All Forum Posts by: Nick Gaines

Great job with your first BRRR getting started with real estate investing! Just looking at your numbers it appears that you are in a cash flowing property with decent return and hardly any money out of pocket. So as far as execution goes, I'd call it a success.

You raise some good questions regarding investing in Illinois. I currently have 31 rentals with 24 more closing next week, all in the Champaign-Tuscola-Mattoon area and continue to ask my self the same questions about how much I want to be invested in Illinois long term. 

I think @Scott Dixon raises some good points about the possible advantages of investing close to home, especially if you want to self-manage and do some/most of your own maintenance and repairs. I think you also need to decide what your ultimate goals are... if it's to build a cash flowing portfolio of 5-20 units to build equity and cashflow for retirement, investing close to home and doing your own management makes sense. If you want to scale bigger and perhaps leave your W2 (assuming you have one), then you may not be able to cash flow enough from of a small portfolio to maintain or increase your lifestyle. In that case, you probably will need more units than you can (or want to) self-manage and maintain. If your goal is a large portfolio, do you want it to be in Illinois given all the systemic challenges the state face?

@Michael Beeman I'm getting ready to do my own mail marketing campaign for the same purpose. @Ehsan Rishat provided a great strategy rundown.  I was also going to mention that @Anson Young's book Finding and Funding Great Deals has a great tutorial on how to use Listsource and other resources to find leads, but it looks like you are already well on your way. I look forward to hearing how things turn out (just stay out of Champaign County, jk:)

Thanks for sharing @Michael Ealy. I love the detail and depth you went into. I’m about to embark on a similar 28-unit project here in Illinois. Occupancy rate isn’t anywhere near where you started at, so not quite the leap of faith you took—what an amazing vision you had for that project. Congrats!

Hi @Jonathan Nixon

Brandon Moore is with RE/MAX CHOICE based out of Champaign but works with investors throughout Central Illinois. His contact information is in the link below. Tell him Nick Gaines recommended him if you connect. 

https://www.remax.com/realestateagentoffice/champa...

-Nick

Congrats Inga on getting it under contract! 

I'd like to echo the thank you to everybody that has contributed to this post. I recently listened to Rock's podcast which intersected with reading Think and Grow Rich, so the idea of joining a quality mastermind is really resonating right now. One of my medium-term goals is to be a Tony Robbins Platinum Partner and I think GB or M1 might be an excellent springboard to making that economically feasible. I'm going to explore both GB and M1 further. Thanks again.

@Matthew Davis, I know we've connected in other forums, but just wanted to welcome you to BP.

@Dave Dash it isn't too late to invest in the area. There are plenty of turn-key providers and other investment opportunities (joint venture, partnerships, syndications) seeking capital in Chambana and the surrounding areas.

 @Inga Fonder - My experience is similar to Quentin's. I've only used local banks for residential and commercial loans for many of the same reasons: developing a relationship with local institutions, ease of documentation and working through problems, local knowledge, etc... For residential loans, I recommend Nick Wilkins at BankChampaign. For commercial loans I recommend Gary Otto at Washington Savings in Mattoon (they'll lend in the Champaign area as well) and Dan Rock at BankChampaign.

I have reached out to a few local mortgage brokers but I haven't received very good response. My impression was that they weren't very interested in working with investors based on my very limited experience.

In my opinion, even if I pay a little bit higher rate, having somebody local that I can go in and talk to is more valuable. Once you get a couple deals in place with a local lender, it may only take a phone call to get pre-approved for the next deal, helping you get an offer in place fast and maybe beating out the next guy or gal.

Another way to contain risk (if available in your state) is a series LLC. This is what we have--one "holding company" or master LLC and then a series for each property or group of properties. This is more efficient than individual LLCs for every property but still isolates liability. Once the master LLC is set up, the filing fees and attorney costs to add a series are relatively inexpensive.