All Forum Posts by: Patrick Allen

Greetings local Tucson-based investors!

If you are new to the market here in Tucson, AZ, or new to concept of investing in Real Estate in general, consider this your personal invitation to surround yourself with like-minded peer investors for an evening of education, networking and relevant market data to help make sense of where SPECIFICALLY to look for your next REI deal opportunity!

The next meetup of the New Investor Subgroup of AZREIA in Tucson is set for Monday November 18th from 6-8pm, and will cover two broad topics of high relevancy to every new investor: "How to Identify your Target Market" and "CRM & the Power of Follow-Up"

Building on last month's topic, we will spend the first 20-30 minutes breaking down the top 25 zip codes in the Tucson Metro area most relevant to investors, as well as demographic and economic data to help you better understand your end buyer/tenant's spending power and motivations.

After a short networking break where we will practice our investor "elevator pitch" (in-person only) we will dive into the Elephant In The Room for far too many newer investors: the discipline of follow-up. 

We'll explore why continuous follow-up is necessary in today's investing market, why a real estate CRM (client resource management) software application is a must-have for anyone looking to build off-market lead flow, as well as several foundational marketing principles to keep in mind when marking directly to motivated sellers.

We we normally do, we will be meeting up at the Keller Williams Building near River/Campbell from 6-8pm on the third Monday of the month, as well as a live-stream on Zoom (until Patrick's laptop gives out!). 

Comment here or DM me with any questions. Hope to see a solid BP Universe presence at next month's meetup

For AZ Landlord-Tenant issues, I refer to Zona Law Group (480) 949-1400. Mark Zinman has been a steadfast resource/volunteer for AZREIA for years for LL-Tenant Law related situations.

You can also try Jim Whitehill as a catch-all for RE needs; I've seen his name come up a lot in local Realtor forums when folks ask for attorney referrals. (520) 214-8779

Hello again, newbie investors of the Old Pueblo!

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with AZREIA: the Arizona Real Estate Investors Association... if you are a local to the Tucson area and are interested in getting started investing in real estate locally, this is the perfect opportunity to join us for some amazing content on how to do just that. Our meetup for October will again return to the basics:

WHY it makes sense to get started investing now (even in today's crazy housing market) and

HOW to develop your investing niche (what you buy) and strategy (how you buy it).

We will lay out an argument in favor of beginning your real estate investing journey no matter your goals or current skillset, as well as to overview several different strategies/ideas to get you started. Even if you're already decided on your investing strategy for 2024, I hope you will find this month's content accessible and motivating to go out and crush it.

As we always do, the New Investor Subgroup of AZREIA in Tucson will be meeting up the 3rd Monday (aka "the Monday following the Main Meeting") at the Keller Williams Building near River/Campbell from 6-8pm to discuss topics relating to the new investor in a sequential way: from foundation to taking action & making deals happen! If you're not able to attend in-person, we will also be live-streaming the meetup via Zoom, so you can grab your ticket for either medium.

Hope to see you there!

Hello again, fellow local investors (& would-be investors!). The arrival of September brings with it the promise of cooler mornings, the start of college football season, and not the least of which: the next meetup of the New Investor Subgroup of AZREIA in Tucson! Here is all of the need-to-knows:

Having spent the last few months discussing how to identify and then analyze potential deals in your investor "buy box", we now come to the next critical step in your journey to your first (or next) investment deal: the process of negotiating the Purchase Contract and conducting due diligence. AZREIA business partner and long-time investor-friendly escrow officer extraordinaire Barbi Stewart with Fidelity Nat'l Title will again join us for our September meetup to discuss the Purchase Contract. Barbi will highlight critical terms and conditions in the standard AAR Purchase Contract, using the 10-page document to discuss & clarify several clauses you should consider adding to your own contract to purchase, or to be aware of in the event you find yourself selling an asset on the open market.

The second portion of the evening will dive deeper into the all too critical due diligence period. Truly where the investor "rubber meets the road", we will overview the process and goals of the typical due diligence period for residential real estate transactions and negotiation towards closing the deal. With some extra time in the final 20-30 minutes we will also discuss a few topics relating to scaling to bigger deals and otherwise continuing to grow your financial fortress in years to come!

As we typically do, we will be meeting up at the Keller Williams Builder (near River/Campbell) from 6-8pm on the Third Monday of the month; we'll be meeting in person, as well as live-streaming it via Zoom. Put any questions down below, and I hope to see you there!

Hello & Happy Summer to all of your local investors here in Tucson, AZ. Although the market might be peaking for the year as it relates to normal seasonality, the AZREIA organization takes the month of July off of our usual subgroup meetups as many of our members take well-earned vacations and flee from the summer temps.

As such, make sure you mark the first Monday in August on your calendars as the next meetup of the Tucson chapter of the AZREIA New Investor Subgroup meetup. 

Topic #1 for our August meetup will be will be "How to Analyze Deals on Fix & Flip Properties," where we will discuss common strategies and considerations when analyzing value-add deals. From the most basic framework like "the 70% Rule" and the "Three Levels of Rehab," all the way down to recommendations and resources for scaling your portfolio over dozens of flips.

After analyzing a few deals as a group, Topic #2 will feature a guest speaker: my good friend Chad Casper with Pillar to Post Home Inspectors will be on hand once again to talk through what *not* to do when rehabbing a property. Drawing upon his day-to-day experiences as a local general property inspector, Chad will share the biggest red flags that blow up the budgets of the less experienced rehabbers... happening right here in Tucson!

As usual, we will be meeting up at the Keller Williams building in Midtown Tucson, near River & Campbell. There will also be a live-stream version via Zoom for those who would rather attend virtually.

Stay safe for those of you traveling and we will see you all in August!

I have come to discover that banks do not like offering HELOCs on investment properties... but many lenders are quite happy to give you a HELOC against your primary residence. So when considering your entire "capital stack" I think it is worth opening up a HELOC on your primary residence to make your equity more liquid, whether you end up doing another house hack or staying in your current home forever.

That said, we are not in a market where the average deal is likely to have enough potential return to justify paying 9-12% on a HELOC... unless there is a value-add component with a clear & compelling refi strategy later. It is probably not going to make sense to use HELOC funds towards a large down payment on another property.

My mind goes to either

1) Sneaky Rental tactic: Upgrade your primary home at prevailing rates, however unattractive they might look relative to your 2.2% rate. Your current home becomes a rental once you've moved out, and even if you aren't cash flow positive in year 1 (new rents - debt on new primary - current mortgage pmt), focus on aggressively saving towards a $10-20k cash reserve & have faith that market rents will rise over time to catch up to today's affordability crunch.

or 

2) Save up a full down payment on an investment property. This way is much slower, but is more comfortable b/c it doesn't involve having to move

Another month means another local meetup: if you are a newer investor in the Tucson, AZ area with the goal to build or expand your local portfolio of buy & hold properties later on in 2024, then you can consider this your personal invitation to the next monthly meetup of the New Investor Subgroup of AZREIA in Tucson.

Having covered much of the foundation of your investing journey (niche/strategy, financing & how to find deals) we now turn our attention to the most actionable part of real estate: How to Analyze Deals on Buy & Hold properties.

June's meetup will dive deep into key financial metrics like cap rates, cash flow and price-to-rent ratio, as well as the economic underpinnings of each to help explain why many successful B&H investors end up being spreadsheet wizards. While the raw ROI metrics are helpful in deciding how to best focus your attention as an investor, this meeting will also be packed full of actionable tips and time-tested wisdom to get your REI goals off the ground and hurtling forward.

The in-person portion will be held at the Keller Williams building near River/Campbell. As we always do, we will begin promptly at 6:00pm & run until somewhere in the 7:30-8:00pm time frame. There will also be a virtual streaming of the meetup via Zoom, so if you'd prefer to stay home you may feel encouraged to dial in.

See you at the meeting!

I think, generally speaking, this is one of the bigger reasons NOT to build an ADU in your backyard simply because you have the space: there aren't really any simple ways to finance the building costs.

Maybe some specialty programs exist for prefab homes or a custom ADU builder might have his own lender partner they could refer you to... but unless you yourself are an experienced home builder with a track record in ground-up construction, you're basically looking at a hard money or a HELOC. You also probably will not get a $1 in cost <= $1 in value from the ADU after construction, if you tried to do a cash-our refi or something. AND you cannot separately sell or refinance that ADU in the future.

That said, I ran across this company that seems to specialize in this type of addition: maybe they could help? https://www.prismadu.com/

Happy Spring, fellow investors... I hope those of you AZ locals have been regularly getting outside to enjoy the last of our nicer weather before summer well & truly gets to us. Crazy though it may seem, we are just a few weeks away from May and therefore it's time again to remind you of the next meetup of the New Investor Subgroup of AZREIA in Tucson!

Content this month is all about taking us from "research mode" into truly taking regular, measurable action: how to find the deal. 

Topic 1 will be "How to Find Leads in your Target Market", and will explore the twin approaches of prospecting and marketing to begin to fill your Deal Funnel with real estate leads. Come to this discussion with an open mind to discover which avenue(s) you are most comfortable with to find deals and to put yourself in front of a motivated seller... without spending a fortune on unnecessary "guru courses"

After a short networking break, we will welcome up Wendy Reuter from our local partner Good Steward Lending to discuss our second topic of the evening: "How to Fund the Deal (using creative & traditional strategies)". 

Pre-Register here: registration link through AZREIA

The in-person portion will be held at the Keller Williams building near River/Campbell. As we always do, we will begin promptly at 6:00pm & run until somewhere in the 7:30-8:00pm time frame. There will also be a virtual streaming of the meetup via Zoom, so if you'd prefer to stay home you may feel encouraged to dial in.

Greetings local Tucson-based investors!

For those of you who were able to attend last month: having recently just covered the foundational topics necessary to start actively looking for real estate deals, we now turn our attention to the next BIG QUESTION which stops newbie investors in their tracks: which area(s) should I be looking at?

If you are new to the Tucson area, unsure what type of investing strategy is most effective to use in a given area of town, or are simply interested to hear how a real estate agent might categorize every area of Tucson (segmented by zip codes) to an investor client, this meetup is for you!

Building on last month's topic, we will spend the first 20-30 minutes breaking down the top 25 zip codes in the Tucson Metro area most relevant to investors, as well as demographic and economic data to help you better understand your end buyer/tenant's spending power and motivations.

After a short networking break where we will practice our investor "elevator pitch" (in-person only) we will dive into the Elephant In The Room for far too many newer investors: the discipline of follow up. We'll explore why continuous follow-up is necessary in today's investing market, why a real estate CRM (client resource management) application is a must-have for anyone looking to build off-market lead flow, as well as several foundational marketing principles to keep in mind when marking directly to motivated sellers.

We we normally do, we will be meeting up at the Keller Williams Building near River/Campbell from 6-8pm on the first Monday of the month, as well as a live-stream on Zoom (until Patrick's laptop gives out!)

Pre-register here: via AZREIA's website

Hope to see you there