All Forum Posts by: Rafael Saldana

Zoning ordinances around billboards are a bit of a mess in Miami Dade from what I heard from an acquaintance who owns land with large billboards on them. I would make sure to do serious due diligence before investing in the signs. 

The other question is whether its a good investment. The state of Florida has public information on traffic movement on state roads around the state. The county does too and you would be surprised at how many local looking roads in Miami are actually state roads. This might give you a good impression of how much exposure the sign would give to your tenants. 

I would also find out how much maintenance would be on the sign. I think no sign is better than those LED signs that go on the fritz with part of the display showing random colors where the owners keep running them for months on end without fixing. 

Hialeah has really worked out well for me and several investors I have gotten to know @Wendy Lavana  The turnover is not bad once you show your tenants you are going to treat them well. And when someone does leave, 9 times out of 10 one of the other tenants has a friend or relative ready to take the unit.

On @Aly L 's comment, I agree. The majority of the money I see coming in is from Central and South America (just read the news coming from Venezuela today). Particularly Venezuelan's will find any way to turn their Bolivares into USD. But what I am noticing is they stick to the easy stuff. Houses and Apartments that are in at least OK shape they will pick up. They don't seem to want to deal with houses needing more extensive rehab or multifamily. 

My competition in Multifamily is mostly coming from locals who already have a foothold and are looking to expand. Seems almost every investor that already has multifamily is out looking so you need to jump into deals quickly and decisively. 

I don't think I'm spilling any state secrets when I say that Hialeah is VERY competitive but there are deals to be had. I'm closing on 9 units next Friday which I found just driving to one of my other properties. A great little FSBO.

I'm sure you'll find something if you keep looking. It seems you just need to be ready to pounce on opportunities quickly.

My two cents, it all boils down to the cost of hiring management. Speaking from experience, there are a lot of good commercial property agents that also manage properties in Miami. You just need to know who to ask to find someone trustworthy. 

Are you tired of dealing with your tenants? Then if the numbers make sense and you find someone you can trust, I say hire them. You won't make as much money but your investment will be secure and you will have one less thing to lose sleep over. 

I invest in apartment buildings but always looking to meet new people in my neighborhood. Send me a message if you ever want to talk. Would love to hear more about what you do. 

Have you checked out the Real Estate Tech forum? 

While I haven't used it in a Real Estate Investment / Flippping environment, I worked with SugarCRM a few years ago and was surprised at how much stuff can be done on it. The small team I worked with had a very tech minded member who went in and did a lot of customization of the software for the business and in speaking with him it seemed there were a lot of tools built in to customize it to your needs. At the same time, there are companies around that will take on customizations for you.

As I was googling to make sure I had the name of the software right, I ran into this BiggerPockets article that mentions Podio as well. I'm barely getting started so I don't need anything more than a basic spreadsheet but will follow the topic to see if anyone else has suggestions. 

Good luck!

I might sound like a shill but...I just finished reading The Book on Flipping Houses and REALLY liked it. 

It's written by J Scott (who is one of the people I quietly follow around the forums because he's just so damn smart) and you can read it in a few hours. At least as far as flipping houses, it'll give you a clear idea of whether that's something you might be interested in if you haven't done it before (situation I'm in). 

How much have you researched either of the ideas? Sounds like you have a great opportunity with that money. 

Am I showing some nerd-like traits by really enjoying this conversation? :)

I think @Eric Bowlin is making a good point about the additional steps that are required to open the QR code. Since the QR code itself only contains a URL, why not use a URL shortener? I first thought to use Google's http://goo.gl but when you enter a website it gives you a random bunch of numbers and letters which isn't practical to put on a sign.

But I found bit.do that allows you to customize the link. So, for example, bit.do/Rafa takes you to my page at www.facebook.com/rafael.saldana.

It's free and it also gives you some access statistics on how many people are using the link. 

The shortened link tackles the issue of providing an easy way for a person to pull up the property on their smartphone while minimizing the amount of work on the user's part. 

What do you think @Sam Leon @Roy N. and @James Wise ?

I haven't done anything with QR codes, particularly because I'm always concerned people won't know what to do with them. Scanning a QR code isn't a built-in feature on Android or iOS devices so that has always cooled my enthusiasm for what otherwise I think is a great idea.

Do you track how many people actually visit your sites from the QR codes? Do you format your website for mobile devices?

I'm very curious to hear more about how you make it work, especially since I'm only a bit down the road from you!

Thanks for the welcome @Jonathan Brand 

Great tips, @Brandon Turner . Thanks for sharing. I've been listening to the podcast for a few weeks now and know I'll be re-listening to several episodes later on. I also read a couple of your House Flipping posts and bought the book by J Scott. Great read! Finished the digital version in an afternoon and now waiting for the hardcopy to highlight and bookmark some of the important material I want to remember.