All Forum Posts by: Noah Corwick

Hi all!

I have been an avid Bigger Pockets listener and fan for over 3 years and finally wanted to introduce myself. I am a real estate investor and licensed realtor focusing on north Phoenix, Cave Creek and Scottsdale, Arizona.

My origin story for getting into real estate was super accidental. One day my best friend asked if I could qualify for a house mortgage because his credit wasn’t great. The arrangement was that if I mortgaged the home, he would fix and flip the house. As scared and anxious as I was, I agreed.

Fast forwarding, I ended up doing a whole lot more than just getting us the mortgage for the flip. We ended up sharing 50/50 responsibilities for working the entire project including structuring the deals, funding, designing, bookkeeping, and overall project management.

Because of the difficulties we faced with our realtor when it was time to sell, I made the conscious decision to get my real estate license and vowed to never go through the frustrations, headaches and money left on the table that we encountered. Since I have over 8 years of sales experience working my 9-5 job and had learned how real estate transactions worked and are structured, why couldn't I just do the agent work myself?

Today I am thankful in saying that I am my own agent in any and all projects I take on. This includes my own investments, but also helping anyone looking to buy/sell a home. There are a lot of lousy agents out there that aren’t concerned with their clients' best interests. I would like to change that narrative and ensure people don’t have to go through some of the pitfalls that I encountered.

My latest investment venture is a house hack that I intend to use as my first long term rental. Between working as a real estate agent and my own investments (mix of rentals and flips), my overall goal is to make real estate my sole focus professionally within 2 years.

Looking forward to connecting with you all! 

Hey Phillip,

Great to meet you! As Susan suggested, I believe networking with real estate investors and partnering with them on hard money deals might be an ideal fit with your work schedule. 

Another possible route is to find a rental property and hire a property manager to mange it for you. In this scenario, most of your work is done upfront, while the property management company handles the day to day. If you work with an investor-minded agent, they can do the legwork on a lot of the research to find potential properties as well. 

Good luck with your ventures! 
 

Lo-fi is my jam! Perfect for background music for concentration, learning and relaxation (if it's been a stressful day). 

Hi Armando!

Sorry that I'm late to the party. 

A huge part that I feel is missing in your project description is what is your end goal? Are you ultimately trying to build your dream home for you and your wife to live in and then stop all real estate activity? Or would you like to keep your real estate ventures rocking and rolling for years to come?

Another consideration for any custom home is build cost. Obviously I'm not sure on how large or high end of a house you intend to possibly build, but a lot of new construction custom homes could range from $250k-$350k (and possibly more). So this project will deplete all of your savings plus some, which I never recommend. I'd recommend using hard/private money so your savings stays in tact if you go this route. 

Overall I'd recommend reflecting on what you are trying to achieve and what you want to prioritize. This will be the foundational piece that will lay out a good plan of attack. 

Let me know if you'd like to brainstorm sometime!

Hi Josh,

Awesome approach and is definitely one that I am starting to use in my investment strategy as well. Once it makes sense to refi, I will be renting my current house hack out and will be buying another property, etc. 

Thanks for sharing your story! 

Hey Steven. Welcome to Phoenix! Hope the summer weather hasn't been too brutal for you. 

I'd agree with most on here in saying that jumping into a renal property in a place like PHX is risky unless you've done the proper homework and due diligence. Also with the high fluctuation in AZ, cash flow is much harder to come by than appreciation in my opinion. 

Because of this, I believe a great place to start is purchasing a house to call home base that you can eventually reposition into your first renal property. That way you get a stable place for you and you wife to live, you continue to learn the AZ market, start to form your team/go-to resources, build momentum and really plan your attack. Obviously I'd never recommend rushing into buying a home just for the sake of buying a home. But if there is an area you believe in/see potential in/love the numbers in/etc., maybe you target somewhere there. 

I'd love to chat about areas/cities that you and your wife have been eying. 

Overall best of luck with your endeavors! 

Great to hear Kelby, congratulations! I'm sure you are super excited. I'd love to connect. I'll send you a PM. 

 Hi Michael!

I think Josh is right on the money with everything he said. Keeping your emergency funds for an emergency (life can unpredictable sometimes) is probably the wisest thing. And in the PHX market, it'll be pretty hard to find an investment property (20%-25% down) that would make those numbers work anyways.

 If you don't mind having roommates, renting out rooms might be a really savvy idea. That way you are saving money every month for your next venture, others are helping pay down your mortgage, and will come even more ready after the year has completed!

Hey Kelby, 

Great to meet you! 

Sorry to hear that the inspection didn't come out like you had hoped it would. At least you learned this now instead of down the road though!

I'd love to help brainstorm on different areas to possibly look in to. 

Let's connect! 

Hi Eric. I would definitely be game for this!