All Forum Posts by: Sawyer Smith

I Currently invest in SW Missouri and am looking to expand into the Bellavista and Bentonville Markets. I am interested in single and Multifamily Properties. If there are any active investors in the are I'd love to connect and learn more about the area.

Last April I was working in land development as a plumber/ditch hand. I was working 10+ hour days knee-deep in mud, and doing a job in which I had no interest. For years I had been thinking and trying to plan a business that would allow me to focus on spending time with family and building wealth for the future. I pursued several options from starting an outdoor retail store to opening a rock climbing gym. Each industry I researched turned out to be more of a gamble than an investment. One afternoon while I was working, my dad sent me a link to bigger pockets episode 320 with Britany Arnason. I listened to the episode three times over that afternoon, and constantly was pausing to google words like refinancing, comps, and line of credit. I literally knew nothing about real estate investing. After that first episode, all I listened to while working was the Bigger Pockets Podcast and the books recommended in those podcasts. I became obsessed with learning everything I could about real estate investing. I made a goal to learn everything I possibly could in the next few months and close on our first property before summer ended. April and May were devoted to reading and learning about my market, in June I found a solid realtor, and in July I closed on our first house. August was spent rehabbing our property and by the first week in September, we had our first tenant. I took the information from that deal to my dad who I knew was already investing in some real estate across the country. When he saw our market and the numbers on how our first BRRR deal went, he became very interested and we came up with a game plan to start a Buy and Hold Realestate Investment Company. And Thus, Bluehaven Homes LLC was born. One year after I listened to that episode with Brittney and we have closed on our 15th house, we have 7 homes fully rehabbed and refinanced and rented. The company consists of my dad, my little brother who is super organized and runs the books for us, a rehab project manager, and myself as manager and head of acquisitions. I have made plenty of mistakes over the last year, but have learned more than I ever thought possible. I love what I do every day, I have the freedom to spend time with my wife and two boys, and I have a real purpose and passion for my work every day. Thank you Bigger Pockets for helping me to have the ability to live a life I never would have thought possible.

For our first 12 deals, we have used private money. Now a buy and hold deal has come up that is interesting, but all our cash is tied up in the rehab of our last 4 homes. I don't want to lose the deal just because we don't have the cash on hand so I'm looking for other options. 

Deal Details

• Asking price: $52,500
• Construction costs: $40,000
  
• Estimated ARV:  $137,000
  
• Estimated Rent: $1,100
  

Should I use Hard Money on this deal? If not what are some other good options?

My business has grown to the point where we have been hiring some employees. Now I'm finding out that I really don't know very much about being an employer and am looking for a local mentor to help. I have a few people in mind who I would like to ask to be a mentor, but I want to find a way to bring them value in exchange for their time and energy. Any suggestions on what I could bring to the relationship to make it worth it for them?

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $70,000
Cash invested: $15,000

We created Value in this property by finishing out the basement adding around 900 Sq Ft of living space. It's also right by a local Christian college so it was super easy to get good tenants in quick.

How did you add value to the deal?

We created Value in this property by finishing out the basement adding around 900 Sq Ft of living space. It's also right by a local Christian college so it was super easy to get good tenants in quick.

What was the outcome?

we have a great rental property in great part of town that is cash flowing over 1%.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

On this one, I learned the importance of adding value. not just giving a place a facelift.

I made the full-time switch in September. Since then I have had a total lifestyle transformation. Working full time in the land development business didn't leave a lot of time for exercise, family, or hobbies. On top of that, I never had a drive or passion for the work I was doing. Trading time for money was not for me. 

In September my daily routine consisted of working 10 hour days knee-deep in mud, laying water and sewer pipe (the only plus side was that I had a lot of time to listen to the bigger pockets podcast), and dealing with people who drained my energy. 

Now my daily routine involves working out with friends, family time that I actually have the energy to enjoy, and doing work that I am interested in for more reasons than just a paycheck.

In short, now that I have recovered more of my time I am physically more healthy, closer with my family, and building longterm wealth rather than trading time for money.   

@kyle J. What would you think about trying to incentivize people for the stuff that was beyond the expected a written in a lease. So like maybe not stuff like paying on time and mowing the lawn, but trimming back the bushes, pulling weeds out of the driveway, cleaning our the gutters? After reading the feedback on this post I'm more thinking about how to incentivize people to do things for the properties that go beyond what is the basic expectation of a good tenant and push them to be incredible tenants that end up saving me money on basic maintenance costs. 

Thanks for the input and ideas guys! This helps a lot. It also helps ut it into terms of how this works in reality. 

Thank you for your thoughts on this. It makes sense that it would get really complicated and challenging as we scale. I like your idea of entering a drawing, it would be simple and easy to manage. In your experience is there anything else besides this prize idea that would help incentivize people to be good tenants but also help set us apart as a rental home company? 

So one of the big things We want to do as a Land Lord is building relationships with our tenants through great customer experience. The goal of this is to build a brand for us in our community and cut down on vacancy. 

One of the ways we want to provide this experience is through a point-based reward system for tenants.

For example, every time tenants pay the rent on time they get a point. At the end of the year, they can turn in their points for some pretty cool stuff, from a gift card at Target all the way to a new TV. 

I'm throwing this up here to get good ideas for what activities people can do to earn points. All the activities should be things that take care of the property and cut down on PM costs in order to make it worth it and train the people to be great tenants.

So what do you guys think are great, point-earning activities?