All Forum Posts by: Paul Lucas

Thanks for the help @David Hicks, being from the area i have a fairly good idea of rents and think i could bump it up a bit. I will be in touch depending how this property goes and see if we want to partner around some other deals in the area. Its the east side of Groesbeck which is a nice area so I think the tenants will be of decent quality.

@William SaintAmour I did look at single families around 50-60k but most seemed to be in worse areas where quality of tenant would not be guaranteed.

After looking at the numbers i decided to put in an offer at 120k and see where that settles. I think everyone was right here that at 140k it is most likely not going to be a winning property. We will see what the sellers motivations are and now i can get my first experience putting in an offer :). Thanks for all of the advice!

Paul

Thanks both @Tina Herman and @Bob E. ! I will be in touch soon as i move closer to finding a property.

Paul

Thats true, i didn't think about the 3 years meaning more expenses at the point they move out. 

On the property management, with my parents there being and already agreeing to help and having some contractors they are in touch with means i think i can reduce the 10% cost. But that still does put me at 60%. 

I have visited the area and it is a couple miles from where I grew up. It is a decent neighborhood and i would put it on the low end of B high end of C. The area has post graduate students from the schools close by and also state of Michigan workers and hospital workers. 

It does seem like property taxes are very high in the area though and id have to work on increasing rent a bit following the leases. From your experience, is 22% really high for the property tax to income ratio?

Thanks for the insights though @Sharad M. they were very useful!

Hello,

I have been looking to make my first deal and wanted to get some feedback on what others think of what i have found. First off, i am located in San Francisco so I am looking out of state, and I grew up in the Lansing area and have family there so i visit often. That is what let me toward getting real estate in lansing.

For the deal: it is a duplex with 5 beds and 2 baths (a 3 bedroom and 2 bedroom). No garages but each has their own driveway. They also have basements so they are pretty spacious. Also, both currently have tenants and i would be taking over the leases.  I have seen the leases and the 3 bedroom is paying $975/month and the other is paying $850 a month.

The duplex is listed at 160000k and my thinking is to put in an offer closer to 130/140k. With the 140k i would be paying $524 per month for the base mortgage, $392 per month taxes, and $105 per month on insurance. These are all numbers coming from actual companies i talked to which puts me at $1021 / month out of pocket for me with an income of $1825/month. I know this doesn't meet the 50% rule or the 2% rule but at least it meets the 1.x% rule :D.

For me the positives are that i would take over the leases and until april have some cashflow before having to do cleaning or anything like that to pocket some money for the renovations and cleaning at the end of the lease. Also the person who is paying $850 has been there for 3 years so it seems like a steady area. The cons are that the taxes are very high and im a little nervous since it doesnt meet the 50% criteria. As someone who is looking to get small passive gains and just dip my foot in, it doesnt seem like a bad option though.

Would love to hear concerns, feedback or things i may be not thinking about.  Thanks!

Paul

@Bob E. Awesome, thanks for the recommendation. Ill let them know you sent me when i close on a property. 

@Cynthia Malmquist

@Bob E.

@Gabe Lopez

@Gabe Lopez@Tina Herman

Hey all, I am looking into buying property in lansing and after a year from this post would love to get some feedback on how things are going, are you still with those particular property managers, are your tenants still happy and what your level of involvement with the properties are. Thanks!

Hey @Bob E., sorry for bringing up a old thread but I've seen you post a few times about 1st Choice and also saw you moved out of the area. How was their tenant screening and did their repairs seem fair cost wise? Also what was the vacancy time on a rental property around that area with 1st choice (of course that can vary heavily by a lot of things)? I am from East Lansing but living in SF and am looking to try to get into the market and so i figured Lansing would be a good starting point but wanted to get more info.

Hey Rosston and Jeff, 

Thanks for the feedback. I think this post was driven out of just the mass amount of content on bigger pockets and i needed to just figure out where to go. I took your advice Rosston and have now listened to about 30 bigger pockets podcasts and feel like ive now moved from Unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence which is a good step haha. Ive started narrowly focusing on Buy and Hold as my vehicle and have decided to stick around the area i grew up (Lansing Michigan). This way I have knowledge of the area while also being able to afford it unlike the Bay Area and also have a reason to travel there once in a while.

Thanks again to both of you for the advice and am looking forward to posting more as i learn more!

Hey,

Im new to the real estate investing world but after being out of school a few years feel i need to start diversifying my investments and feel that property is the way to go. Currently i live in San Francisco and rent due to the fact that buying in the city right now seems like a TERRIBLE idea. Ive been poking around on zillow and trying to find places potentially as vacation condos/homes to rent on airbnb. But the more i look at it, the more i keep thinking i do not know what im doing and also that i do not have the capital/time.

I found this by stumbling upon the podcast and thought this community might be the best place to sit and learn and read different strategies as i save up and figure out where to go. But the first few posts i saw people trying to leverage amounts (like 5k) to start flipping and doing other crazy things and to me that sounded ABSURD! I figured you need a lot more cash saved and much more cash flow. 

For my situation i have a solid paying job (100k+) that i plan on keeping, no debt, a 760+ credit score and a small amount of savings (50k+). But at this point i feel like the condos in miami beach, LA, Hawaii or others to rent are a few years out from being affordable and also cost effective (and maybe i just want a reason to visit those areas :) ). And to sum it all up, i dont know what i dont know...So any starter tips for me to start reading and such would be awesome. Thanks!