All Forum Posts by: Rick H.

 It depends if you are talking about mortgage foreclosure or tax foreclosure. In a mortgage foreclosure, most are not. With a tax foreclosure, it gets a little more complicated. 

A recession is always a possibility, but both approaches entail risk. Being a landlord in an environment of high unemployment, with recent rent increases already leaving many stretched, will be no walk in the park either. That is why it is important to have cash reserves sufficient to weather the next recession when it does inevitably come. Using leverage, or other people's money, is a great way to build your business, but it can also be suicidal without proper reserves.   

Hi Christian, welcome to BP! BRRRR can be a great strategy, though I do not feel that it is the best for starting out. It is much more difficult than many make seem to fully cash out and not end up with at least some of your own capital tied up in the property. You have to buy really cheap and/or use your own cash (no financing) for the purchase and repairs to have a chance at making it happen. I would suggest doing a few flips first to raise some capital before looking to acquire rentals. It's pretty much the same concept and I really don't think any riskier. You can always start with a property that would also make a good rental in case, for some reason, you are unable to sell it. Good luck!

There are a lot of opportunities in OH, so first think about investing closer to home. I would also recommend reading the Real Estate Rehab Investing Bible by Paul Esajian for ideas on how to scale. Personally, I do not find hard money to be prohibitively expensive if the deal makes sense. And that is the biggest key to scaling, finding the deals.  

Yes, but if cash flow is really your number one concern, there are places closer to home (including Joliet) that will do so just as well.  The important thing is just finding a good deal.

I own property in Ottawa and owned property in Streator in the past.  You can definitely find properties that cash flow well in both places, but in my opinion Ottawa is a much nicer town with a lot more potential.  It has a nice historic downtown with quite a few shops and some pretty good restaurants (and a great brewery!).  It is a gateway to the Starved Rock area and gets lots of visitors from Chicago.  They have big plans in place to redevelop the riverfront.  And it is situated just off I-80 only about 30 minutes to the fringes of the metro area.

@Bill F.  Great reads! Thanks for sharing.

I get that the variation common in typical home design and construction does not lend itself well to automation or mass production. I am just not sure that such variation is necessary. Many millions seem content enough driving around the same beige Camrys, why not living in the same beige houses if the price is right?

Additionally, 3D printing actually allows for greater variation than conventional methods (who needs straight lines?). I actually know someone who is purchasing a printer from these guys: www.mudbots.com. And they have approved permits to build. I can’t wait to see how it goes. I have already done a lot of looking into it though and I don’t think the cost savings are really that great yet. The technology is still too new.

But, back to my original point, there really is a massive unmet demand for affordable housing and I am confident that, as long as we have capitalism, someone will figure out a way to meet it.

@Bill F.

Current construction practices are very antiquated.  Super labor intensive, inefficient, and costly.  At the same time, there is a massive unmet demand for affordable housing (because the economics don't work at the lower end of the market under the current system).  This would seem to be a recipe for disruption.   My question is, what happens to the value of the existing housing stock (and rental portfolios) if new more efficient methods are developed that reduce construction costs substantially while also producing a superior product?  Especially in areas where there is no shortage of land for people to print homes on, or have them delivered from the Amazon warehouse, or whatever.   

Property is located in Antrim County, MI.  Less than 10 miles from Torch Lake.  It is a popular resort area.   House is 25-years-old and 3000 SF.  Numbers definitely make sense and we have the credit and experience.  It is just that our current lenders will not look at it because of the acreage.  

@Michael J Scanlon

I know.  Very tough.  Thus, my above post.  I appreciate you keeping an eye out, though.  Definitely a serious buyer if the numbers work.  Here is an example of what we are looking for from a property we just sold: Aberdeen.