All Forum Posts by: Ray Fisher

Daniel,  It is totally Possible.

I partnered up with a co worker. we both wanted to look into real estate investing Buy and holds.  we started buying hud properties as investors.   As an investor you get what's left after the owner occupants. usually the ones that need more extensive rehabbing.  We do most of our own work.  with the exception of HVAC, Major Plumbing, roofing, major electrical. WE know when to call in somebody.

Our philosophy has been , good roof, good floor, We can handle about anything else. If we can get a good 1/2 day in that's a great day. Our rehabs took a little longer in the beginning, Now we can get them mostly done in 30 to 45 days. we have done about 50 Houses now (SFR). We are currently holding I think 44 today. Our coverage span is about 200 miles, and we work on the farther ones on weekends. We have been doing this about 10 years now.

The rest of the story,  our w2 job provides:

The Good:

Health Insurance,  (im in my mid-late 50's)

paychecks, more money to invest, and pays my bills.  

Paid vacations.

The banks love the fact that we don't need the money from the rentals we reinvest about everything to pay off sooner.

 No employees, no workers comps, no one else tearing up my trucks and no one stealing or pawning my tools.   

The bad:

meeting city officials after hours and utility company's is very hard to do. usually involves a vacation day from work. 

extended holding costs just takes longer to finish the rehab.

End up hiring more contractors to finish some things  I could have done myself.

The hardest thing I have to do is keep reminding myself it's a rental. it doesn't have to be perfect. If it's a flip, that's a different story, nicer floors, ceiling fans, window treatments, etc. 

We have bought numerous HUD homes, none of them have been to live in as an owner occupant. All as an investor, Hud qualified broker had to make offer, we had to have bank letter (proof of funds) available in 24 hours after acceptance. Owner occupants do have first option.

Hello Donna, welcome to Bigger Pockets. there is a lot of information on here.  Set up your keywords. and you will jump into the discussions. I'm fairly local to you, there is a local investment group in little rock.  meets tonight I will send you a link. I won't be there till January meeting myself

I put architectural shingles on my house, and had a metal put on a rental about 5 years ago.  I live in tornado alley.  neither will protect against a tornado.  If I remember the shingles and metal on my roof was pretty close to the same price years ago.  was a quoted siding  and roofing job by a contractor I had dealt with in the past.

I think if I ever replace it again I will go Metal. 

Reason. I live in a rural area,  I am on the volunteer fire dept.  Metal roofs don't catch fire. we don't plant large number of trees and shrubs close to the house either. 

The rental I had , metal was the right answer. due to condition and tear off and disposal. At that time you couldn't go anywhere around here with old shingles.  The roof looks as good today as it did when we put it on. no leaks yet. (neither has the shingle).  

I don't know which is better.

I really thinks it's a toss up. , I worry about fade? but you can paint it. I worry about screws leaking but so does nails or those staples pull out of shingles.  high winds tear up bioth of them. Hail damages shingles also , that's why I bought a new roof last time. and yes I agree metal is very slick if you get up there when it's wet.  so we wait till the sun dries off the roof.  And of course I wear tennis shoes that have rubber grip bottoms.  I am going to replace a shingle roof on a house I put one on about 20 years ago.  there telling me a metal is about a 25 to 30 year roof.  We really don't have a history of any in the area that old to compare to.  It's a hip style roof and the metal options is looking really strong to me this time. 

 I tell everyone I'm in sales have been for 30 plus years.

You pick the side, ill take either why or why not you should buy something.  lol     

Chris,  I am sure you will find all kinds of opinions on this one. 

My partner and I started buy and hold investing with no money down about 10 years ago.  Along the way we have sold a couple. Owner financed a few! and have one mostly buy and hold.  The only thing we haven't done is the wholesaling.  Although it does look like a good was to make up some quick capitol.  

Buy and hold was the part I learned the most about.

Recently I bought a house to rehab and flip.  During the rehab process I talked with my broker about the options, which way she thought the best return on the rehab would go. garage or 3rd bedroom.? market value comps.  rentals comps,   looked at the return on investment.  This time the best return was rental. the broker was coming to look at listing when I rented it.   As a matter of fact I had to load everything out of the house the day before they started moving in.  I went back and put in carbon monoxide detector and fire extinguisher while they were moving in.  

I personally think you need to always have the multiple exit strategy option on every house.

Our main focus has always been buy and hold. If a Renter want us to owner finance, we will always make an offer we can live with. The option is there's. Those other options I keep hearing about on bigger pockets are starting to sink in. the BRRRR strategy, the whole strategy, etc...

Look for your deals, decide what makes more sense, and go for it.  I prefer a longer return than a quick buck.   

Those are our opinions on the way we do business, and only you can decide on what's best for you.  I'm sure someone here wont agree with me but I'm not living in there shoes.

Thomas, it's turning into a feeding frenzy in certain markets. people are trying to 'get in" on the great real estate potential.

Even here it's getting harder to find a deal that fit's into the criteria of what were looking for.  We have broadened our investment zone. reevaluated our criteria, But if the math doesn't add up.  We don't buy. 

You might be surprised later in a year or two that same house will be back up for sale and you will even get a better deal.       

Keep looking the deals are there you just have to find it and be ready to buy when it shows up.

I have a college friend who looks at the deals we buy. I share the numbers with him. He analyses the deal every way he can. discusses it, hashes over it, beats it up. try's to tell me why I shouldn't take the risk. is amazed by the return and says man I'm going to do that someday. but will never drop the hammer on closing a deal. I keep telling him Paralysis of Analysis is his worst enemy.   But that's a whole different story. 

1st I would look heavily in the DYI, home depot, Lowes here. Take multiple bids and, Talk to other contractors. Sounds like your contractor is getting comfortable with adding on to your quotes.

My HVAC guy I have been doing business with for years has all of a sudden jumped about 500 on our jobs, and everything needs a new unit now. Took some new competitive bids on the last one Saved $500 , repaired what needed replaced on a 7 year old unit. and Now I have a new guy.  he has gotten multiple jobs from us, and our other peers.  

Keep them guessing, and competitive. 

Welcome to bigger pockets Tina. 

my story is worked a full time job, had a part time job also. Had a friend that was a house painter. he found a undervalued deal. I had the credit. we bought house, 20k rehabbed and rented it. we made no take home money monthly. but we sold it in a couple of years, made the appreciation money, sold for 42k.   After all expenses pocked a few thousand each. That gave me the taste for rentals.

like David Dey I watched the late night Carlton Sheets, "no money down" program.

partnered with another friend, and studied, and listened to the tapes. I still listen to them years later. seems like I hear something different every time.

That was 44 buy and hold rentals, 3 flips ago. I'm looking for the next one.

A privacy fence helps,  And as you clean up your property sometimes they work on there's.

Of all else fails sometimes code enforcement could make a house call.