All Forum Posts by: Joshua Feit

@Tina Jenkins

I'm not as experienced as some, but I've learned a lot and am glad to help if I can. I have 10 rentals here in Atlanta, have a vacation rental in Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge, and a real estate license. 

How can I help you?

@Patrick Clark It is a local handyman business. Property maintenance companies charge too much, require contracts, etc.

I have had exactly seven guests at the cabin so far (since December 17), so I'm no expert. But I can tell you that with short term rentals -- the guests let you know EVERYTHING that is wrong with the place. So it is pretty easy to know when something is going wrong.

I plan on going up to the cabin 2-3 times a year to evaluate, have a look around, and see what needs to be fixed. I will also get my maintenance person to meet me there at that time so that we can look everything over together, make a list, and get everything fixed up.

Other than that, I plan to make repairs as needed by calling my repair person.

Hi Jasmine,

Josh here -- I'm a fellow Atlantan. From Doraville! I'd be glad to chat with you sometime about getting started. It can be tough to get started. I made a lot of mistakes my first couple of years too.

My best advice is to:

• Pick a type of investing that interests you. Don't try to do everything at once; just go for a niche and learn as much as you can about it. (I chose buy/hold investing, and I'm really glad I did!)
• Pick a neighborhood or area, and drive / walk EVERY street. Google street view is not good enough. You need to be there in person, on site, to learn as much as you can, talk with neighbors, and get the feel of the place. This way, when you are looking at a deal, you know exactly what it feels like on that block, and you can move very quickly with your offer.
• Get your funds ready. Do you have cash to spend? Are you going to be working with a bank? Or a private lender? Have a plan and be ready to roll with it so when a deal comes along, you can make a move.
• Educate yourself, but don't over educate yourself. The ONLY way to really learn this business is to jump in, and yes, to make some mistakes. Every person on this forum who has actually made an investment has made a mistake somewhere along the line -- guaranteed. This business has an element of risk, so manage the risk by learning, hanging out with more experienced investors. But don't let the fear of making a mistake stop you. You will make a mistake, you will recover, and you will be okay. :-)

I'm glad to chat more sometime. Some really great folks helped me out when I was getting started, and I'm glad to do that for you. Just hit me up by PM if you want to connect.

Cheers,
Josh

Have you tried getting them both in the same room to talk it out with you? We have had to do that at our duplexes here in Atlanta. It doesn't always work, but it seems to go a lot better than talking to the tenants one at a time. You become the conflict resolution mediator, which may not be a role you want to have, but it is better than tenants turning in their notice. Best of luck!

Hi!

If you are buying on-market, then you should absolutely be making offers sight unseen. It's just part of the process in a market like this. Get your hat in the ring, include a seven day DD period, and see if you can get one under contract.

Also, your offers should be cash offers if at all possible. Two offers that are otherwise the same will almost always go to the cash buyer instead of the buyer seeking financing.

Do you have any equity in your house? If so, open a HELOC at a local bank. Then, use those funds to make cash offers. Once you purchase a place, you can fix it up and refinance. (Brandon Turner calls it the BRRRR strategy).

I know a lot about investing in the Atlanta market. Not sure how applicable it is to you, but if it would be helpful to chat sometime, hit me up! Always glad to help.

Cheers,
Josh

Public service announcement:

Title has one 'T' :-)

In Georgia, you don't have to have your spouse on a title with you. I can own property that my wife doesn't own. But I can tell you that my wife is my business partner and my life partner. Everything we own we are glad to own together. This approach doesn't work for everybody, but it has worked well for us.

Hope you figure out what works well to build trust for the two of you! Congratulations on your recent marriage.

Cheers,
Josh

Hi Brandon,

If I understand your question correctly, I can tell you I have a strong preference for renting duplexes. (I have two such properties in Atlanta). Wholesaling is a JOB that involves a ton of hustle. Nothing wrong with that, but I so much prefer the the monthly cashflow + possibility of appreciation + tenants paying my mortgages.

You can pay 2K to setup an LLC if you like, but we just set them up ourselves. You can do the 'paperwork' online, and it only takes 20 minutes or so. The total cost in Atlanta is $120 or so.

I have no legal authority or expertise to tell you how to setup your LLC structure. I can just tell you from experience that LLCs offer less protection than you would hope, and if you get sued, crafty lawyers know how to come after you regardless of the LLC structures. In our case, we have one LLC for all of our rentals in a particular area. For example, one LLC for our downtown Atlanta rentals, one LLC for our Gatlinburg vacation rentals, etc. It just seems like overkill to me to have one LLC per property, but I'm no lawyer!

Cheers,
Josh

I love having a HELOC for investing. Unlike a cash-out refi, the HELOC is just sitting there accumulating zero interest if unused. And I can withdraw and pay back whenever I like. It's basically a big, flexible credit card with a low interest rate. And it is very inexpensive to set one up when compared to the closing of a cash-out refi.

Hope it helps!

Hi Brian,

The biggest mistake I have made in RE is buying an investment property in a tiny rural market. I bought an RV park in rural Kansas that looked great on paper. Nothing was further from the truth -- in reality, it's costing me $1K a month to own it, and I don't have any option to buy it.

The expensive lesson I have learned is to ALWAYS buy in a great market. A bad property in a good market still has options, but even the best property in a terrible market leaves your hands tied.

I don't know this specific market, but anything that is reliant on one industry sounds like a red flag to me.

Hope it helps!
Josh

PS -- If you like buying rural, I'll give you a great deal on an RV park in Kansas. :-)