All Forum Posts by: Ryan Fox

@Marcus Auerbach- I have to say I don't entirely agree.  I've been investing in the Midwest from the west coast since 2017.  I have high quality tradespeople who do work at low cost.  My tenants are high quality.  When I need a contractor, I have my real estate agent bring in a contractor she's worked with before and trusts.  They can be more expensive but it's not always the best idea to get the cheapest contractor.  

Maybe I say this because I'm lucky to have partnered with an agent who is trustworthy.  There are certainly agents out there who only want to earn a transaction and do not want to build a business relationship.  My agent has brought forth several connections that have been valuable over the years.  I've bought several properties through her sight unseen.  

The advantage of investing remotely is that it creates far less of a time commitment on my part.  I can still work my W-2 and don't have to go out visiting several properties.  Rather, my agent checks out the property, provides about 40 pictures, and a rehab cost estimate.  I then make an offer based upon the data I have.  

I do agree with you that OOS investing only makes sense if you live in an expensive area and are investing in a much less expensive area.  If you buy a $1MM property in your expensive local market and something goes seriously wrong with it, that's a much bigger deal that something going wrong with a $150k property OOS.  And buying in good neighborhoods OOS is important as well.

@Felicia Nitu- Hopefully investors can figure out how to create new housing under SB 684.  It's a pretty complicated law with all kinds of tenant and environmental protections.  It does only apply to real estate currently zoned as multi-family.

@Naresh Yegireddi- This is above my pay grade but I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal today about how the highest-earning 10% of Americans account for more than 50% of consumer spending.  Those on the lower end of the income scale are more affected by inflation, and companies like dollar stores that cater to them have had a harder time growing sales.  The stock of Dollar General is down 43% in the past year.  Dollar Tree is down 48%.  It's been a tough sector to be in.  

@Zachary Freeman- How do the utilities work on the tiny home?  Are they separate meters from the main home and does it have its own water / sewer lines?

Yeah, this can get kind of tricky.  A couple years ago, a Costco delivery man came to my primary residence and my dog bit him.  The delivery guy told the local animal control.  For some stupid reason, I told our insurance about the incident.  They marked it down as a "claim," even though the delivery guy never filed suit, asked for money, or sent a demand letter.  The insurance ended up non-renewing our policy because of the "claim," and most other insurers wouldn't cover our home because of the claim. 

My takeaway was never to tell the insurance about a loss unless you actually do have a loss.  

@Chris Wagner- That's just too low an amount to make the claim worth it.  Your insurance premiums will rise and eat up any insurance payout you get, unfortunately.

@Kristin Vegas- You are going to need those invoices to be able to write off the repair expenses for tax purposes, so if this PM isn't willing to provide them, you should look for a PM that does. I would look over the property management agreement and see if there's any language that suggests the PM agreed to provide the invoices. Bring this to the PM's attention, and if they don't agree to provide invoices, find another PM.

@Ayyoub Aj - As someone who invests in the Kansas City market, I've seen how the landlord tenant laws have gotten more complicated over the years. The laws favor the tenants and they change frequently. This isn't something I've been able to keep up with personally, so I hire property managers who rely on legal counsel to keep up with it. If you had to hire an attorney on your own to advise you on this stuff, that makes the self-managing rather expensive. 

As others have noted above, you could easily get overwhelmed if you try to self-manage. If you need recommendations for property managers, feel free to reach out.

Can't see anything wrong with that. A particular strategy that may help you is to assume VA loans. Occasionally I'll see properties coming on the market where the seller has a VA loan with a low interest rate. You can offer to buy these properties and assume the existing loan. You would have an advantage with this because the seller could buy another property with a VA loan. If you were not in the military and assumed the loan, the seller would not be able to get another VA loan. Only 1 VA loan allowed per service member.

@David Shaun- Amazing work!  How did you get the insurance so low - it works out to $1,253 per month for all properties.