All Forum Posts by: Sonny Ruckstuhl

17 weeks

17 weeks ago I finally took action with my BP membership. I looked yesterday and I found the website in 2013 and became a member. And I stopped.

In spring of 2016, my son expressed an interest in RE investing and so I did one webinar, became a PRO member, and stopped again.

Then, 17 weeks ago, I received notice of a small amount of money (or large depending upon one's point of view) from an inheritance and it coincided with my first podcast listen.

17 weeks later, I just finished listening to my final podcast and am now current.  I have taken in many lessons and wanted to write it out here. 

The most consistent lesson was persistence or grit.  This lesson manifested itself with a regular assessment of RE deals (not at Brandon's suggested rate of 3/day, but close). 

The next lesson was take action.  This has included offering on and purchasing a duplex and fourplex that were pipedreams 17 weeks ago. 

Expecting and overcoming obstacles with a long-term plan such as a BRRRR strategy had me look at these properties with their long-neglected structures as opportunities. The calculators helped me know that these were solid singles and may turn into doubles.

Another lesson was relationships and just letting people know what I am doing. It led to the 2nd property (the duplex) and seller financing all thanks to the PM I retained on the 4plex and my mentioning to him I was looking for distressed or burned out landlords.  The community feeling of BP allowed me to help the realtor on that property find a buyer for a rehab that was way outside of my scope but set up a BP member I have still yet to meet in person to obtain a project he is excited by (at least he is as of this writing).  Another BP relationship led to consideration of a commercial property.  Not able to pull it off, but that I feel competent to pursue these sorts of things is staggering.

Finding my why was another lesson as it crossed into my ideas of how to be an ethical landlord. My wife and I have spent a good deal of time in our jobs with families and children who are likely to be, for the most part, perpetual renters. We want to use our RE strategy to follow Marcia Maynard's motto of providing Safe, Clean, Quiet, and Affordable (may get the exact quote wrong but it was over a 150 podcasts ago) living spaces for our customers.

Finding local mentors has led me to two different REIA groups in my area where I have found experienced and willing mentors along with a network of potential partners and investors.

I have read six different books from the BP catalog as well as three others from podcast suggestions.

Among the information from these books, I was led to move my 401k into a self-directed, checkbook control trust that I am still considering the possibilities for, and look forward to using those monies more freely than I had.

All in all, I have a great big thank you for Josh Dorkin for putting all of this together. Other people to thank are Brandon Turner, Mindy Jensen, J. Scott, Brian Burke, Ben Leybovich, Serge Shukhat, Michael Blank, Michael Quarles, Brian Murray, Chris Clothier, Matt and Liz Faircloth, Amanda Han, the Syrios clan, and all the other folks who lent their stories to the podcasts. 

The accumulated wisdom on this site, the participation of the community, and the resources from the calculators, the marketplace, the forums, the blog, and the podcast are everything that anyone interested in pursuing RE could hope for.  All for an amazingly low price.  Free.  I am happy to pay the PRO membership. I get value from it with the unlimited use of the calculators (my main use to this point). But the PRO membership is not necessary for any of the things I have done in the past 17 weeks.

Now, I have to go over to ITunes and leave a 5-star rating.

sonny

P.S. Tomorrow I am going to look at a short sale, interview owners and renters in a townhome complex where I may be purchasing, and going to look at a duplex that could be commercial, VRBO, residential buy and hold, or a flip.

@Samuel Watts Why only 6 months?  The good things about owner financing is getting a property w/o going through all of the time/effort/expense of lenders and it won't count against the number of standard loans you get.  Think of it as private money.

Talk with the seller to see what they are planning on doing with the money.  If they will take 5% from you over 20-30 years, that is safe return for them and a nice win for you.  I worked with one seller whose main concern was a prepayment penalty b/c they wanted a regular check. So, I got them to amortize over 30 years, I have to wait 3 years to refi if I want, and they want a 5 year balloon. This makes for a quick sale, no extensive examination of my credit/income (which is fine but a hassle), and I can use one of my standard loans for some other property.

@Paul Moore I'm looking to take advantage of house hacking a MF property.  We are on the verge of being empty nesters and I have 1-2 years of W-2 income to use to look good on paper.  So, the advantage I am looking to take here is how to pull off a house hack with an occupant loan vs. having to keep doing 25% down on investment properties. Then, look to do another one in another year.

My wife and I only require a 1BR to live in, so one of the units can be a 1 BR.

Looking to do a 5% down to minimize the cash I have to lay out.

Would feel comfortable with a price range in the million dollar range if the rents made sense for that purchase price. Not looking for an A+deal. Want a safe return. If COC was 6% once fully rented, I could live with that.

Prefer a property on the north or east side of Los Angeles and can be as far as 2 hours out, if the town is one that I wouldn't mind living in for the required year. (I would still be working 2 days per week or 4 days every two weeks in my day job which is a 5 hour drive from Lancaster into Nevada.)

Duplex through Fourplex that makes a suitable rental for the area.

Don't know if this is specific enough, but those are the limiting criteria.

Looking for multi-family in Los Angeles. Likely moving to that area in late 2017 to early 2018. 

Starting new elements of my business such as direct marketing, building systems so I can grow my business.  This will be a challenge for me b/c of my typically passive approach to life.

Likely moving to LA (Hollywood area) in late summer 2017 and could use some help finding a property. Can be in any direction but prefer under 30 min commute to Hollywood.

Will be owner occupied and can take time to do a deal, so am okay pursuing rehab, 203k program, or short sale. Duplex-4plex are possibilities.  Need the owner occupied unit to be 2BR so no 1BR only properties.

Not sure what areas are best to consider. 

Will eventually be a rental only after a few years. No school district requirements for myself, but know this could be an issue for renters.

Can provide other parameters as needed.

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@Mindy Jensen Thanks for the heads up. I am closing on a 4plex in a similar situation and will go look up No Nonsense Landlord's strategy.

@Jacob Pereira One of my "whys" for investing is to provide a solid place for people to live. I want investment return as well but like the idea of improving areas and not fitting the slumlord designation. Your goals are worthy. Look forward to hearing your progress and learning from you.

@Steven C. Suarez Our kids are both moving out and we have extended the idea of minimalism to both of them (at least the early indications are such).

Looking to do real estate to both supply funds for a lifestyle, but keeping the lifestyle simple helps keep the real estate needs low which reduces stress.

And, my wife and I are both interested in supplying good, safe, affordable, and quiet places to live for people who are in the rent by necessity phase of existence.  We have both been appalled by the condition of rental properties we have looked at (closing on 2 this month) and the pure greed and selfishness of other landlords.  Both of our W-2 careers involve a lot of the types of people we will be renting to and this "why" helps keep us focused that this is not about money. It is about a service for us.

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