All Forum Posts by: Ryan Webber

Amarillo, Texas (Northern Texas Panhandle)

I live in Amarillo, Texas, and the market here for rentals is still very strong. We have had an annual 5% appreciation over the last couple years while other markets have had 20% or 30% appreciation rates (some markets are quite a bit more). I see quite a few California investors coming into my market buying property at 1% and thinking they can hold it for a couple years and resell for a profit. Not likely. Buying in their market for 1% might be a good deal, but for my market it's a joke. Nobody buys here for 1% . . . except California guys, lol.

I don't factor appreciation into any my deals. It's a no factor. That's the trade off for cash flow.

Let me say this, too. Until I got experienced at looking for deals I wasn't sure how many deals I could find at 2%. I had local people (mostly realtors) laugh at me for thinking I could find deals like that, but I found them. And now I find atleast one a week, but I specialize in finding discounted property. That's why I am wholesaler. :D

I started investing about 4 years ago.

Banks will normally heavily factor in your own personal credit history, and also make you be a personal guarantor for any loan. They will also look at your company's financials to determine its credit worthiness and financial outlook.

There are added benefits and added liabilities to being an investor and an active real estate agent, but it sounds like you personally do not know. Find out what your state's laws are, and then you can make an educated decision. There are many successful investors who are also practicing agents. I would search them out and discuss this with them.

Well for starters if you are looking to become an investor, you will need to find ways to build your credit. Car loan, credit cards, anything that will be reported to your credit report.

Now as for your loan on land, you will be looking at 20% down maybe even 25%, and they may require a co-signor. There is only one way to find out. Go talk to a banker.

For the first several years I reinvested all of my profits back into my investments. More rentals, more owner carries, bigger rehabs, more marketing, etc. Now I do take a small salary and still reinvest the rest. Low interest bearing accounts have their place, but my retirement is not going to come from life insurance accounts or CD's. I can make 4 times the return putting it back into real estate.

Well your desired Return On Investment is paramount. Apartments normally require large capital to get financing or for remodeling, and you would need to decide what would be an acceptable ROI on your money. I personally look for a minimum 40% ROI or Cash on Cash Return on any of my rental properties, but depending on the market you are looking to investment in, that might not be feasible.

Well obviously the easiest way is to network with a realtor and have them feed them to you or get their MLS access. Now if you have a license you might think of activating it again and working with a broker as a part-time agent and just pay your dues to get access.

And how to find deals? Well that is a business in itself. There are a multitude of ways that you can find just on this forum. The key is start doing a handful of them and KEEP doing them. Be consistent in the marketing/looking that you are doing, and then add on additional methods as you go. I find houses through 20 different methods that I consistently do, and I am still adding more. From driving neighborhoods to assorted mailouts to sifting the MLS to foreclosure sales, there are tons of ways to find deals. Again the key is to actually do them and keep doing them.