All Forum Posts by: Robert MacNeal

@Joe Villeneuve

Joe,

I would have to respectfully disagree. Having spent the first half of my life as a renter and having been in numerous properties with numerous landlords I never had a great feeling about the landlords who rolled up in what appeared to be expensive cars - many of whom were actually fine landlords. Not many people think of their landlords are doing them a favor or on their side regardless of the rent. I think it also adds to the pressure buildup should anything not go perfectly with the renter such as repairs in terms of timing or adequacy. It’s easy for a renter to fall back on “all he cares about is money” when their expectations aren’t met - even if those expectations aren’t reasonable. People generally emotionally, mentally and physically gravitate towards those who look - including possessions- and act and seem like them. It’s the built in tribal part of our brain. So unless they are all driving expensive cars and making what they feel is a lot of money - a lot being defined as the same or more than the person they are thinking about (ie. you) they will feel neutral to bad about the expense. Those who are killing it financially and who choose to rent based on sound economic or social factors are in the distinct minority. Most people base their decisions on emotions not logic and logic very rarely convinces them otherwise. So although you may be running a legitimately fantastic rental operation if your tenants perceive there is enough profit for you to drive an “expensive” car then they will likely equate that with they are paying too much. “Rich guys/gals” (think Jeff Bezos, the Waltons etc at the extreme ends) are generally not thought of very well in society at large regardless of the actual amount of good they are doing. We live in a country with very little and declining respect and understanding of capitalism. So in theory I agree with you but in practice I think it’s a little different matter. So yes if your rents are competitive and places are decent will you get renters - of course. And if you spend time educating your tenants about how they can buy hold and rent properties to achieve the same kind of success as you then maybe it’s a different story. Your success is an example to them. However that’s also a completely different business model. Just a thought from the other side of the equation.

Rob

@Lam N.

Based on my experience think it could create some undesirable attention. I recently bought a Jeep Gladiator which all in brand new was about 50k. People comment all the time what a crazy cool “expensive” car it is - fun sometimes because it starts conversations but it feels like it definitely gives people the impression of a flashy car/truck. Thinking that if some of those people were clients it could give them the feeling that they are supporting a “flashy” lifestyle and then have bad feelings about the business and prices. Just a thought.

Rob

@Michelle Hicks

Hey Michelle!

Have heard a lot of good things about Medellin ( via George Gammon). Would love to connect and discuss investing down there.

Rob

@Dan Weber

Sounds great. What time?

Hi,

Recently had to liquidate a bunch of stock so sitting on a good amount of cash that needs reinvesting. New to real estate and learning a lot here and off line. There seems to be good returns on both SFH and MFH (3-4 units) in general (although our local market is very expensive right now). So my question is: would it make more sense to focus on finding a few (5-10 or so?) SFH/MFU or try a bigger project such as an apartment building or something similar right off the bat? Like everyone here looking to maximize return, minimize risk and willing to do the work to make it happen :-D.

Thanks for any thoughts/opinions,

Rob

Hey @Brian Ellwood, we have the same issue here in Portland, ME. Every property here I’ve analyzed using the BP calcs is significantly cash flow negative. Do you have any suggestions of how to get started in the non-listed property market for a newbie?

Rob

We have the same problem here in Portland, ME.  Using the calculators her on BP, the purchase price would have to drop about 30% from current values just to break even on cash flow.