All Forum Posts by: Patrick Lyons

 You're paying down your loan and building equity so the "profit" is more than just the cash flow. I like John's idea of an equity line as well. That is very smart.

Experian has a Rent Bureau service that reports missed payments as well as when they make payments. So incentive both ways for the tenant to pay. Build credit by paying on time, or hurt it when they do not pay.

I have had good success on Facebook Marketplace for this, as well as craigslist. People are very willing to negotiate if you find some that have been listed for a while, nobody wants to have an old lawnmower they don't need taking up space. Good luck!

Personally, I feel like there is no wrong answer. Working on growing your buyer's list is definitely going to be important to maximize profits when you get a deal under contract. That being said, if you approach buyers with a strong deal they will be more receptive and that can help you grow your list quickly as well. Buyers will always be there for the right property, so that should probably be your main focus regardless of where you direct attention first. I know this doesn't give a strong opinion one way or the other as you may have been looking for but as you have already seen in your research, that may be because neither answer is entirely correct. Hope this helped at least a little! Good luck!

Awesome story! I love how determined you were to make it work and it's inspiring for me as I continue to try and get my first multi-family under contract. That's a beautiful duplex!

With a 3.75% rate, I would not recommend selling. The $850 a month is solid cash flow. For the small rental, looking into creative financing with low money down may be a good option. You could use the cash flow from your current rental to cover the expenses until your new rental begins to cash flow as well. When the market hopefully settles and rates drop eventually, you could refinance out of the loan on the small rental at a better rate and increase cash flow even more.

Hey Sheri! This post may help: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Hey Dom, I haven't actually tried either of these but the mail person idea got me thinking and I am going to try both of the following.

Bus Drivers - drive all around certain areas and definitely can see a lot of houses and when they drive around enough they will observe some things most people wouldn't see when driving by once.

Garbage Truck Drivers - Same situation as Bus Drivers but drive many more areas. They can also know when someone is clearing out an entire house so they may be motivated(getting ready to sell, a family member passed away, etc.) or just the opposite, if a house doesn't have any trash for weeks or months it is likely vacant.

Hey Wesley, the way I look at appreciation vs cash flow really depends a lot on your current financial situation. If you really need some extra income now, finding a cash-flowing property is going to be your best bet. If you have a solid income and are comfortable financially then finding a property in a good area that is likely going to appreciate would be a great strategy for delayed gratification (and profit). These properties however usually will have much smaller cash flow, or occasionally even operate at a loss. As far as avoiding bad parts of town, this is something your realtor should be knowledgeable of and if they are not, you should consider finding a different agent. Here are a few I found from the agent finder on this site, both of whom have good reviews and are active in the forums it appears.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...