an offer at a price that works for me.  I don't think I'll get it, but if I get it, I'll need help overseeing the rehab.  I have some investor friends and I'll try to see if I can pay one of them to be my PM.

I made a few seller finance offers on some on-market properties earlier this year as well.  Figured they wouldn't be accepted and they weren't, but had some good interactions with the agents.

I don't think BRRRR is dead, it's just as difficult as ever. Good luck!

@April VanCleve

always hard to say without complete details, but i would say foundation issues are too much for the very first one

@Jacob Andrew Winn

would any of them seller finance?

@Jay Hinrichs

yep good point about the markets this impacts.  one corollary - as i've pointed out in other threads, a lot of lower priced inventory in rust belt markets is sitting vacant because the owners have no mortgage but aren't willing to sell unless they get absolute top dollar.  the pain of paying taxes yearly isn't enough to force them to do anything.

@Brian J Allen so this like the inverse of your point - in expensive markets, the potential high capital gains tax bill disincentivizes selling, and in the cheaper markets the real estate taxes are too low to incentivize it.  all of this adds up i think to the inventory shortage that we're in.

and @Steve K. totally agree with you.  builders near me are putting up luxury single level patio homes at 2x the median price and there is tremendous, tremendous demand for them - they can't build enough.

interesting thread.

@Tom Grieshammer

syndications are a diversification strategy for HNWIs

@Charlie Krzysiak

yes, you should house hack as soon as you can, but renting for a short period would not be the end of the world.

yes, 10K is probably not enough. 

yes, talk to a lender first.  they'll be able to guide you on what programs are available, how much you'll need to close, what you would need to get pre-approved, etc.

if you start with a house hack you're going to be ahead of the game in the long run, so it's OK to be patient for a year or two.  you're thinking about everything the right way from what i can tell.

hope this helps.

@Pedro Torres

30K is just not enough.  any property in that price range is going to be in a challenging neighborhood.

and if something costs 85K and 20K to fix and ARV is 130... that's not enough of a spread. and again, likely to be in a challenging neighborhood.

i would wait.

sorry, i know that's not what you want to hear, but it sounds like you've done a ton of great work to build yourself into a stronger financial position.  check these threads out...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/963/topics/1195280-expe...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1160450-run-i...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1137397-balti...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/1010977-12-00...

not trying to be discouraging, just realistic

hope this helps

@Nick Volz

yes, if you can house hack, that is a powerful, lower risk way to get started. not no risk of course, but lower risk.  it allows you to own an investment property that you purchase with financing options only available to owner occupants.

@Audrey Sommer

it's just a very, very rough rule of thumb that says to assume that 50% of a property's rent will go to non-financing expenses.

it's a screening tool designed to screen down candidates to a manageable pool - but then every property needs to be analyzed on its own merits.  the 50% rule doesn't know roof age, individual market dynamics, anything about utilities, etc.  so if you're looking at 123 main street you wouldn't use it because you already have a specific property identified.

that's all.