All Forum Posts by: Shawn R.

@Dexter Wallace

I have partnered with people in the past and it has worked out great. I have also partnered with people and it turned into a nightmare. Partnering with friends and family is especially tricky in my book. It’s bad enough when a business venture goes array but losing a good friend or severing family ties is just a hard pill to swallow. In my experience both partners really have to be on the same page and realistic about the capabilities of each other and share the same goals. If you do decide to partner with someone make sure the expectations are clear and a good operating agreement that clearly spells out the responsibilities of each member is a MUST. I would recommend meeting with a good real estate attorney that can go over “what-if” scenarios and address any concerns. I know all this sounds a bit gloomy but you really do want to be well prepared if things don’t go as planned. I personally believe that having good partnerships can be a HUGE boost to any business when structured properly with the right people. Hope this helps!

@Account Closed

The time is “right” when the fear of not doing is greater than the fear of doing.

@Brian Barfoot

That's Great congrats on your refi! It sounds like you are well on your way to growing your empire by utilizing the power of leverage. It can be a great way to boost your ROI numbers, invest in other properties and mitigate some risk at the same time.

I also live in CNY and am curious about how your loan process went. I have some small multi-family properties that I have been possibly looking to refi as well and was wondering what your experience was like. You mentioned this was on a single FAM, were you able to obtain a conventional 30 year or did you opt for more of a commercial type product? I am always looking for new investor friendly lenders in the area so if you have any recommendations that would be very helpful

@Tom Martinowsky

Determining the appropriate price for a rental can be a big hurdle at first but is something that can be overcome with the right knowledge and research. As mentioned before analyzing the numbers is HUGE but you have to make sure the numbers are accurate. It is always best to use the trust but verify mindset whenever looking into a prospect property. The numbers given by owners and agents may not always be in line with reality.

This site is loaded with resources to help you gain knowledge with regards to determining an appropriate offer price as well the NOI (net operating income).

Although the raw numbers of the deal are very important most deals have other factors that are worthy of consideration. This is what I call the "art" part of the deal. For example each property may have different long term growth potential or exit strategies. Much of this comes from talking with a lot of local investors and learning your market well. Some areas may offer higher returns but may be more management intensive or are more risky while other areas may offer more appreciation but have a lower overall cap rate. Try to figure out what arena you want to play in and focus your efforts on learning about the areas those properties can be found in.

Hope this helps!

@Patrick Allen

Credit cards like most thing can be good or bad depending on the choices of the user. I personally love utilizing credit cards to further my investment returns. Now that you have paid down the balances on the cards and depending on your overall credit worthiness you may want to look into the possibilities of leveraging credit cards to make "spreads".

This is possible through 0% credit offers now available on most cards. This allows you to deploy cheap capital for many type of investments including RE allowing you to take the profit. I personally like them for short term funding on flips and the like but I also have used on more long term investments when useful. 

The great thing with this technique is that usually as your credit worthiness improves so does the amount the companies will lend. Also many companies offer 18-24 month agreements and the ability to "roll" these funds among cards is almost infinite.

THIS CAN BE RISKY and is not for everyone but depending on your needs and comfort level with risk it may be a good fit for some people. I can tell you that in the beginning it made a huge difference for me and I still do this today.

Just my thoughts! good luck

SHAWN,

@Chris Eschbach

Hey welcome! It's always good to see someone from the area. There are lots of great resources on this site. Also you may want to check out the Syracuse ocreic meeting every second wed. I go whenever I can make it and there is always a lot of great info and people to network with.

Hey welcome to the site! It’s always good to see someone from New York. I have been purchasing multi-units in the CNY area as well but am also looking into other markets. Taxes are pretty high here but from a strictly cash flow standpoint the numbers are pretty good definitely not much appreciation though at least not in the areas I invest in. I’m not familiar with college town but Ithaca is GORGES! haha sorry I had to do it!

@Tom A. couldn’t agree more shark bite shutoffs are the way to go! Always keep a couple in the truck there really cheap when you factor in time and I have not had one leak yet.

That’s so odd I just installed one of these floors today! It was the traffic master allure cherry for $1.79 sf. minus the usual contractor discount. I do a lot of work for other local investors and have seen a steady increase in the use of this type of flooring. Most of my experience has been with the allure and although there are other brands in this price range the allure seems to perform a bit better. I was in a unit I rehabbed about a month ago and the two year old install still looked great even with somewhat “rough” tenants living there. One thing I have noticed however is that surface especially on the faux wood finishes can be very pores this can lead to difficult cleaning as far as paint clean up is concerned so use drop clothes. The price of this product is also offset by its ease of install when paying contractors.