All Forum Posts by: Spencer Cornelia

@Nelson Tam buy his book before you drop that amount of money on education.  his book is really good - "Multi Family Millions"

His whole strategy is essentially to buy distressed apartment buildings, rehab each unit over time as tenants move out aka "repurpose", which raises the value, and then sells at a pretty massive profit.

Here's the real problem with bootcamps like this.  The likelihood of you actually going out and being able to apply these principles is basically zero.  Sure, you will "learn" a lot about his strategy.  But if you aren't able to apply the principles right away, then what are you really learning?

Here's the real approach any newbie should take:

1. Become obsessed with learning about real estate investment

2. Attend every local real estate meetup you can, even when you don't feel like going

3. Spend every possible minute listening to every podcast from the following sources...

   -- Bigger Pockets

   -- Sean Terry, Flip 2 Freedom

   -- Real Estate Disruptors

4. Network with every possible person you can in your area and learn from them

Then after multiple years of learning and networking, then maybe go to a paid bootcamp like this where you know you'll be able to apply what you learn immediately.

@Kamran Rahman I have a 7 bed house and "house hack" with 6 other roommates.  I've been doing this for 7 months now and have had to deal with many issues revolving around roommates getting along.

My house is setup perfectly for a house hack as there is no living room and not much space for people to bring friends over.  However, I have had to deal with unwanted guests numerous times.

One thing I'd recommend is to have them both sit down with you one night and have a talk about everything.  Lay it all out on the line.  Let roommate one voice their concerns and allow roommate two to hear them and see how they react.

When you run a house hack, you need to be the alpha of the house.  The leader.  This isn't talked about anywhere on Bigger Pockets.  Both of these roommates are looking at you to provide them with an enjoyable living arrangement.  It's on you to provide this for them.

So now it's on you to solve this problem.  I would highly recommend having them talk it out with you there.  Proceed accordingly.

@James Galla mentions a very important point with house hacking.  In the future, you really have to screen people not only for their ability to pay, but also their ability to fit in to your house hack.  I know nothing more about the eccentric roommate, but if I'm reading this correctly, he sounds like a problem.

Roommate one is probably upset because there are 4 people in the house, instead of the expected 3.  I don't deal well with noise so another roommate playing loud tv noise would be upsetting to me.  Additionally, it sounds like roommate 1 is uncomfortable with a random guest hanging out in the living room all the time.  This is a valid complaint.  Without further info, I'm going to assume that there are times where this guest is there without roommate 2.  That's an uncomfortable feeling for roommate 1 if they need to leave and they're worrying about their stuff getting taken.

I have a house rules document that I give to everyone who moves in.  I make it very clear what I expect of roommates.  If they don't follow the rules, then they will be asked to leave.  You may need to start enforcing rules to ensure all roommates are comfortable living there.

@Dominick Austria @Michael Bonanno @Neisser Moya @Robert Shaw
The event is actually Sunday the 29th.  

@Charles Smith get everything in a contract.  Don't rely on oral agreement and "trust" when dealing with money.  I know you're probably a nice guy and don't want to come across as a business man when dealing with family, but people are people.  You'll get burned once and then realize why everyone on these forums always says to put everything in a written contract.

Always remember that when stuff goes wrong, everyone, EVERYONE, even you and me becomes self-serving and looks out for their best interest first.

Pro athletes and musicians provide plenty of examples of how relationships change with family members when money enters the equation haha.

@Account Closed

1. Seeing things the investor doesn't see.  Example: My agent notified me that my flip needed to have laundry room capability on the main floor as buyers would probably want to see that functionality (instead of the basement).  He called his contractor and gave me a quote.

2. Having contractors available in the event that one of our properties needs any kind of rehab.

3. Thinking like an investor.  Agents & Investors.  Two different mindsets.  An agent who is not interested in investing is dead weight to investors.  All they know is retail purchasing of your average American citizen and nothing about why investors buy properties.

4. Knowing the market.  Being able to tell an investor that they should/should not buy in a certain area.

5. Knowing where the next wave of development is happening in a city.  Example: hey investor, there is $20mm being invested into this neighborhood, I will send you off-market deals from this area.

I'm an out of state investor doing flips so having an agent that fits the criteria above is crucial.

With that said, I just got my license for a few major reasons.  I want to be able to run comps on my time and not theirs.  Also, I want to be able to call agents and make offers.  Lastly, the 3% sales commission needs to be in my pocket when I go to sell :)

Alex and I have been meeting once a month for 2 years now.  The group has grown to be pretty big and we're still meeting consistently.  Our next meet is Sunday September 28 8am at Einstein's at the corner of Sahara and Decatur.  We typically have 18-24 people every meetup.

We're super casual and it's basically a bunch of friends getting together and talking real estate, the economy, our strategies, any help we need, etc.  It's probably the best regular meet up in Vegas right now for investors, especially for those who are newer in the game.

@Nicole Marshall It's hilarious how many "issues" arise.  Unfortunately, I've positioned myself as the solution to all problems so I hear about all of it.

This week alone I've had to deal with a tenant threatening to leave because another is eating his food, the same tenant having a girlfriend over and causing all kinds of issues, another tenant leaving a room key in a different city, roommates leaving all utensils in the sink, etc.

@Kyle Tipton I don't have an issue with overnight guests.  I tell everyone that their guests follow the same rules that they do and if the guests cause problems with anyone in the house then they need to go.

This is part of the learning process though.  I was way too lenient when I first began managing the Cornelia Hotel lmao.  I've had two tenants with long term guests (5+) days and both presented a lot of issues so I've had to become a lot more strict with it.

The lease for a venture like this grows with every tenant.  You start with a template, wait until a tenant does something you would have never considered, then you add to the template with another clause lol.

After I take on another couple of these mini "hotels", I'm going to write a book and have a YouTube series on it.  The amount of headaches I will be able to save future rent-by-the-room investors is going to be super valuable.

Side note: you will experience a lot of headaches renting-by-the-room when you first begin.

"Hey Kyle, so and so roommate has been eating my food and he won't stop after I told him not to."

If you don't have any children, you'll get a lesson in running a day care lol (at least if you deal with some of the tenants I've had lol).

@Kyle Tipton we don't have a living room area.  The only place where any congregation exists is in the kitchen or in the garage unit.  The guy in the garage unit plays music and smokes weed so some people like to hang out there.

I personally like that there isn't a hangout spot.  I want people to get along but it's really easy when everyone just goes to their room and minds their own business.  I don't necessarily see any issues with having a living room, but with as many people as there are in my house, I like that there isn't much incentive to bring friends over and treat the house like the 'hangout' spot.

Keep in mind I have 7 people (and sometimes 8 when a guest stays a weekend) so my opinions come from running a mini hotel basically lol.

Similar to Nicole, I provide toilet paper, paper towels, all cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, etc.  I make so much money on the house that it's just easier to buy stuff in bulk from Costco and let them have another reason to appreciate living here.

The #1 thing that matters with any house hack or "hotel hack" as I like to call it is that people follow your house rules.  There will be nearly no headaches if everyone follows rules.  So if you provide them every reason to enjoy living in your house, then the more incentive they have to follow the rules, and thus want to stay in the house.

@Kyle Tipton Yes to the keyless door lock.  Would highly recommend for anyone with roommates.  So easy to change the code when a roommate moves out and you never have to worry about a dumb tenant losing their key and having to deal with a locksmith or leaving work to let them in the house.

The house doesn't have a living room or any additional things like tv's.  I've brought up to all the tenants that I'm willing to cover any streaming service that they'd use - Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/etc. - but they didn't budge.

For me, the value I offer is being on site to deal with any maintenance IMMEDIATELY.  Apartment living, they would need to put in some maintenance request, potentially wait days for fix, potentially need to leave work to deal with maintenance man, etc.  With me, I cover everything.  In the lease, I have penalties for late rent.  But in practice, I allow it.  These tenants are in positions where they might have infrequent pay or have unexpected expenses that cause them to be late on rent.  They appreciate that I'm willing to help them out of course but it also allows me to hold them to the important house rules (which is more important when you have so many people living in a house).

Additionally, there are a lot of people in Vegas right now who would struggle with qualifying for a traditional apartment because of a background check, not having two months rent, security deposit, etc.  I only ask for first months rent, work reference, and previous landlord reference.  So just offering these furnished rooms to them with very easy living setup AND below market rates that they'd pay elsewhere is super valuable.