All Forum Posts by: Reed Baker

Hi BP Community,

My partner Collin and I are considering a direct mailing campaign and were wondering the best way to go about delivering letters. Should we address letters to a specific address or go around dropping them in mailboxes? And should we use an envelope?

Any advice on questions not asked would also be super helpful!

Thank you!

Reed

Hello BP community,

My friend and classmate, Collin, and I posted a couple of weeks ago about buying an investment property in Brunswick, ME to rent out to Bowdoin College students. For reference, we are both tenants in off-campus houses that command rents well north of 1.5% of the home prices. We have seen firsthand the cash flow that landlords are able to take in each month, and we have decided we want to be the ones receiving the rents instead of paying them out.

With that said, we are beginning to expand our search outside of the Brunswick area into nearby towns such as Lisbon and Bath. If we were to make our first purchase in one of these, however, we would likely rent to families, not students. This has opened up the possibility of buying a multifamily home as our first property. Should we be focusing on a certain property type as our first investment in Maine, or should we keep our options open? 

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

Collin & Reed

@Josh Cousineau thank you for your response! We’ll be sure to spend more time looking at Lisbon and Lisbon Falls and will certainly have to take you up on the drink offer should we find ourselves in Auburn this spring.

@Abel Curiel, thank you again for your insights. If we go the route of putting 3% down, how expensive should we expect mortgage insurance to be?

@Alexander Szikla, if we were to put 3% down on our investment, would expensive should we expect the mortgage insurance to be?

@Bob Langworthy tagging you again in my response because it didn’t work the first time around.

@Bob Langworthy, thank you for this helpful response! Collin and I will certainly check out Lisbon and Lisbon Falls. We have mostly been using Zillow and Coldwell Banker to find properties but realize that there are more creative ways to source deals. Is there a best strategy for sourcing investments in Maine that you've used?

Hey @Cole Britting,

We are still sorting out those details, but I think we are targeting lower Manhattan seeing that it will be closer to our offices. What were you thinking?

Best,

Reed

Hi Everyone!

Before we introduce ourselves, we’d like to thank the BiggerPockets community. You all have been invaluable resources for us as we’ve begun the process of investing in our first property and we hope to connect with some of you as we embark on this exciting journey.

Our names are Reed and Collin and we are seniors at Bowdoin College. We initially had the idea to purchase a four or five bedroom house near campus (Brunswick, Maine) that we could rent to students. This struck us as a prudent first investment because we knew the area well, had a vast network of future tenants, and the model had proven to be highly profitable for landlords in the area -- including our own. However, as we began the process of sourcing potential properties and organizing financing, we ran into two major roadblocks, the likes of which are common across many geographies in today’s market: 1) bargains were scarce and 2) properties were selling fast. Recent listings are above market averages and only stay on the market for a few days, if that. For example, a friend of ours in the area who purchased a home pre-covid has already received multiple offers for his house, all $50,000 more than what he bought for just months earlier. This has us worried that we will likely overpay if we choose to invest in a single-family home in the market we have been targeting.

Where we stand now

Due to these obstacles, Collin and I have pivoted to two alternates: 1) buy a multifamily property in Brunswick, ME, or 2) house hack in New York City, where we are both starting full-time jobs in finance in July. From what we have learned so far, multi-family homes don’t appreciate as quickly as single-family homes. This leads us to assume that multi-families in Brunswick are less likely to be selling at the premiums we are seeing in single-families. As for New York, we will both be moving there in July to begin full-time jobs. Property values there have fallen dramatically, as opposed to most markets, where prices are skyrocketing. Furthermore, in purchasing an owner-occupied property, we would likely only put around 5% down as opposed to the 20%+ needed for an investment property. Our goal would be to live in the property for a few years and then rent it out. We believe this could give us an early leg-up in the real estate investing game while capitalizing on relatively favorable market conditions in NYC.

We would greatly appreciate any advice from, or opportunities to connect with, members of the BiggerPockets community who jumped into the real estate investing game in college, or shortly thereafter. Do you think it makes sense to purchase an owner-occupied property immediately upon graduation, or should we go the traditional route and rent for the first couple years of our careers? We greatly appreciate all of your time and would welcome the opportunity to connect with any members of the BiggerPockets community.

Thank you,

Reed and Collin

Hi Everyone!

Before we introduce ourselves, we’d like to thank the BiggerPockets community. You all have been invaluable resources for us as we’ve begun the process of investing in our first property and we hope to connect with some of you as we embark on this exciting journey.

Our names are Reed and Collin and we are seniors at Bowdoin College. We initially had the idea to purchase a four or five bedroom house near campus (Brunswick, Maine) that we could rent to students. This struck us as a prudent first investment because we knew the area well, had a vast network of future tenants, and the model had proven to be highly profitable for landlords in the area -- including our own. However, as we began the process of sourcing potential properties and organizing financing, we ran into two major roadblocks, the likes of which are common across many geographies in today’s market: 1) bargains were scarce and 2) properties were selling fast. Recent listings are above market averages and only stay on the market for a few days, if that. For example, a friend of ours in the area who purchased a home pre-covid has already received multiple offers for his house, all $50,000 more than what he bought for just months earlier. This has us worried that we will likely overpay if we choose to invest in a single-family home in the market we have been targeting.

Where we stand now

Due to these obstacles, Collin and I have pivoted to two alternates: 1) buy a multifamily property in Brunswick, ME, or 2) house hack in New York City, where we are both starting full-time jobs in finance in July. From what we have learned so far, multi-family homes don’t appreciate as quickly as single-family homes. This leads us to assume that multi-families in Brunswick are less likely to be selling at the premiums we are seeing in single-families. As for New York, we will both be moving there in July to begin full-time jobs. Property values there have fallen dramatically, as opposed to most markets, where prices are skyrocketing. Furthermore, in purchasing an owner-occupied property, we would likely only put around 5% down as opposed to the 20%+ needed for an investment property. Our goal would be to live in the property for a few years and then rent it out. We believe this could give us an early leg-up in the real estate investing game while capitalizing on relatively favorable market conditions in NYC.

We would greatly appreciate any advice from, or opportunities to connect with, members of the BiggerPockets community who jumped into the real estate investing game in college, or shortly thereafter. Do you think it makes sense to purchase an owner-occupied property immediately upon graduation, or should we go the traditional route and rent for the first couple years of our careers? We greatly appreciate all of your time and would welcome the opportunity to connect with any members of the BiggerPockets community.

Thank you,

Reed and Collin