All Forum Posts by: Shaheen Ahmed

New to real estate and would love to find some local investors. Any advice? 

It was about 6K but i viewed it as an investment, my first flip 3 months into the program I made 60k, well worth it!

I think it's crucial to have someone at your side with real experience when you are starting out, 6 years ago I started with a mentor group called Flip More Deals and they taught me alot and helped me through my first 3 deals, real hands on. The are still offering coaching but now they are called the Growth Collective, check them out when you get a chance.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Chicago.

Purchase price: $922,000
Cash invested: $40,000

This was my first house hack back in 2022 in Logan Square. I was able to use my VA loan and bring 0% down on almost a million-dollar property, not even closing costs!

The building is large on an oversized lot here in Chicago. 1st and 2nd floor are roughly 1500 sqft, while the garden is smaller but with great ceiling height. This being my first deal, I ran into some problems after closing. About 2 months after closing, I got hit with a property tax bill that doubled, from about $12k a year to $23k a year. Like many things in real estate and in life, you get presented with a problem and have to figure out a solution.

The problem: I pay more in expenses than I make in income and my property is negative cash flow.

Solution:
Step 1: Hire a tax attorney and start the process of arguing the taxes to bring them back down to something more manageable.
Step 2: remodel the unit I occupy, unit 2, in time for the Chicago rental season and increase the rent by $500 a month for the remodeled unit
Step 3: Move out of the remodeled unit 2 and move into non-remodeled unit 1 and repeat the process. Increasing the rent $700 a month post remodel and post move out.
Step 4. Move out of the building entirely and into another deal.

Although it seemed very easy on paper, this solution definitely had its drawbacks and setbacks. For starters, to save money, I decided to do all the work myself, all while working a full-time 40-hour-a-week job. I spent about 2 years remodeling the 2 units. I was able to turn a half bathroom into a full bathroom in one unit and I was able to wall off a dining room and turn into another bedroom in another unit.

I turned a negative cash flow deal into a positive cash flow deal and was able to force appreciation. Everything I learned from this deal I was able to put into my second deal which was an off-market BRRRR deal!

Although investing in Chicago can have it challenges at times, Chicago is a great market to invest in when you're either familiar with the market or you work with someone who is familiar with the area you want to invest in.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted to get my investing journey started ASAP after spending years sitting on the sidelines, educating myself, analyzing deals, and being over afraid to jump into the game

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal on market with and agent

How did you finance this deal?

I used a VA loan which has its own challenges in a very hot market, especially like Chicago. Before I closed on this property I had probably been to over 20+ showings, submitted 4-5 offers, and fell out of contract 1 time before hand.

How did you add value to the deal?

I remodeled 2 units by turning a half bath into a full bathroom, updating 3 other bathrooms, building a bedroom, new paint, fixtures, etc.

What was the outcome?

I turned a negative cash flow deal into a cash flowing deal post-move-out and started to build wealth by force appreciation.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

In Chicago also have a good property tax attorney underwrite your deals at the current property tax bill and at YOUR purchase price. If the deal looks good after running your numbers you should probably pull the trigger!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes! I worked with my agent Sarita Scherpereel who is now my Team lead on the Sarita Sells Team!

I'm just starting out and think I can benefit from a good mentor/coach. Looking at WNN Properties now. Has anyone had experience with them or others? Thanks. 

Not loving this plan. Kissimmee market is super competitive, you’re not gonna attract Disney families (which comprise the bulk of the Kissimmee market) to stay in a manufactured home. Also you’re using the house during peak months. I’m pretty sure your home would just sit empty most of the time you’re not using it. I admire your aspirations but in reality I don’t think your plan will work all that well

@Maria McNally I’ve joined 3 coaching programs. The 1st was a complete waste and actually shut down during my 3rd week in. They removed all their content from the web and I got an email from my coach saying she no longer worked for the company.

The second one I still see out there. And it was represented as a program that could help you buy larger properties than you were buying currently. Unfortunately as the weeks went by my coach started pushing me to buy 50+ unit deals and to raise funds from investors. This was not what I was interested in doing and when I voiced that I was interested in 5-20 unit deals and had the funding for that in place I just got additional push back for buying the larger buildings. Eventually I just quit the program.

The third was a program on Self Storage which was highly informative and I enjoyed through AJ Osborne. If you’re interested in self storage I’d recommend looking him up.

You’re trying to invest for cash flow in a world where you’d make mor “cash flow” putting your money in the bank.

You have to appreciate the many over reasons people invest in real estate or you need to invest in something else. 

As I’m sure you know, Las Vegas is SUPER cheap compared to most of California, Miami, or NYC. And yet 1000’s, 10’s of thousands, maybe millions of people invest in those areas. The argument you make against Las Vegas is a joke compared to those markets, and yet people invest there. Why? 

Because real estate investing is not for people who NEED cash flow. Can you imagine the “cash flow investors” who needed that cash flow when COVID hit? They were told appreciation was speculation when it turned out cash flow was speculation. That won’t happen again you say? E government won’t use its ne found power to invalidate contracts to reward a bigger group of voters at the expense of a smaller group? I’d say that’s pretty naive. 

But it won’t take that kind of event for someone who needs cash flow to fail. If you have $150/mo cashflow and your $2,400/mo property is vacant 2 weeks during a turnover you’re down to $50/mo. Better hope paint,carpet,advertising, commissions, and utilities don’t cost $600 or you blew your cash flow, it’s zero. Or it takes a third week for your new tenant to move in, now your negative $200 if all the previous expenses were paid by the landlord fairy. (Do you really want an applicant who can and wants to move in tomorrow?

God forbid the ac dies 5 years or there goes 5 years of cashflow. 

On the other hand, if you “just” break even for 30 years on your previous primary home with 5% down. It will probably quadruple in value at less than 5% annual appreciation. So that’s a 8000% tax free return. Hopefully you did that 4-5 times in your lifetime and you’re sitting on many many millions in tax free equity you can pull out at anytime. Oh yeah, you can leave it tax free to your heirs, like an unlimited 401k. Oh look, you get to deduct your cell phone, your internet, your tax prep, all kinds of other things regular people don’t. 

If you truly don’t believe the property will appreciate and that rents will increase faster than expenses you should NEVER buy that property. Your cashflow will increase yoy if it does. It will go away if it doesn’t. 

In 10 or 20 years you can be told you “got lucky” because you invested back when houses were cheap. Because obviously there was no skill or courage involved, and houses will definately be cheaper in 20 years. 

Sorry the rent went on and on. But as I once heard a young entrepreneur say. “This is Las Vegas. If you can’t make it here. You can’t make it anywhere…”