All Forum Posts by: Sam Lewis

Yes seriously, less is more IMHO - I honestly wouldn't even tell them you live in California. All they need to know is that you won't be available to meet in person and what the lockbox code is. 

Have the confidence in your voice as if this is your 50th transaction. To do this, have a 'practice' conversation with a friend or family member as if they were a contractor. End your sentences with downward inflection, rather than upward inflection.

I do not specialize in flips, I do rent-ready buy and holds in Baltimore County. Hopefully some other folks can add to this chain, but I will keep you in mind with contractors. I have a few on the top of my head but I don't know the scope of work. 

Be really careful man. Being both new to investing and an out of state investor makes you susceptible to gurus who will try to sell you their ‘expertise’

That being said with no network in MD, BiggerPockets is a good place to start. The best way to go about not getting overcharged for rehab costs is to interview contractors and make sure you get separate bids from each one of them (minimum 3). 

Make sure they aren’t under the impression that this is your first rodeo or they will try to sell you some expensive boots.

Congrats on your purchase - do you have any network here in Baltimore? 

That would be a great start for reliable contractors who have a vested interest in your network.

I don't have a specific solution to your situation - I do not have enough details (i.e. area / location of property, condition of property, etc.). I have a really good property manager - if you are interested please PM me.

 Go-to books would be:

- Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller

- Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat - The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy by David Greene

- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by George Kiyosaki 

If you read these and still don't invest in real estate, you may need a splash of cold water on your face : )

@Rob Daniels

Welcome to BP man! I think your best next step would be to read some books so you have a good idea of what to expect on your first deal.

Figure out what you want to start out with - finding deals / rehabbing and flipping / rehabbing and renting / buying turn key (fixed up) properties and renting. This list is not exhaustive but a good bulk of it.

Investing is not like what you see on HGTV... I wish!

If you have any questions I am a message away

Yes I can second this. Multifamily investments are not extremely common. I have one friend who turned a townhome into a duplex but it took a ton of back and forth with the city - a risk a lot of investors try to avoid.  

It all depends what you are looking for and your individual goals. That being said, a deal is a deal. I have investment property in Towson and Parkville, and am eyeballing some properties in Middle River. 

With a property purchase of 200K, I'd say your rents could range from $1500 to $2500 - I purposely made the range so wide, because it boils down to the type of property, the condition, the location, location, and the location.

Don't forget that every zip code has opportunity, but there's no better area than one you are familiar with.

Thanks Ozzy! Appreciate it - I take it it's the folks who just got out of their 30,000 guru camp :,)

Hey Siyavash! Answering your questions below:

1) Talk to local investors (and also specify that it's a duplex). The best option is to call three separate insurance companies and ask them to run a quote for the property address - make sure they know it is an investment property and you will not be living there.

2) The issue with purchasing a property that already has tenants inside is that it's nearly impossible to rehab. With this in mind, a lot of investors looking to grow their portfolios stay away from tenant-occupied properties because it's hard to "cash-out" of a deal when you can't even improve the value of the property. 

To answer your question, it depends on your longterm growth goals. If you are trying to grow fast and get your money out of the deal to rinse and repeat - none of the options above work. 

If you are looking for steady cash flow with little to no involvement (assuming property is in good enough condition and tenants are respectful and pay on time), then this could work. 

Investors who want to build their portfolios quick typically apply this approach:

1. Purchase undervalued property with hard money / private money
2. Fix given property with hard money loan
3. Place renter in house and achieve positive cash flow
4. Refinance and pay off hard money loan and in a perfect world, receive all the money personally invested in the deal back (typically hard money lenders want a minimum 20% down for the purchase + rehab cost totals)
5. Repeat. You may have left a little money in the deal, but 6 months later you should have enough from a W2 income or other investments to purchase another property. 

3) $0. An offer is an offer and if the seller get's offended, that's a reflection of his/her insecurities. I see too many agents get concerned about making lowball offers. The fact you are even considering making an offer is a compliment to the seller :) 

Feel free to message me if you have any questions!