All Forum Posts by: Ryan Murdock

Absolutely. Go. Learn. Network. Listen. You'll be glad you did.

@Ian Meyer @Jen Whitehead 

I got my investing/RE agent start as an Arthur Gary graduate as well. Walter Boomsma is a great instructor if he's still doing it in Bangor (shout out to Walter!).

Anyways, it's tough to be a 'good' agent part time. It's one of those things that you get out what you put in. Juggling family, other businesses etc can make it difficult to excel as an agent if you're not available to jump when a good client calls on you. 

You'll definitely learn a lot but as previously mentioned here if you're only going to do a handful of deals each year I'd question whether it's worth the time and money spent. It was for me, but only because I ended up becoming a full time agent and helping other clients for 10 years while I built out my own portfolio. 

Either way, congrats on taking the plunge. It's a win-win for you at this point. If it doesn't pan out you still have the knowledge and there's a bunch of alternative ways to still invest successfully even if you don't maintain a sales license.

I've done plenty of BRRRR's at 75-80% LTV and still been able to pull 100%+ of my original money back out. I've also had deals where I've had to leave some money in too but it was still a great return on a cash flowing property.

Maybe in an ultra-hot market you could just sell outright (flip) and collect the extra cash but now you're looking at significant tax implications and there's no long term residual income.  

Whatever works best for you, your goals, and your situation. 

That answer varies by state. Check the laws for the municipality your rental is located in.

Haha thanks. It has been a long journey since the days of stomping around mobile home parks on Stillwater Ave...lol.

You might also want to check out https://mainerealestatemeetups.com run by @Nathaniel Seekins. Good group of local investors with lots of great knowledge to share. 

@Courtney Oldrin Have you considered joining https://www.gbaoma.com/ ? 

I believe membership is only $75/yr and they provide several resources for landlords including vendor discounts and a pretty decent ME lease. Certainly cheaper than having your attorney draft one from scratch. 

Yet another attempted power grab in the name of Covid. It's sickening.

If the neighbor's issues are legitimate you should get involved. 

The neighbor will likely be around much longer than your tenant and they can be a great asset in keeping eyes on the property and maintaining your good standing in the neighborhood. Having a troublemaker tenant is only going to create bigger headaches for you down the road. 

I always try and appease the neighbors of my rental properties whenever possible. If you owned and lived in a home in any neighborhood and the tenant next door was wreaking havoc, how would you feel?

Don't burn a long term neighbor relationship over what is likely a temporary tenant.

On the other hand, if your neighbor is a screwball, it makes things a lot tougher but active diplomacy should still be the first line of defense here.

@Codey Fabian If you are able to get that first one with all cash then you are in a great spot and can get the snowball rolling pretty good after that. 

Pull a line of credit on that first property, use it to buy another property for cash, refi the 2nd property, pay the first property line of credit off, repeat until you retire and ride off into the sunset..... (Most of my rental properties are in Central ME btw....) :-D

@Codey Fabian Amassing an empire with cash-only sounds like a noble endeavor but, man, it's going to be a long slow road. It's really tough to scale to any meaningful level - especially if your goal is to someday live off your rental income. 

I'd strongly suggest at least considering some amount of financing, even if just to get the ball rolling and getting a few properties under your belt. No need to crazy if you want to remain somewhat conservative but even putting 20-40% down on 60-80% LTV loans will allow you to scale much quicker than if you're just squirreling cash away under your mattress until you have enough to buy something outright.

If done carefully, you'll build a lot more equity in a shorter amount of time if you are renovating and adding value to those properties, which given your handyman skills, seems like your best bet.