All Forum Posts by: Steven Lam

Hello! I am a new investor from California and having been doing research for the best place for myself to hop into the market to buy long-term buy & hold rental properties. I'm interested in the Tulsa, OK 74128 area and the nearby areas. My preference is SFR and small multi-family rental properties.

I'm looking for real estate agents, lenders, property managers, and general contractors in the area, can anyone recommend reputable connections that I can get in touch with to talk and learn more about the opportunities in the area? Thanks in advance!

Looking back to the early days of your investment journey, what do you know now that you wish you would have known back then? Please share some key concepts of real estate or general knowledge that you think could help a newbie avoid potential hurdles!

Hi! i'm new and would be highly interested in attending the next event! Excited to meet and talk real estate with everyone!

@Nate O. Thanks for the input, I figured this may be an opportunity where I can learn a bunch while not risking too much

Currently, I’m located in the California Bay Area and the market is hot so I’m looking into long distance investing in a cheaper market (no predetermined market just yet). Please recommend opportunistic markets!

My question is: would starting off with a turnkey property for my first deal then going for a BRRRR property for my second deal be a good idea.

My thought is that if I purchase a turnkey property it would give me access to the turn key provider, the property management they use, and personnel that I could ask questions to learn about the process. It would essentially be training wheels for my first deal so that I have a better understanding of the process of purchasing, rehabbing, refinancing, renting out a property for my second deal. The icing on top is that the turnkey property may possibly cash flow (I would do my due diligence and own analysis on the turnkey property before purchase). I understand some say that "hands-on" experience in BRRRR is the best way of learning but would starting off with a turnkey be beneficial to learning as well before diving 100% into my second deal (or my first BRRRR deal that I do on my own). Thanks a bunch in advance!

@Alexanderia M. What John has said is completely right. If you're willing to occupy, you're looking at putting down as little as 3.5% with an FHA loan, otherwise it's likely around 20% down with a conventional loan.

To answer your last question, yes the amount you'll need to save for your next investment depends strongly on the type and location of the property of interest. A SFH can be cheaper than a Multi-Family property in the same area, however, if you're comparing a SFH to a Multi-Family from a different area, it's also possible the Multi-Family property could be cheaper.

As for location, for example a SFH in California Bay Area can be around $800,000, so with 20% down you'd need to raise $160,000 in capital. But if you were to invest in Jacksonville, FL where a SFH can be found around $100,000, you'll only need to save $20,000 to begin investing. Hope this makes sense!

@Andrew Smith Hey Andrew, the learning curve for real estate is steep but not impossible. One thing that’s helped me is to set daily/weekly goals such as, reading 1-2 blog posts, analyzing 1 deal, listening to 1 podcast and taking notes, and/or tackling some chapters of a book. No need to do all of those starting off but listening to 1 podcast a day or reading some blog posts will keep your mind on real estate which helps with consistency. You’ll eventually work up to analyzing more deals, reading more books, reading more blogs, contributing to the forum, etc.

You’re already off to a great start as you’re young and took initiative early. I’d recommend listening to podcasts and reading books that are often mentioned in those podcasts. This will help you gain knowledge to gauge your interests in certain real estate investments and strategies which will be key when you do begin on your first property. Consistency is key; David Greene always uses the analogy of real estate to working out, don’t start going all out or you can end up afraid to go back to the gym. Similarly, ease into real estate and tackle each obstacle one at a time. Best of luck!

@Frank Patalano my biggest struggle at the moment is finding a way or lender to finance a property/deal. Mainly why this is a problem is that there’s so many different lenders such as big bank institutions, credit unions, private lenders, hard money that I’ll have to do my research to narrow down a lender. I guess it’s not very much of a struggle as it is taking the time to do my due diligence to find the “right” lender.

If anyone has advice how to narrow in on a lender, please let me know, thanks in advance!

@Akeem Hutchinson Hey Akeem! From what you’ve detailed, it seems you’re interested in house hacking, which is great for mitigating living costs for yourself as well as potentially providing cash flow. Which area are you in? I would say house hacking is a good idea to start off your portfolio; I’d suggest looking into multi-family properties in your area if there are any as they may provide more gross income, Best of luck to you!

@Francisco Jasso Hey Francisco, I think it may be worth while to take a step back and assess what type of properties and which strategy to use. 40-50k can lead you into purchasing a home in a distressed neighborhood. If you meant 40-50k and additional cash to rehab a property then potentially that could work out but we’d need more details of your goals to give more in-depth advice!

I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with genera rules of thumb such as the 1/2% rule, cap rates, ROI, and cap rates, so that you can properly analyze deals if you haven't already. If you are familiar with the above, I'd say the next step would to be contacting a real estate agent in your area of investment interest, asking questions to gauge the area, and to join their listing email. Best of luck!