All Forum Posts by: Renard Miller

Sorry to hear that. Definitely a reminder to always have firm and thorough policies and stick to them even when the potential resident seems like a nice person. Best of luck eventually getting them out of there. 

Looks like a lovely property and a solid start to your investing career! Best of luck racking up 'extra base hits' in the future.

@David L. Rhoiney

+1 to @Kevin Sack re: realtors' MLS searches. Can be a helpful tool.

Also check out LoopNet. It sometimes includes small multi family properties. Again, more in Norfolk than anywhere else.

Welcome! And you've come to the right place. BP is the best resource around. If you haven't already, I would suggest listening to the podcast. Just go back to the beginning and chew through them. Lots of helpful stories about how people progressed from where you are to where you want to be. 

It can also help to meet people IRL through the events page here. Going to local meetups can, if nothing else, inspire you to go for it. 

Personally, my wife and I invest in Hampton Roads BRRRRing small multi-family properties and have found the strategy works great for our longterm goals. There are lots of properties in the area that cash-flow. Depending on which city you are looking in, there can actually be quite a bit of inventory. Norfolk, for instance, tends to have a lot of multi-family properties. All of ours are on the Peninsula thus far, so it can definitely be done all over. 

As far as where to go from here, just consume as much as you can. There are countless people and threads here that can be a resource. There are also any number of books that can help you figure things out. I've highlighted a few below. 

Books:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad--the building block text for a lot of people; very helpful in getting the right mindset.
• Set For Life—excellent strategies for how to gain financial freedom. Written by a relatively young guy with young people in mind.
• The Richest Man In Babylon—something different, but this is a classic. Sort of a parable about how to think about money.
• The 4 Hour Workweek—some nonsense, but also some good strategies for being efficient with your time.
• The Millionaire Real Estate Investor—really comprehensive look at the path to building wealth in real estate.
• The 10x Rule—all about thinking big and setting big goal. Mindset book.
• Your Money or Your Life—short and simple book about how to think about money’s role in your life.

Books:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad--the building block text for a lot of people; very helpful in getting the right mindset.
• Set For Life—excellent strategies for how to gain financial freedom. Written by a relatively young guy with young people in mind.
• The Richest Man In Babylon—something different, but this is a classic. Sort of a parable about how to think about money.
• The 4 Hour Workweek—some nonsense, but also some good strategies for being efficient with your time.
• The Millionaire Real Estate Investor—really comprehensive look at the path to building wealth in real estate.
• The 10x Rule—all about thinking big and setting big goal. Mindset book.
• Your Money or Your Life—short and simple book about how to think about money’s role in your life.

Ditto what @Will Barnard said above. There is someone winning in just about every market with just about every strategy. Finding one and sticking with it is key because there is always more to learn even once you are just focusing on one type of investing. 

Listen to every episode of the Bigger Pockets podcast, but don't get distracted by the fact that there are people doing all sorts of things. Pick a horse and ride it. 

Wish I knew before I started:

Time is on your side. The earlier you get started, the faster your knowledge and earnings will grow. 

Books:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad--the building block text for a lot of people; very helpful in getting the right mindset.
• Set For Life—excellent strategies for how to gain financial freedom. Written by a relatively young guy with young people in mind.
• The Richest Man In Babylon—something different, but this is a classic. Sort of a parable about how to think about money.
• The 4 Hour Workweek—some nonsense, but also some good strategies for being efficient with your time.
• The Millionaire Real Estate Investor—really comprehensive look at the path to building wealth in real estate.
• The 10x Rule—all about thinking big and setting big goal. Mindset book.
• Your Money or Your Life—short and simple book about how to think about money’s role in your life.

As others have said, we use Cozy. It makes things very efficient and syncs well with other platforms (Stessa, etc.). It can simplify things if you have residents who pay their rent in pieces. As long as they are current by the 5th, no late fee. And if they aren't, late fees are applied automatically. 

We require that all new residents sign up and use it for the screening process as well. 

Your goals may be counter to one another, so you will have to prioritize. If you absolutely must do each of these things, it is mostly a matter of what you can afford. If it were me, I would work to show him the value of investing. He likely thinks it is "smart" to buy a single family home as one's primary residence, even though that is not actually the case in most instances. 

Is it a compromise to look at buying a multi-unit property to live in? Whatever value there is in "home ownership" will still be there five years from now. The gains, tax advantages, etc. that can compound with an investment property are enhanced the sooner you start. 

1) I would pick a market I know/understand well. There is no replacement for being able to eyeball a map and know what areas mean what. Maybe there is another market you have a good understanding of? 

2)BRRRR offers a lot of attractive options. Will usually come with a lower purchase price and will allow you to unlock equity you can use should you wish to scale faster.

3) Echoing above advice, I think BRRRR is a great strategy and multi-family properties provide a perfect place to employ it. I know SFRs seem like a simpler place to start, but to me, there are a lot of risks with SFRs that disappear with multi-family. Economies of scale ftw.

4) Ask incisive questions. Gauge how much experience they have working with investors. Ask them what pitfalls are most common. If you ask a consistent set of questions, you will be able to quickly tell who is legit. 

Also, consider checking LoopNet (for multifamily) and/or REMAX or similar (for single family). If you look at a decent number of listings and see the same names reflected over and over, those agents might be a good place to start. In the multifamily context, those listings will generally be people who are well-versed in dealing with investors. 

At a basic level, make sure you are prepared to deal with incoming calls. Depending on how much volume you put out there, it could become time intensive to have the conversations. 

It helps to have very clear information you want from the potential seller and gather it in as organized a fashion as possible. @Tamara Deering is absolute right about the power of spreadsheets here. Having a clear sense of your criteria is key and will prevent you from having a lot of back and forth and collecting objective info from each contact can help you accurately compare your options. 

Pre-approval can't hurt, but because you are the one who would be initiating the sale, and there wouldn't then be other 'bidders' it doesn't seem like time would be of the essence.