All Forum Posts by: Sawyer Smith

@Michael Dumler I completely agree. However, do you think that if you are living in a larger metro area like Tulsa or Denver and looking to get the most for your money, perhaps a smaller more stable market would be a better ROI? For example, we have a really nice 3 bed 2 bath home that we spent $120k on and is renting for $1,200. It would be pretty normal in a Bigger market to that same house would cost $400k and only barely rent for more than ours. (I also admit that I could be way off on the numbers for different markets. I have only barely studied them,)

I think everyone can agree that 2020 was really rough on city life. Lockdowns, riots, and crazy housing prices drastically raising the entry-level for new investors. The impact 2020 had on the city seems to be dumped right into 2021. However, this is not the case in most of America. I live and invest in Joplin MO. with a population of around 60k. and when I turn on the news it is almost impossible to relate to any of what I hear. We have been lockdown free since about last June. The school has been in person since last fall, restaurants have all been open, and with a few exceptions life is basically back to normal. Home prices have gone up a bit, but it's still a very accessible market. If you have been saving and have 50k ready to deploy, you can use that cash to buy and rehab a decent house. And we have no shortage of potential tenants waiting for good rental property.  

So this got me thinking that investing in a smaller market with a population of 50k-80k might be the play to make in 2021. Typically when you are investing in these markets you won't see much in appreciation, but the stability of these markets has been proven to cash flow well and hold their value when everything else seems incredibly volatile. 

My question is: Am I way off? Or is this a great time to look towards smaller markets if you want to get into affordable and stable investing and take a break from the super expensive and intensely competitive bigger city markets?

@Matt Towner

We also are receiving funding from our city for the rehab. Both of our projects have a lot of public support and so the city is willing to give us the funds to put on a new roof.  Comes out to about $250k free money and the only stipulation is that we do the projects and only use the money for the roof. 

So I would also check with your city planner to see how they could help you.

@Daniel Haberkost

One of the best parts about having COVID has been losing my sense of smell. Granted I can’t smell bacon in the morning. But I also don’t have to smell that very distinct “dog pee/cat pee/cigarette/other gross stuff” smell when walking homes.

@Cortney Arenstein

In the moment they all seem pretty horrible. But given some time they make for some pretty great stories.

@Joe Splitrock

The “you can have it.” get’s me every time.

But then again I say “you too” every time the person at the gate tells me to enjoy my flight so I guess there’s room for grace.

@Jonathan Pflueger

Maybe an extra layer of paint in that one. Just to make sure those wall stay quite.

@Jay Hinrichs

Ok, you might just win with that one. Also, the car seems like one of the worst cases of poor planning in recent history. 

One of the most upsetting things I've learned since getting into real estate is how unsafe some peoples living conditions are and how they just don't even realize there is a problem.

Having a bad habit of not cleaning your room doesn't just vanish when you become an adult. If anything it gets way worse because your mom might not be there to clean your mess. 

Do you think the landlord should get involved at some level in helping train people in proper/safe living standards?

This past week when checking on something in the attic of one of our active rehabs, our handyman gave us a call explaining how he had found some pretty disturbing items. When he had been in there a month prior, the place was clean but on that day he found a sleeping bag, some snacks, some meds (not the legal kind), and a two-foot-long machete laid outright by the entrance. one of our Project managers (who is a young woman) had been in the house by herself several times in the weeks prior. The Sleeping bags and meds are sketchy enough, but the machete!!!

New security measures were put in place and the sword was disposed of, but this got me curious about what kind of other scary stuff has been found in rental properties and what steps were taken in response. 

So let's hear who has also found some shady/illegal/lethal items in their properties.

@Michael Magnell

We are in the process of renovating two 50,000 + square foot buildings using historic tax credits. One was already on the national register, the other we have contracted an expert to get it listed and secure those credits. In both deal's we were able to acquire the building at an incredibly low cost, and our bank agreed to use the Historical tax credits as our down payment for the multi-million dollar rehab loan on both buildings. When all is said and done we should have close to $9 million in equity between both buildings and have close to $1 million in combined cash flow on our less than $300k initial investment. 

The number one thing that makes all this possible is our contractor. At the start of this project, we began working with a local contractor with plenty of experience in both securing Historical tax credits and rehabbing historic buildings. He has already done this process several times and has a great track record for these types of deals. Without him, we would have a much harder time with these deals.