All Forum Posts by: Shawn Ackerman

@Danielle B. you are welcome.  Always fact check the people who you are taking advice from. Being a landlord is not an overnight get rich quick scheme.

@Danielle B. when buying out of state you have to know the people you will be working with.  You can build your own team i.e. title co, insurance, pm, contractors, handyman,process server, lender etc.... or you can find an operator who can get you going in that market while simultaneously building out your team.

Section 8 housing is a great way to ensure consistency with rent payments however not all tenant who have HCV pay 0%. Many times the tenants are income based and pay 20-40% wherein only 60-80% may be guaranteed.

Aside from the rent percentage issue is pride of ownership. Sometimes the tenants are coming from shelters or other communal type of housing where maintaining a space my not be solely there responsibility so maintaining the unit may not be to your liking.  Not in all cases but more often then not.

Additionally you have to have solid management who is checking on the property at a minimum once per quarter as many times I find these tenant don't always report issues timely.  

Is it a great way to ensure income consistency? Yes, but you should really be involved at the outset.  

There are so many other nuanced things to discuss but I'll leave it right here for now.

Best of luck! 

Great advice man!!!! I took a long break and I'm paying for it now LOL!! Expenses do not take a break so until you have no expenses taking breaks should be quick and infrequent.  Better yet train others to keep things going while you take your break.

Again Jonathan thanks for the reminder that the grind never stops.  Addicted to the process not the end result!

@Renee Jean-Baptiste Welcome to BP!!! Thanks for sharing a bit about yourself and journey.  All the best!

@Mike Terry I think you need to stick to the script. Rent, Expenses, NOI, Cash Flow, COCR, Cap Rate, Market cap rate. Take the emotions out of it and evaluate on what the deal is telling you.

Good luck!

@Malcolm Brown it is great that you are thinking of the money to fund the deals you are going to get started with but understanding what a deal is, I think, should be the starting point.  Also you have to understand what kind of investor you want to be.  Are you looking for cash flow/appreciation/a little of both?

finding and analyzing deals should be at the top of your list of things to learn when starting out!

Best of luck!

@Micheal Singleton I have the perfect person you should connect with. Message me and I will shoot you their info.

@Shannon Vistisen I would say this, unless you know everything that is tied to that entity, buy the property alone. I would definitely check Dunn and Bradstreet for any open lines of credit, liens, judgements and the like. Unless you have a clause in the purchase of the entity that clearly makes you responsible for the entity from the day that you buy it(Indemnification) I wouldn't bother with the LLC.

Good luck man. all the best!

@Timothy Frazier I wouldn't use the word bad because if that is the route needed to acquire a piece of property then mission accomplished however you are stacking the deck against yourself with this approach.  

Reason being HML's are typically short term loans that are interest only. If you are using it to buy a turnkey property which needs to produce cash flow to be considered a viable deal how does buying turnkey(Little to no cash flow) combined with HML(High interest only debt) make alot of sense financially? Also is there a plan to replace the HML after a particular point?

Usually turnkey operators suck the equity out of a deal and sell at or above market so there goes the equity.  Typically turnkey operators are not in C/D areas so price to rent ratio is not working in your favor.  I mean there is so much to scrutinize here we could spend an entire afternoon reviewing the actual deal let alone the financing.

I wish you luck either way man.  Congrats on getting started on your journey.

Hello @Camille Romero congrats on getting started on your real estate journey.  As someone who is also from cost prohibitive NYC we chose to invest in the Mid-West.  Cashflow, ability to build a team, landlord tenant laws, price to rent ratio etc.......were all factors in the decision making process almost a decade ago.

Now,  I wonder why your approach is an either or view?  I think wholesaling is a great entry point into real estate because you are forced to underwrite and find your own deals.  This will set up your buy and hold business long term.  You will essentially be buying deals from yourself and you can still assign a contract from one company you own to another. 

There are so many plays to run in this game I don't have time to type them all.  Just know this, The more vertically integrated you are the better off you will be long term.  All the best!