All Forum Posts by: Riley F.

For those of you who have been investing >10 years, and have accrued properties before the 2003 time period, what was it like buying properties before the bubble really started to pick up. The reason is I ask is because it seems when I read any real estate book, the strategy the author advocate seems to be entirely predicated on: 1) The time period the book was written and, 2) The location of the author.

Some books talk about how if you can buy CLOSE to the 1% rule, you should get close to or slightly cash flow positive and be fine. On the other hand, "Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes, and Quads: The Fastest and Safest Way to Real Estate Wealth", written in 2006 by a man in the Florida market advocates buying tons of property with $0 down and says to expect approximately 8% appreciation a year - LUNACY!

So I'd like to hear from some folks on the site. Pre 2003, were you using the 1% rule, able to buy at discounts, buying at auction, MLS combing, REOs, marketing for leads, all of the above? I'm sure the volume of REOs was substantially lower, but what type of discounts were you seeing? Was there less competition for deals or substantially more? Does marketing still work in a normal market, etc?

Would love to hear what these guys have to say:

@Jay Hinrichs , @Darren Sager , @Brian Burke , @Jerry Puckett 

Thanks in advance!

He's pretty much always like this. Bill is a combination of Uncle Rico - "When I was your age I could throw a football over that mountain." - and the old man that shakes his cane at kids to get them off of his lawn. The song "Glory Days" should be playing in your mind any time you read one of his posts or as he waxes on how successful he used to be. In other words take anything he says with a whole shaker of salt. 

I am not sure yet. I'm starting to think that the media doesn't matter as much as the message, though I don't have enough stats to prove that yet.

I am going to try a post card with a different message from the "I WANT TO $BUY$ YOUR HOUSE CA$H MONEY, BABY".

Will probably try something to the effect of "Are you sick of evictions, repairs, and vacancy? etc. " 

Hello and sorry for the delay.

The information came from www.listsource.com regarding absentee owners.

I have since pulled a large list and re-started my campaign, and am 2/5 of the way through my first mailing to the new list. I am going to be making some changes to the copy that gets sent - will keep everyone apprised. 

I use a combination of the below:

www.rentometer.com

www.zilpy.com

www.zillow.com

www.padmapper.com

www.hotpads.com

None of these are going to be perfect, but the top 3 are decent automated services that can get you within a range. Pad mapper and hot pads show live listings that can be compared to the unit you're comping. They're not identical, but comps never are, they are 'comparable'. If there are no comps on market, I use the historical listings from rentometer and see if I can find a cached version of the listing on hotpads or some other site and check them out that way.

I'll be there

I've been debating this quite a bit as well. 

I would love to hear from people who run lower end (C or lower) rentals and have managed to run them stably. Would love to hear from @Dawn Anastasi who I believe manages some C properties.

In Kansas City, I have seen C properties yielding 25-35% in certain cases, and B properties producing closer to 12% would people take that extra 20ish% pro forma returns for the head aches? Thoughts?

Pro, to me it's not even a question. That being said, some people don't get that real estate and 401(k)s are not mutually exclusive.

100% return on my employer match, and an instant return of my marginal tax rate, which is nearly 50%. I can't think of a single other vehicle that can do that and return a conservative 7% year-on-year on average. It's a no brainer.

Has anyone sent mailings to owners with equity without targeting absentees or some other class in particular? How have your results been?

 To me, this is like saying "Which is more important, mapping a route to your destination, or the act of driving there?" If you're deficient in either, you don't end up where you intended. 

Let's say you are great at executing a ****** plan. Congratulations, you're bankrupt.

Alternately, let's say you make the best plan ever, but don't do what is listed in the plan. Best case scenario you don't get started in the first place, worst case you are bankrupt. 

In the words of Forrest Gump, "[planning and execution] go together like peas and carrots".