All Forum Posts by: Noah Chappell

@Danilo Ojeda congrats on the town house. The deal you're getting seems about average to me. We don't have a lot of details, but I'm assuming $100/unit/month would be about 9-10% of your gross rent, which is average. If you like the company's choice of tenants & communication style, I'd say stick with them 100%. Finding a company that charges 7% & manages more poorly will cost you 1,000x more in the end. 

@Alex Leana good job man! I've learned its uncomfortable to put yourself out there, & it can feel like you're wasting your time when you don't see results right away. After a while hustling becomes more comfortable though, & things fall into place. Just have faith in the grind! 

@Brian Hall hey Brian! I'm a buy & hold investor in Minneapolis, not an agent or broker, etc. My 2 cents.. You're going to need some connection to or team in the place you're going to invest if you're looking to advance past turn key. I'd try to think of a midwest city w/ good stats (ex >250k pop, growing population, median income >3x median rent, low crime, diverse economy, etc) that you have a connection to - friend, fam, etc. At very least should be somewhere you don' mind visiting relatively often - you're going to be tied to this place. You can check out neighborhoods in this city w/ trulia heat map & choose somewhere low crime. I'd set up search criteria on Redfin, trulia, zillow to get notifications when properties come on market. Start calling realtors about properties, & call management companies in area to build team. Offer on interesting property w/ contingencies, then fly out for inspection, to meet management in person, etc. It will be a bit of front loaded work, but if you get comfortable w/ a city you'll do great from a distance & eventually you can pair things down to yearly visits, if that. 

@LaPrice Ali no problem, good luck!!

@Todd Dexheimer great tip about timing leases to end during warmer months. Hope to see you at Northstar real estate conference. 

@LaPrice Ali welcome from another Twin Cities investor. You're starting out in an expensive, but still relatively accessible market, lots of opportunity for those willing to hustle. As a new person my approach would be to identify an up an coming area in path of progress (ex along NW & SW Minneapolis light rails being constructed, N Minne along river, Midtown, etc) & max out a low DP owner occupied loan, so get a value add 4 plex with an FHA, occupy the nicest unit with you fam, then self manage the rest. You could then expand into flipping or BRRRR. To to that, I'd think about getting access to loans & lines of credit. I'd suggest trying to get $ that doesn't affect your personal credit score, debt to income or debt to credit, so business lines/loans would be best. You mentioned youre a trucker, self employed?, if you own the business you could start applying for business credit, otherwise start a business now, bank though a credit union, & though that relationship you'll gain access to lines/loans. With a 4 plex & access to 80-100k for flips/BRRRR you'll be well on your way to becoming a full time investor.

@Brian Briscoe I can see how vacancies & thus rent would be affected in upper B & A class units, though I wonder if that would be the case in medium to low income or government subsidies housing where you'd expect less tenant migration during cold temps.. 

I would try to keep it simple. Good market would be growing population, diversified economy, median income >3x median rent, increasing rent trend, low vacancy, low crime, close to employment & public transportation. You're already hitting most of that by targeting Twin Cities. Neighborhoods within the cities vary, but I'd focus on employment/public transport/low crime - you'll probably find yourself in a decent neighborhood if you do, & there are lower priced areas that fit that criteria. 

@Ese A. O'Diah I think development is quite advanced investing, & I'm trying to see the benefit in your idea. If you're looking at affordable housing, there are abundant c+ 2-4 out there at a reasonable price that you can start by house hacking. The only way that would work in my view is if you had a plot in prime location & felt you had a competitive advantage in a niche (A+ luxury, student housing in dinky town, etc), otherwise the price and difficulty of building would far outweigh your profit. If you want to get your hands dirty with construction, just buy a cosmetically recked 4 plex & fix it - you'll stay busy & that's where you'll find the most value. 

1. What's your strategy? To buy 2-4 unit buildings under market value that need some cosmetic improvement & thus can be force appreciated. I like to focus on affordable housing in growing urban center given it's relatively recession proof. Buy & hold forever. Hopefully use BRRRR more and more.

2. How long have you been investing? Actively investing 6 months. Actively learning & saving 6 years. 

3. What has been your biggest lesson? Make a concrete focussed plan with incremental goals, then work towards these. If your plan is well researched you can work out kinks along the way. Always move forward, small progress is better than no progress. There are endless roadblocks, but ALL of them have solutions, figuring out the way around these is the fun part.