All Forum Posts by: Steven Segal

We own quite a few in the Cape. Make sure to have a good management company and know your true insurance cost w/ flood/named storm. Also, and you prob know this, be careful with north cape and assessments for city utilities. 

Know your numbers. Don't believe brokers. I would run thru first deals with someone who has done it or maybe even post of here. There are also spreadsheets offered on here that help to make sure you are getting all expenses. 

I would just put something together saying you are waiving the early termination fee/clause of the lease.  I would also put in there the things that you are requiring of them: out by x day, cleaned out, ect... I am sure you could google termination of lease in google and come up with something, but I have just drafted a quick thing when doing this in the past. 

They might want a track record, but if they like the LTV, they would do it. The down payment might differ based on experience and complexity of reno.

I don't think 30 years are uncommon. It kind of depends on the asset. If you are playing the cash flow game, they are the best tool imo. In commercial, we generally don't have that option :(.

tennis, surfing, laying in hammocks. 

D properties are a nightmare. If you want to be successful, I think definitely need to be local and hands on; third party management will not work. C class is fine. My first deal ever was D class. I literally had to pay a two people two sleep in two units while their dogs were in the other two.  It was the only way to get it remodeled without having the place broken into. Luckily, I got out of that and moved on. 

I don't think either way is right or wrong. The path of painting and carpentry may perhaps be easier - and more profitable. There is a lot of money in them and you can easily put them to use in creating the portfolio. I don't know how much money good architecture would make you in the Green Bay market. I think the value in that would be if you went into high end builds, which is lucrative, but not sure if Green Bay has the market for that. 

The easiest way (and lowest risk) to make money in real estate is to build that rental portfolio. The best cash flow generally ends up being in the $100K - $175K range of homes. For these, you want more cookie cutter rather than beautiful. 

Another obvious one is student debt. Your goal is money in and not money out. This will affect your debt to income ratio (ability to get mortgages) and hinder your cash flow. 

There is no wrong. If you are passionate and dig architecture, then you dig it. 

Good luck!

Easy to be nervous, and sometimes a good thing. Listen to podcasts, read up, and don't be afraid to ask for advice (even when you get your first deal under contract). 

100% have a separate bank account for your rental. As you grow, it makes things much cleaner and faster. This was something I learned the hard way. Try your hardest to pay for things out of that bank account. I definitely tried to use expenses as a way to get credit cards points. It was definitely not worth it. You can always get a bank credit card as well. 

Going one step further, I think having Quickbooks is worth it. For one property, it is cost prohibitive. However, using Mint might be an option as you can essentially setup a chart of accounts on there.