All Forum Posts by: Phil W.

@Erin Hong

40% usually the minimum I put down

I won’t scale as high but when I put down 40 60 or 100% cash I have zero fear of what may happen to the market obviously ensuring I’m buying in a market that will grow and has a lot of people moving in the area for jobs

I’m strictly doing ltr’s but what scared me was friends and acquaintances that over stretched themselves and went short sale when the market crated over a few years

The more you put down the more you can weather the storm if/ when it hits

i'm on the sidelines but looking to make a move probably in the winter time when the market should be a bit quieter. I'd opt B, If you really wanted to get into real estate. I know you mentioned your new at this but just make sure you plan out what your getting yourself into. It's definitely passive income if you get a fairly newer place. Check out pand handle of WV along VA border. Numbers work much better, I love this area and have seen massive price value explosion but now the numbers just don't work. If I could go back to 2008-2013 when I really started I would have put down even less if I could and acquire more doors still obviously squeaking out a profit.

Quote from @Dev Paul:

Greetings everyone! Im looking to move close to Loudon county (Virginia) where my brother lives. I dont want to be more than 1-1.5 hrs away from him, but dont want to buy in and around his expensive area either. My budget is max 350k for a single family or a townhouse. Idea is to put 20-30% downpayment, so that the total mortgage including taxes is around 1500-1600 dollars.

Which towns/areas will you guys recommend? Schools dont matter, but want to live in a decent neighborhood. Charlottsville, Richmond etc are in my radar but looking for more suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

This is a ways out there but right now everything is super expensive in the burbs in the last few years around fairfax county and DC.   Here's something in front royal I checked out the value probably wouldn't increase much but would cash flow decent.  The builder told me this price includes pretty much everything you see as these are built already.   If you ever upgraded you could rent this out pretty easy.  It's an hour from loudoun county.   If you can spend up to 380-400k you can also land some decent condo's in herndon and reston va.  I think in the next couple years your going to see a big push to get back to the office most days a week as the job market gets tougher.  We just flipped from an employees market to a employers market pretty quick and I can see herndon/reston benefitting huge. Cash flow isn't great but the value will increase much better than front royal would over the next 8-10 years.  


916 Virginia Ave,Front Royal, VA 22630 https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fron...

Quote from @John McKee:

I don't think you have to worry about the office so much unless your investing in office or retail.  Demand should be strong for residential in the town center just because of the lack of inventory in the fairfax area and the proximity to restaurants/entertainment.  If people haven't gone back to the office by now, they probably won't be coming back by now. Companies are already starting to downsize their foot print.

Since you do commercial, and I know zero other than "buy it and lease it" what are your thoughts around buying medical office space around a hospital? I see multiple office space available right next to Lansdowne hospital in ashburn/sterling area.  I would think having property directly across the hospital would be a no brainer and rent to some sort of medical professoinal or company.

Quote from @Phil W.:

Quote from @John McKee:

Hey neighbor!  I love reston town center but haven't been there in a while.  What is the foot traffic like on the weekends with the restaurants and stores etc.  4-5% doesn't sound that exciting, but did you factor in the condo fees as  well?

 hello! it's not what it used to be pre-covid. My thinking is more in the near future couple years from now.  I think we'll slowly start to see more people back in the office most days a week as companies start RIFFING people and the availalbe jobs to work from home start to dry up.  Right now it's a ghost town when I decide to go in the office.   4-5% not great but if you team that with property value increase over next few years (I think we'll see a strong rise 2-3 years from now, it will seem much better as well as if you decide to keep a partial loan the tenant will pay down part of the mortgage.   I can easily see the value raising up to 50% in the next 4-6 years once we're back to probably buying treasury bonds and cutting interest rates, we all know it'll happen.

I've had pretty good luck so far one of my best investments was a townhouse like property right near one loudoun I bought all cash for $324k brand new back in 2009 it's worth double now easy about $650k and cash flowing nicely.  It's definitely a long term game.  I have a few others similiar around the area just not double like one loudoun did.

Quote from @John McKee:

Hey neighbor!  I love reston town center but haven't been there in a while.  What is the foot traffic like on the weekends with the restaurants and stores etc.  4-5% doesn't sound that exciting, but did you factor in the condo fees as  well?

 hello! it's not what it used to be pre-covid. My thinking is more in the near future couple years from now.  I think we'll slowly start to see more people back in the office most days a week as companies start RIFFING people and the availalbe jobs to work from home start to dry up.  Right now it's a ghost town when I decide to go in the office.   4-5% not great but if you team that with property value increase over next few years (I think we'll see a strong rise 2-3 years from now, it will seem much better as well as if you decide to keep a partial loan the tenant will pay down part of the mortgage.   I can easily see the value raising up to 50% in the next 4-6 years once we're back to probably buying treasury bonds and cutting interest rates, we all know it'll happen.

Quote from @Amy Verges:

Hey @Phil W. , I typically send out deals to current clients first, and honestly they're still pretty scarce in the multi-family market.  If you're looking for help head hunting deals, I would recommend building a relationship with a few local wholesalers.  And really the best person to find you a deal is you, so be aggressive and proactive--there are still deals out there to be had!  Best of luck.

Thanks for replying. Can you possibly send me what your fees are for property management? I usually just direct by at market rates residential attached or single family I'm not really looking for anything run down. I self manage in VA but if I do end up buying around here I need a property management company and just hold long term.

Quote from @Amy Verges:

Hi @Jameson Cole Finn , what part of Louisiana are you interested in? I'm here in Baton Rouge and it's multi-fam is pretty competitive right now. It's possible to find deals on the MLS, but the good ones in good locations are usually swooped up within a couple days. I have my realtor license and have bought two small multi-fam off the MLS, but my last deal was through a wholesaler. I'd be happy to have a phone convo with you to learn more about what you're looking for so I can keep an eye out for you. If I find a deal when I'm not ready to buy, I usually try to pass it on to other buyers I know. Send me a message if you'd like to talk and I'll send you my cell #.

HI Amy do you send out emails with these deals I'd like to see them as well. I come down to Louisiana twice a year here to visit for sometimes 2 to 3 weeks at a time. I'm from Northern VA I have a few properties there they appreciate nicely but the income isn't great if you factor in the value vs take home monthly. I did some quick math on zillow and looks like the cap rates are much better here for residential around Prairieville where I was looking near route 10.

sounds good no worries.  I'd love to hear about future successes you have as well as sometimes in my spare time I'll just look at town houses and houses for sale and run rent comps to see what the profit would be.  I read a few books many years ago about real estate investing they've been pretty spot on fast forwarding 15 years or so later.  Only thing I wish I would have done is use equity to expand... with the caveat of ensuring i'm not over leveraged in case of a 2008/2009 style crash.  

Eastern Pan handle WV looks great in fact the rent comps look great I was looking this past weekend.  

Quote from @Tyler Dietrich:

Quote from @William Harvey:

@Tyler Dietrich we could likely add this feature pretty easily to our product (DealSimple), which was made for quick deal analysis. Is this something you'd be willing to test out and provide feedback for? If so I can set you up with a free account. Let me know! 

 Sure thing, William. Would also love to connect personally as I grew up in Leesburg and know the area well, so to find another local investor would be super cool!

Hey All i'm in Leesburg VA good to meet other investors, I have properties in ashburn, leesburg, and one in clarke county va. Are you invested in the fairfax/loudoun area or do you look outside this area? The cash flow I know isn't as good as surrounding areas because of hte HOA and taxes.