All Forum Posts by: Solomon Nguyen

Hello Everyone!

I hope you’re all doing well. First and foremost, I’d like to express my gratitude in advance for any advice the BP community can offer. I’m also excited to connect with more of you!

The Situation

I’m 21 years old and have been working as a real estate agent and property manager in Rhode Island for the past four years. While I’ve built a strong network, I’m currently facing a dilemma. My goal has always been to invest in local properties, but the high prices in Rhode Island have made that difficult. Based on my income, I’m unable to afford a multifamily property, and the deals I’ve come across haven’t been particularly attractive.

My brother, who earns $90K a year, is willing to co-sign with me, but his $100K in student loans doesn’t really improve our pre-approval prospects. On my end, I’ve managed to save about $80K and still owe $17K in student loans, but since I’m in the grace period after graduating in May, I’ve held off on paying them to keep my savings in a high-yield account for now.

I’ve been exploring Midwest markets where property prices are more affordable, and I feel like this might be the right place for me to start my real estate investing journey.

In the meantime, I’m also working with my parents to convert their single-family home into a three-family unit. Once the project is complete, their monthly payments would drop from $1,000 to just $60 with the rental revenue coming in. I have the option to invest $40K of my savings into the project and potentially see a modest return (few hundred dollars a month), but I’m unsure if it’s the best use of my funds. While I believe I’d be able to recoup my investment, I wouldn’t technically “own” the property until it’s passed down to my sibling and me in the future. The project is being funded by refinancing another family property.

Additionally, I’m planning to establish a property management company here in Rhode Island within the next year. Having worked in the industry for some time, I see the value in building relationships with local landlords, vendors, and the community, which could lead to future opportunities. I’m also pursuing my broker’s license, so I’d like to have some cash reserves when that time comes. This is what I could see that would keep me here in RI.

I should also mention that while I live in Rhode Island, I’m not necessarily tied to the state. I have a degree in Project Management and could potentially find a job in another market if it would better support my real estate investing goals.

Here are the questions on my mind

- Should I keep saving and wait to buy something locally in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut, where I could manage the property more easily?

- Should I consider purchasing in the Midwest, where I might find more affordable properties and either pay cash or make a substantial down payment to get started sooner?

- Should I invest $40K into converting my parents’ single-family home into a three-family, even though the immediate return might only be a few hundred dollars a month?

I would greatly appreciate any insights or experiences you all can share!

Thank you!

-Solomon Nguyen

Thank you for the connect @Abel Curiel!

Greetings Tom,

It is a pleasure to meet you. I am currently experiencing a similar challenge to yours and have been developing software designed to assist real estate professionals like ourselves in lead organization and scheduling of showings automatically. I would be happy to schedule a time for us to jump on a call and further discuss the solution in greater detail. I would also like to learn about some other pain points you have been experiencing to help improve the product we are building. 

Warm regards,

-Solomon Nguyen

Quote from @Logan Laperriere:

This could be a huge time saver! I would definitely be interested in something like this. 

Hello Logan!

I'd be happy to schedule a call with you to hear some more of your thoughts and add you to our Beta users list! I'll pm you now. 

Bests,

-Solomon Nguyen

Quote from @Abel Curiel:

Quote from @Solomon Nguyen:

Hello, Everyone.

I hope everything is well! I wanted to obtain your feedback on a startup that my co-founder and I are working on. I am a real estate agent in Rhode Island and the leasing manager for a 350-unit portfolio. I frequently put my listings on Zillow and Facebook, where I get a ton of messages. I find myself constantly on the phone answering inquiries like, "Do you accept pets?" and "Is there parking?" despite the fact that the information is clearly stated in the advertisement. I find this time-consuming after replying to 30-50 leads per day, gathering their information to pre-qualify them for a showing, and working with all of the leads to plan the best time to show the units. I kept reminding myself that I needed to work smarter, not harder.

With the advancement of AI, I thought a cool way to solve this issue would be to build an AI that can take in the information that I provide it about a specific unit, and when people inquire about the unit, either to ask a question or to schedule a showing, the AI would be able to provide them with answers to their questions as well as ask them for simple information to qualify the lead, such as, "what is your monthly household income?" and "where does your credit roughly stand?". "If so, what is their breed and weight?" From there, if the information they supply matches the landlord's requirements, they can schedule a showing depending on the time range set by the landlord and/or showing agent for that apartment.

The AI's primary function would be to answer simple questions and vet tenants, allowing the landlord/agent to save time during the process. Then, after the showings are planned, the landlord/agent may truly close the deal during the showing, as this is where the sale usually occurs. Another crucial aspect for this is that after a showing is planned, the AI will offer the user with a description of the person they will see and the time it was scheduled for. This would allow the landlord/agent to understand who they are talking to. We also wanted to solve the pain point for tenants who inquire on a unit and never receive a response from agent or landlords either because they are to busy or are burnt out from answering too many messages.

We also wanted to use this technology in real estate sales and purchases, where listing agents could upload the sales disclosure for an AI to read and provide information to buyers when they inquire about the house, as well as allow the selling agent to potentially double-end the transaction. This is a feature for the future, but given the current state of affairs, where buyers may now be required to pay for buyer agents, we might see this option becoming more appealing to people as they are able to contact the agent directly after asking questions about the property and possibly not needing to pay for an agent.

Overall, we are still in our early development stage and are looking for some beta users for our leasing platform and are hoping for some feed back and suggestions. What better place to do it than here at BiggerPockets! 

Thank you for your time!

-Solomon Nguyen

 This sounds interesting! I will shoot you a PM!

 Awesome! I am looking forward to hearing from you! 

Hi, Jeremy!

If you have time, I would want to understand more about you and the systems you use to do your job. I am a leasing manager in Rhode Island who is swamped with work and attempting to optimize my workflow. Any bit of advise on speeding up the time when it comes to vetting tenants, planning showings, and answering questions would be really helpful. 

Thank you!

-Solomon Nguyen

Hello, Everyone.

I hope everything is well! I wanted to obtain your feedback on a startup that my co-founder and I are working on. I am a real estate agent in Rhode Island and the leasing manager for a 350-unit portfolio. I frequently put my listings on Zillow and Facebook, where I get a ton of messages. I find myself constantly on the phone answering inquiries like, "Do you accept pets?" and "Is there parking?" despite the fact that the information is clearly stated in the advertisement. I find this time-consuming after replying to 30-50 leads per day, gathering their information to pre-qualify them for a showing, and working with all of the leads to plan the best time to show the units. I kept reminding myself that I needed to work smarter, not harder.

With the advancement of AI, I thought a cool way to solve this issue would be to build an AI that can take in the information that I provide it about a specific unit, and when people inquire about the unit, either to ask a question or to schedule a showing, the AI would be able to provide them with answers to their questions as well as ask them for simple information to qualify the lead, such as, "what is your monthly household income?" and "where does your credit roughly stand?". "If so, what is their breed and weight?" From there, if the information they supply matches the landlord's requirements, they can schedule a showing depending on the time range set by the landlord and/or showing agent for that apartment.

The AI's primary function would be to answer simple questions and vet tenants, allowing the landlord/agent to save time during the process. Then, after the showings are planned, the landlord/agent may truly close the deal during the showing, as this is where the sale usually occurs. Another crucial aspect for this is that after a showing is planned, the AI will offer the user with a description of the person they will see and the time it was scheduled for. This would allow the landlord/agent to understand who they are talking to. We also wanted to solve the pain point for tenants who inquire on a unit and never receive a response from agent or landlords either because they are to busy or are burnt out from answering too many messages.

We also wanted to use this technology in real estate sales and purchases, where listing agents could upload the sales disclosure for an AI to read and provide information to buyers when they inquire about the house, as well as allow the selling agent to potentially double-end the transaction. This is a feature for the future, but given the current state of affairs, where buyers may now be required to pay for buyer agents, we might see this option becoming more appealing to people as they are able to contact the agent directly after asking questions about the property and possibly not needing to pay for an agent.

Overall, we are still in our early development stage and are looking for some beta users for our leasing platform and are hoping for some feed back and suggestions. What better place to do it than here at BiggerPockets! 

Thank you for your time!

-Solomon Nguyen

Do you have any referrals that do these types of deals?

Thank you!

Hello Everyone! 

A little bit about me. My name Is Solomon Nguyen. I am a Real Estate agent in Rhode Island and I am hoping to get started in investments soon, Multifamliies, Short term rentals, and commercial to be exact. I have spent the last two years watching bigger pockets and working for flippers and long-term hold investors to really understand the basics. I've sold 10 homes in my first year in real estate and see the amount of value and wealth that it has to offer. While I am still in college, I met a friend who also really wants to get started in real estate and would like for me to help him get started. His father sold a tech company a little while back and is just sitting on a lot of cash. They want me to begin helping them look for deals but in a state such as Rhode Island there is not much to go around, and if there is any type of deal, is not worth the money invested whatsoever. I would like to at least see an 8% return on their money (wouldn't we all) but really do not know where to start. They are open to the idea of expanding from Rhode Island into different markets in the south (Carolinas, Florida, Texas) but I have no contacts out there. If you have any advice or know anyone I could reach out to about this, I'd be more than happy to talk! They want to get a deal done asap as they are eager and excited! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!