All Forum Posts by: Oscar Brooks

@Travis Sperr

Just watching your webinar from earlier this week! 

I met up with @Bruce Runn and he's an awesome guy. I'd listen closely to what he shares with you. I also worked with Conor and he's great as well.

Welcome to BP @Josh Hagen

I'm also looking for my first place but am looking to owner occupy (sounds like you are already living rent free so I'm assuming you want to stay where you are). Just as @Christian Rasmussen said, good deals are going super fast. I've found that even bad deals are going fast if the property is nice. If the numbers look good there is no reason to wait, but it sure seems like prices are inflated at the moment and I'm hopeful that waiting a bit will see prices get a bit more reasonable once we get through summer. For your searching you can easily set up auto searches on www.themlsonline.com and keep track of what's available (at least on MLS in the twin cities)

Congrats Micah! I'm looking for duplexes in Minneapolis and hopefully I'm in the same situation as you soon. Best of luck finding a great renter and I think the above comments are spot on with fallout from screenings. You want 20 folks to email or call so that you can narrow down to the best one.

@Steve Vaughan thanks for the list of questions. I'm wondering if any of the posters in Minneapolis  like @Bruce Runn know of any fair housing rules in Minneapolis that we'd need to be careful about when pre-screening with those questions? I'm hoping to be able to keep my building no smoking and pet free (when I get one) and curious if there are any restrictions Minneapolis imposes on landlords.

Great question @Tony Otis

Killer pro tip @Art G.!

I've put in an offer on a potential first property in NE Minneapolis that looks to me like it will need significant retaining wall and driveway work at some point in the near future. All I have is a super ballpark estimate from an architect friend (at a high-end firm so maybe his number is inflated?) on what it might take to get fixed. Can anyone on BP recommend a retaining wall that I can contact for some advice and hopefully an estimate?

Thanks in advance BP community!

I've been trying to attend a Minnesota Real Estate Exchangors meeting for a while but work seems to find a way to make it impossible. Next MREE event is June 1st and of course I'll be traveling for work and can't make it :|

http://1031mree.com/

MREE events require membership or a $20 drop in fee, so that is a disadvantage compared to the free TCREI as @Travis Sperr mentioned.

Great thread @Madeline J.!

I don't own anything yet so take my input with a grain of salt, but from the places I've been analyzing it seems that Seward, Powderhorn, and Richfield are decent ratios. Haven't looked in Hopkins, but other investors I've talked to agree with @Account Closed that it's a great option.

@Nathan White great suggestion on the Habitat for Humanity builds. I spent a month working on a build for a high school course and liked it so much I got a job as a laborer for a remodeling company that same summer. Now I'm looking for my first place so I can put those skills to use (many many years later).