All Forum Posts by: Tamiel Kenney

@Justin Bullock I agree the property is more important, but you will also want to put together a Personal Financial Statement (PFS). I would then go over the PFS with a lender to get their thoughts on what price range you are able to pursue. When you are purchasing apartments, there are some general rules that a lender will expect. For example, a lender will typically want your net worth to be 100% or more than the loan amount. Also, your post liquidity funds will need to be at least 9 months of principal & interest to 10% of loan amount. However, you can have others sign on the loan with you if you do not have enough net worth or post liquidity requirements.  Hope this helps.

Mark & Tamiel Kenney

@Dustin Kroeker

Welcome to BPs. My husband & I are both from Michigan…you made a good choice to get out of the cold winters. The market is heating up like crazy, so you need to be careful what you buy. I would encourage you to get as educated as possible. BPs is a great source, along with podcasts and some books. Kenny McElroy’s “ABCs of Real Estate Investing” is a great intro book. As others suggested…join some meetups and get to know others in the industry. Getting educated is great, but you won’t go very far in this business without having strong relationships.  

I also love to hear you are wanting to develop a family business. Our kids are 12 & 9 years old, but we already have them immersed into the business. They even participate in our training events.

Good Luck! Let us know if you have any questions along the way!

Mark & Tamiel Kenney

@Saul Arredondo HI Saul! Investing with family can be tough at times. Even if you are investing with family, you need to make sure you still put everything in writing. I would also engage an attorney. If any family member has any issues with engaging an attorney, then I personally would not invest with them. The fact is….even with family things come up all the time. And, you need things in writing so it is clear who is doing what and what happens for things like…what if one person wants to sell and the others don't. You have to consider voting, tag along clauses, etc. There are a lot of things to consider. I would set up just like any other partnership. I am not an attorney, but setting up as a TIC (Tenants in Common) can provide some additional flexibility.

Good Luck!

Mark & Tamiel Kenney

@Marlon Thomas  I would say you should get to know a developer.  I am happy to make an introduction to one I know if you would like.  

@Michael Hooper  There is no reason to stay with small properties. I think it is great you trust your friend, but I would also strongly encourage you to get educated about multifamily investing. For example, how do you know what a good deal is? Underwriting for a MF is much different than a SF and it is important you know the differences so you can make a wise investment decision.

@Jaquetta T Ragland Frequency for distributions depend. Quarterly seems to be the most common, but we have also started paying monthly on some of our properties. In some cases, the lender will dictate the frequency of distributions. For example, HUD only allows distributions twice a year.

It is also important to look at other properties in the area to determine what level of upgrade is ideal for the area.  For example, if nobody in the area is putting in granite or stainless appliances, then you have to make a decision if you want to be the first one in the area to do it.  I would be cautious being the first one because you could end up improving too much for the area and not getting the rent bumps you need.  You can also try different levels of rehabs and see what type of response you get from prospects.  Engaging a good management company to help determine the level of upgrade that is appropriate for the area. 

Hello Vincent.  Since you are out of town, I would encourage you to look at other areas outside of Dallas as well.  We live in Dallas and are heavily invested in apartments in Dallas as syndicators.  However, as you already stated, it is getting very expensive in Dallas.  That does not mean you can't find deals, but in my opinion it will take you much longer to find a good deal.  We are starting to invest outside of Dallas.  We look for areas with high job growth, population growth, relatively low cost of living, investments being made by the city and developers, easy to evict, etc.  There are other areas that in my opinion that are more attractive than Dallas right now because Dallas is getting to expensive and it is becoming very difficult to find true value add deals.  I would say no matter where you go, I personally would concentrate on cash flow as much as possible and/or properties that have a forced appreciation component. 

@Jeff Langham  You are correct that it is expensive.  We do start the conference at a hotel on land first for 1.5 days before getting on the ship, so the cost includes 2 nights in the hotel and that conference space.  Then of course a 7 day cruise - with sun up to sun down sessions, cocktail parties, dinner together and more cocktail parties after dinner.  The sessions are awesome!  They cover many forms of investments - Single Family (and different options with this), Multi-Family (which is what we do), Precious Metals, Life Insurance (which you can borrow against your own policy and use that money to invest), International Investment opportunities, Coffee Farm Investments, etc.  As a new investor, I feel it will definitely open your eyes to all the potential opportunities you could have.  I don't know of any other format that allows for all of these options to be showcased in one location.  We also get to hear from experts in the banking industry to hear what is happening with the Fed and Political changes that may affect how we invest.  Because the price is high, you really do have at the opportunity to network with high caliber, perhaps more serious investors than what you may find at other events.

This summit is intense and fun!  We are signed up to attend next year!!!  If you decide to go, let me know!  Would love to make sure we connect on FB and meet there before we arrive at the Summit.  It will be leaving from Florida in 2018 on the Celebrity. 

@Natalia Zhou  We live in Dallas and own 1750 apartment units, end of this month will be over 2000 units.  We buy in Dallas and in Atlanta currently.  The Real Estate Guys says "Live where you want, Invest whee it makes sense."  I think that the key for you is to get involved in local meet ups, but also meet investors in other markets you are interested in.  Learn what makes a good, stable market.  For us, it is Job Growth, Population Growth, Landlord Friendly laws, Capital Investment by the City, Capital Investment by Developers... all of these things come into play when looking for a good investable market for us.  

If you haven't already, start listening to podcasts - there are lots out there to choose from.  The Real Estate Guys Radio is a great one!

If you like to read, there are also lots of books about real estate investing.  Ken McElroy has a few that I really like.  They are quick and easy reads.

Michael Blank has lots of free content online.  We met him recently on The Real Estate Guys Investor Summit at Sea.  He is a great guy!

Hope this helps!!!