All Forum Posts by: Patricia Becker

So, an answer I received in an earlier post inspired me to focus on Asset protection, but I am stuck on what to do... if you were me what would you select out of the 2 options below? I am leaning more towards the first option for now since I am still small and may be changing to option 2 when I get 10 properties. 

1- Simple and probably more cost-effective, I could purchase an umbrella policy

2- create an Asset protection structure (each property in a land trust, trust Beneficiary is LLC, remember I live in California so that gets expensive no matter where I file the LLC)

I am looking for a PM company for 3 SFR properties I have in Jacksonville, Tenants are great and are always on time, long term placement, and take good care of the properties. I have had a 2yr nightmare with my last PM and looking for someone that is worth 2 cents.

Any recommendations are appreciated. 

Quote from @Eunice Villarroel:

Hi there, congratulations on your journey!

Personal experience has taught me to go at your own pace. Start in whatever branch you feel most comfortable at first but DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF TO IT. Surround yourself with people in other branches and see how your goals evolve. I started off in buy and hold rental properties. Now I’m very comfortable in that and recently met with some amazing house flippers who invited me to team up and work on a project together. Super excited about that. Another piece of advice is be open to opportunities. I recently ran into a small property located in a wonderful tourist area and everything lined up for me to purchase it. The best use for that smaller property is as a short term rental so I guess that I will be dabbling in that too now.

Real estate is amazing, but don’t overthink it too much otherwise you’ll never jump. Be willling to learn as you go and be open to new opportunities. Once you tackle one branch and gain your footing you’ll find yourself eager to jump to another branch and another branch until you find the one that fits you best but that takes time do not rush it. Best of luck :)

 Thank you, I look forward to my natural progression... I have always went with the swing of things.  It has always worked out for me.

ok, so when I started my investment strategy was simple I listened to enough of the BiggerPockets team to create a plan and stick to that. "invest in what you know" so my investment strategy was: SFR, Sunbelt states, 1% rule, cities with at min national averages (pop increase, homeless, income... yadda yadda) and ones who CAFR was investing in themselves while paying down debt. (tall order I know) and my goal was to get at least 3 properties in each state before I move on to the next.

My question is: When do you Pivot, I wonder if my goal is doors, am I preventing myself from growth by sticking to the plan? should I focus more on a number(s) over the location and the strategies outlined by myself? I would like to hear your thoughts or experience on when you found yourself pivoting or growing in a way you didn't originally plan. I am sure it is more a natural progression than a forced one. 

@Brad H. How do you qualify for multiple conventional loans at the same time... I find that hard to do. I am just going through the brokers now working with a lender on a few different loan options....

1_ qual for cash out refi

2- qualify for new loan /loans

It seems so overwhelming, hopefully my lender can turn water into mud.

Quote from @David Garner:

As a non national with quite a few houses in the US, I applaud your approach. Its methodical amd very smart insofar as you're involving relationship building in your due diligence and analysis process organically.

For me, being waaaaaaaay out of state (I'm nin the UK most of the time nowadays) means that I only invest where I have relationships with people I trust. 

I learned that in my situation, a people first approach was essential to scale my business. This "wisdom' was acquired by making mistakes, some of which were costly, and most of which were born of trusting the wrong people and just following what I thought were the best numbers.

Again, I really like your methodology!

 Thank you, that is such a reassuring confidence booster. I definitely need to get better at relations, and I feel ya on trusting the wrong people, Shame me once, that is all I can say.

Quote from @Rohan Soltau:

That's similar to what I do. I would just add digging in to the different neighborhoods and determining where I definitely don't want to be.

Yeah... that definitely falls into step 2 for city data... I look at all the stats and determine what parts of the city have better neighborhoods and less poverty.

Just looking to compare my process to others to see if anyone else is as Lame or Awesome as me....lol. And see if there are any tips and tricks when looking for out-of-state investments. 

So here is my process. 

1- Open Zillow/ redfin or whatever, and type in a price range, 

2 - Scan the states (sunbelt only for me) that have findings and pick the Citys that have properties meeting my criteria. 

3- Check out the city on citydata.com (population trends, where they are at with state / Fed averages, etc... )

4- If I like city-data then I will search and open the city's CFAR (Comprehensive Financial annual report) and see how they are doing with debt, reinvesting in the city, upcoming projects.. yada yada. 

5- Once I got my city I will call 4-5 realtors and interview them (looking for ones that know how to "lift a skirt" of a home when looking at it, and can send video or photos)

6- Call 3-4 PM companies and interview them, talk a bit about the market (rents/areas) and get some free info while interviewing them. it can be a lot of pre-work just to decide to dig in but I think it is worth it. 

7- Remind myself to not overanalyze and stay away from Analysis paralysis.

That's it that is my process... just interested in what anyone else's is, I feel I am too haphazard, I don't really crunch numbers, i just make sure the rent can cash flow (500 or more, pending funding terms) 

Hello All, 

I am an out-of-state investor but extremely interested in the Dothan market, I have one property up in Huntsville and I am looking to pick up a few more Somewhere in AL (Dothan, Enterprise, Mobile are top list), I was wondering (since I can't attend) if anyone can tell me what the rental market is like there, is there a high vacancy rate? are PM companies hard to find/work with? is there a certain neighborhood that is better than others for rental rates?

Looking to connect with anyone, love to meet more investors. 

Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:

@Patricia Becker why not just leverage the current rental properties? You can ask your lender if you can just cross collateralize, or if you would need to refinance them. Then maybe a HELOC on your primary and use that to fund some hard money loans to other investors? This is a concept I heard Dave Van Horn talking about at BPCON. Essentially asset protection through debt. In your current scenario of paid off properties, what's to keep someone from just quit claim deeding them to themselves?

Well, crap now my paranoia is pinging me, no sleep for me tonight, I will have to really make sure I protect my assets on the quitclaim deed, can anyone just do that so randomly? need to call up my estate manager...lol

I did think about leveraging all the current rental properties but like having the "legacy" houses for my children and adding a bit of buffer for recession. (especially now), HM loan to other investors is something to think about, but I want the properties (buy and hold I can pass on to my kids, change the family tree, HM loans has an end date and don't appreciate like houses)

thanks for the reply, you gave me alot to think about.... so now I have options 7 and 8 lol....