All Forum Posts by: Ryan Burg

Thanks everyone for sharing your perspectives and some great tips. Definitely helps me understand the importance of an initial inspection, and realize that in the grand scheme of things, it's a drop in the bucket when making a substantial investment.

@Tom Goans any chance you would be willing to pass along an example of the look out lists you've composed prior to inspection? Sounds really valuable!

Ryan

Hi all. A friend of mine recently had an offer accepted for his first multi-family property in the Boston area (~400k). For some background, he's planning on moving into the house, using an FHA loan for money down and taking advtange of a 203K loan for reapirs as well. Whether it was built in or not I'm unsure, but the contract does include a contingency clause for acceptable inspection. He is a new investor, like myself.

The inspection was completed the other day, and it uncovered a number of issues. To name a few: settling foundation (some floors are unlevel), knob and tube wiring in the basement, significant rodent problems, plumbing issues (not sure to what extent), and so on. He paid nearly $400 for the initial inspection, and has since called in an electrician, mason, plumber, and extermination company to receive quotes on the above issues. He's considering withdrawing his offer if the problems become too significant, and eating the inspection/contractor costs.

As a beginner investor and watching him pour money into these inspections before even "owning" anything, I have some concerns about experiencing the same with my first deal.

Is he going about this in the wrong fashion, and is there a way to avoid these types of sunk costs after submitting an offer? Should he have done more upfront research and educated himself on the "big" issues to lookout for?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and apologies if this seems like a very basic question. Just trying to avoid this for myself in the future, if possible.

Ryan

Prashant P., that sounds like a very useful workbook! Have you considered posting it to the FilePlace section of the site? It would be excellent to have access to that, if you wouldn't mind sharing!

Deborah Saddler, the information that I'm organizing at this time is more based around RE definitions and concepts, as opposed to formulas in Excel. I have a running word document where I simply add new definitions or important nuggets as I come across them. I find the formulas a bit more straightforward to me and easier to find when I need them, so I haven't focused on organizing them into one place... yet.

Throughout my life (grade school, college, business), I've always been a big advocate of taking notes and organizing different sources of information into one place, making it all easier to digest. I like to have reference sheets to look back on, since I will inevitably forget some of the minor but important details as time moves on.

Although I'm just starting out, I find myself doing the same thing while learning about Real Estate. I've started a document on my computer that I'm using to compile the all of the key takeaways and "golden nuggets" from the different books I'm reading, BP bodcasts I'm listening to, and other networking conversations along the way. This ranges from a quote that resonated with me, to formulas/rules I want to memorize, and foundational vocabulary and concepts. I realize there's no way to capture everything, and learning is a continual process, but it feels helpful to me to have a working "cheat sheet" of information to study and reinforce important concepts. I loved the BP Ultimate Beginner's Guide, but I'm also wondering, have any of you created similar documents to help you remember valuable information?

If so, and you feel comfortable sharing, I would love to take a look at what you may have come up with! Mine is still in the beginning stages, so it would be invaluable to me to learn what information is most significant to some of the more seasoned investors on the forum.

Thanks!
Ryan

Thank you all for these thoughtful replies - it's so nice to feel welcome in the BP community as a brand new member.

Brandon Turner, thanks for pointing me towards the small multifamily article. I really enjoyed reading it - very helpful/comprehensive.

Nick Aalerud, Ann Bellamy, Justin Silverio, Mike Hurney - I appreciate the invitations to your local networking groups. It sounds like they're a great place to get started, meet new people and expand horizons so I certainly plan on paying you a few visits in the coming weeks. Looking forward to hopefully having the chance to meet you in the flesh.

Dev Horn, that's excellent advice and I will be picking up a copy of J Scott's book soon! I've heard good things about that one from others as well.

Thanks for the welcome Paul Timmins and Jessica LeClair.

Paul, I would love to attend one of Rockland's REIA meetings. I will check my schedule for next Thursday and be in touch if I can make it. Appreciate the invitation!

Hello all -

I've spent some time familiarizing myself with the BP website and catching up on Josh/Brandon's podcasts for the past month or so, and decided it's about time to introduce myself to the community! I'm truly looking forward to getting to know some of you more closely over the coming months/years.

About me:

My name is Ryan Burg and live in a suburb just outside of Boston. I graduated from Bucknell University a couple of years ago now with a major in Business Management, and have since been working in client services (and now sales) for a market research agency. Outside of work, some of my hobbies include golfing, fishing, and playing the drums. Over the past year, I've focused much of my time on personal growth and development, pretty much reading everything I can get my hands on :). I truly love learning new things, and feel that Real Estate provides a great opportunity to develop a new passion while (hopefully) gaining financial freedom down the road.

At this point, I feel a bit torn between the "learning/information-gathering" and "taking action" stages. I've read about analysis paralysis and feel eager to get started with investing, but also want to put in the proper amount of time upfront to learning all of the basics and building a solid foundation of knowledge. How did you all decide on the right time to jump in?

I'm still developing my plans and feel open to a number of different strategies to get started, but have a primary interest in wholesaling or buy and hold (multi-family). In the hopes of building a strong support team, I've been networking with some RE agents and attorneys to learn more about the business and receive as much advice as I can! I'd love to meet some investors in the area to potentially go in on a deal with, or just meet up for lunch!

Really looking forward to working with you all and reading about your experiences. Thanks for all of the time and effort that you put into this site; it's invaluable!

Best,
Ryan