All Forum Posts by: Rohan Attravanam

Learning: NEVER sign a contract if you are not comfortable with the contents, no matter how bad you want the property.

I was a typical BP newbie. Searching for financial freedom, I stumbled upon rental properties as investments and soon I was at the doors of Bigger Pockets. I signed up for Brandon’s webinars and got hooked to the passion in the BP community. I read up the Ultimate Beginners Guide, and read up starter books recommended. I listen to podcasts like crazy, made my car my learning university. I have some savings and so I decided to start investing in multi family units.

I live in Bay Area in California, and it’s nearly impossible for me to start of investing in my area. So I decided to look outside. I have family in Tampa area and it is one of the growing places in the country. I research on the geography and find a decent 4-plex to invest in. Numbers made sense on paper, based on certain criteria I had set for myself. I quickly realized the property was not managed well and they did not care about raising rents. There was significant room to improve rents ($150-$200 per unit). I had built a good relationship with my agent over couple of months. He helped me walkthrough the property, took videos for me and gave me a good visual. We made an offer and decided to go into the contract.

One of the units needed some minor repairs (new flooring and some paint, about $2k worth of work). I decided to do the repairs and increase the rents once I buy the property. Seller had other ideas. This unit was at end of the lease and they decided to fill in the unit “as is”. There were a lot of applications already to fill the vacant unit, so the seller wanted Rent + Deposit in case the deal falls through. I was confident of making the purchase so I agreed to the clause. Mistake #1.

We put contingency in our contract that if inspection reveals something of not my liking I back out. What we did not explicitly put was backing out from the clause too. My agent said the contingency covers the clause as well even when it is not explicitly. I agreed. Mistake #2.

We got an inspector, he gave us the list of things needed fixing and seller wouldn’t fix the items I needed fixed at the minimum. Contract fell through and we learn contingency doesn’t explicitly state the ability to back away from the clause. I felt a punch me in my stomach and I couldn’t even fight back! I failed my first deal, because I lost money even before I acquired the property.

Learning: NEVER sign a contract if you are not comfortable with the contents, no matter how bad you want the property.

Hi All,

I'm a newbie investor and joined BP around a month ago. After numerous hours of learning through podcasts, articles, forum discussions and webinars later I found some good deals. I'm debating which one to go for as a newbie investor. I've just enough cash for one of the two choices. An instate 4 plex in CA, and out of state 2 6plexes in MO. They both seem to be great deals but given my experience I'm concerned about taking the bigger plunge. Here are few facts and my thoughts on the deals, and I can furnish more if required. Can you help me by providing your thoughts on one vs. other ?

In state 4 plex: ~400k, 2.5 hours drive from home, ~25% CoCROI, well within MAO (GYR*7 +- 10%), 50 years old, all units renovated, good neighborhood, all units vacant right now.

Out of state 2 6plexes: ~1.4M, in MO so very far off from where I live, ~30% CoCROI, doesn't really work with MAO but can probably be negotiated, the property is about 100 years old but is in good condition, college neighborhood, all units occupied.

I'd love any thoughts and comments. Thanks !

I don't have any rentals yet and I was in awe when @Brandon Turner said he had 50+ units in one of his webinar. 1200 makes my head spin. I can't even manage how they are kept a tab on!! 

@David Faulkner,

Thank you so much for your inputs. 

• I'm continuing to network with some realtors and will continue to do so. Have been getting rejections when I offer to help in anyway possible in return for some shadowing time.
• I've seen mixed opinions on Wholesaling and obviously it's been made sound easy. I'm overwhelmed right now and need to slow down a little may be. I've been advised RE license couple of times. Can you please talk a little more on the need for a license? Like how many investors generally get their RE licenses and what does being a part time realtor entail?
• Great advice. Starting off is obviously overwhelming. I'll keep a watch out for the next meetup and understand how I can learn more. 

Thank you for the advice!

Fantastic resource !! Thank you @Mindy Jensen and @Scott Trench for this.

Thank you all for such an incredible welcome !

@Hassan Muhammad : I work on improving the website by looking at various metrics. A lot of digital analytics. We can talk more if you are interested and I can share my professional life story !

Hi Taylor. I'm in the very same boat as you are! I'm thinking of wholesaling myself and teach myself a lot about REI and then dive into Rental properties ! Good to meet you!

Hi all,

I'm Rohan Attravanam, a total newbie into Real Estate Investing but very passionate about investing and personal finance in general. Financial Freedom is why I wake up everyday :). I'm so excited to have found BP and love the vibrance in the community. Feels awesome to be part of it!

I'm reading up on tons of material on site, listening to podcasts, attended most recent webinars by Brandon (Analyzing Rentals). Obviously overwhelmed by so much wealth of knowledge. I'd love to get started and act. Step 1 is to absorb as much info as I can. But step 2 is creating my action plan of networking and choosing a strategy to go after.

Bay Area is a very expensive place to invest for newbies like me. I've family in Cleveland - Ohio, Cary-NC and Tampa - FL areas where I might consider investing for multi family rentals. I'd like to set the following as my goals and would love inputs on my thoughts:

• Network locally to understand the industry
• Start off with a couple of Wholesale deals so I understand the process
• Invest in my first multi-family property in about 4 months from now. 

Can't wait to learn from and contribute to this community!!