All Forum Posts by: Phong Tran

@Sean McGrady I commend you on having a set plan for your post-graduate! You'll be ahead of the bell curve and ahead of your peers, no doubt. Texas is actually my home state and I can tell you right away that each 3 of those markets that you've mentioned are very different. So the first thing I'd do is figure out which market you want to be in! Aside from price, you should also figure out if the specific city you choose fits your lifestyle. San Antonio is much slower compared to Austin and Dallas. With Austin being crazy ridiculous right now, in terms of price. Once you boil down where you want to go then you can listen to all the great advice that everyone has mentioned in this post.

Good luck!!!

@Bob Barber Welcome! Network and learn as much as you can! Educate yourself with all sorts of materials such as books, podcasts, YT videos, Etc. So much information out there.

Good luck! If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask.

Awesome and huge congrats on taking your first step in this real estate world. 10% is reasonable, just make sure to read the whole fine print in the PM's contract. Definitely try to learn as much as you can. What are your goals with your property? What's your exit strategy? It may seem like you're a little behind going into this, try to listen to more podcasts, read more books because it can all get overwhelming. 

Make the property rental grade ready? Fix items, upgrade items, set up systems, set up bank accounts. Be smart! Treat it as a business.

Welcome!! Good luck and learn, learn, learn, and learn!!

@Kevin Jennings What part of Texas!? I'm originally from Texas, so I completely understand the high property taxes on properties. Right now, I'm not using any specific "rule of thumb" or "metric" to follow by. I'm looking for properties that fit the criteria and I'm diving deep to crunch numbers, so I'm not specifically settling for less cash flow. 

My recommendation is to figure out what your investment goals are first! Then you can narrow it down with certain criteria for the homes such as how many beds, baths, SQFTs, pricing, location, etc... Location is key, if high taxes are a concern try to find specific counties that having much lower taxes than others.

Good luck!

Regarding the horror story--unfortunately, that's a part of the business, and a risk you'd have to evaluate on yourself to see if it's manageable. If this was my specific situation, I'd likely pass on this opportunity since you'd running thin after the initial purchase. You always want cash reserve if anything were to happen, such as the busted pipes.

If you do decide to pass, there will always be more deals out there. You just have to keep grinding and keep looking!

Good luck!

Hey there! Like what most of everyone stated here, the 1% doesn't work and will not always work for every market out there. It's a general rule of thumb so you can quickly weed out the back properties from the possibilities. Obviously, over the years this specific rule of thumb has become unreliable due to the constant rising of home prices. Always, always, always..! dive deeper, crunch the real numbers to see what the true financials are.

I.E - I'm in the Portland, OR market and the 1% is non-existent here! If I were to always follow that specific metric, I would still be trying to chase my first investment.

Good luck! @Kevin Jennings

@Luke Hoffman You'll definitely need it and want it, in case of any future problems. You won't be able to properly run credit reports, background checks, verify that the applicant is legit. Obtaining the SSN is just a part of the pre-screening portion to ultimately weed out all of the bad ones. If everything seems really good about the applicant and they simply refuse to provide the SSN, move on and keep searching. More applicants will always follow!

Good luck!

@Gustavo Zamora Great first step! I'm always a big advocate of utilizing the FHA loan as one of your first MF properties. With a 3.5% downpayment, you'll have a bigger cash-on-cash return (CocROI)!! You're right that it may be more difficult going with an FHA loan, but it all boils down to the negotiating process that you, your agent, and sellers have.

Hey @Glenn Brathwaite! Welcome to the Real Estate game!

Since you have close to zero debt and an excellent credit score, I'd highly recommend an FHA loan for low down payment options. This will obviously help with your cash and cash return, which saves you money in the long run. Just be careful with PMI and any fees associated with it.