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All Forum Posts by: Tatum Littleton

Tatum Littleton has started 1 posts and replied 104 times.

Post: Aspiring Investor with intent to purchase a property in the next 12 months

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

Hey Clayton, great to have another local investor! I was born and raised in Bryan but live in Austin now, however, my wife and I focus on investing in the BCS area. 

Keep learning and going after what interests you and your family. Go after your "why" and what will work for your family, remember this is not a one size fits all journey, everyone's looks different. If you ever want to talk about questions you have or investing in general I would be happy to discuss!

Keep up the good work!

Post: 45% Of Real Estate Agents Claim They Struggled to Pay Rent in 2023

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57
Quote from @Bill B.:

Why are they renting? Were they not agents during the 2nd best time to buy property in our lifetimes? Didn’t I hear somewhere there are more agents than homes sold? I think the “average” realtor sells 1 home or less per year.

Ps. They should try house hacking with other realtors. 

Pps. Who answers these surveys?



I get these questions and don't mind them being asked. However, not all agents (myself included) were agents during the time you are referring to so no, we all couldn't make sales and listings like others did. Also, renting is not the worst thing in the world as it is often alluded to in these forums (not saying you are saying that, it is just the sentiment I get throughout posts) there absolutely is a time and place to rent just as for purchasing property and everyone is in a different space. 

I think it needs to be said that not all agents are in a place to purchase or be full-time, I speak from experience, some may get to the point that they need to go full time for various reasons or stay part time for different ones. There are an infinite amount of life stages agents can be in and no one situation is the same nor can be generalized. And yes, there are a lot of agents, however I think it weeds itself out in times like these that see who can make it or not or can adapt. 

I 100% agree with house hacking with other realtors, could be pretty neat, like a mastermind group together all the time, and learn from each other's successes and failures. BUT again, some may not be in a situation where they can house hack, so you just never know.

All I am trying to say is there are so many different situations people are in and as I have said on the forums before that if you rent instead of buy... that's fine! and can be great for you where you are in life and hopefully purchase in the future. 

Also, I don't want this to come off as attacking or anything like that, just want to bring up a different point of view from someone who didn't necessarily struggle to pay rent but may understand those who answered the survey.

Post: Any advice on a day job while starting in real estate investing?

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

Along the lines of inspector or appraiser, you could get your real estate license, which will help you understand the market more and help with investing in future properties. It will also allow you to interact with more people within real estate as a whole. However, I understand the hesitation.

Depending on where you are, you could substitute teach during the day and bartend in the evening to make up a bit. In my experience with substitute teaching, I mainly did high school, and most of the time the teacher leaves work and you would just give it to the students to do and you can just research deals and analyze properties while you substitute. I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to start, everywhere in the country needs substitutes. 

Post: My House Hack and first *investment*

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57
Quote from @Brandon Cochran:
Quote from @Tatum Littleton:

This looks like pretty good just on paper, other than the fact that your new tenant is late on rent... as long as that doesn't escalate to bigger problems, I think that's something you can deal with. Good for you for jumping in and getting started with REI!

From the info you provided, I doubt you're cash flowing but that's great you aren't paying your mortgage in full on your own, which I don't think is talked about enough. Cash flow is all anyone talks about but you're saving $1,100 of your income to reinvest in something else, it's not the end of the world to not cash flow (in my opinion), so good on you! 

Keep it up!


Definitely not cash flowing, but that's okay! House hacking is a saving strategy in my opinion. 

Reducing expenses is one of the most basic ways you can kick start your investing power. 

And hopefully if rents keep going up, I can move and keep it as a cash flowing rental. 

Probably best for those those starting out though if your not in a multi-family of some sort, as the rental pool for renting by the room are generally going to be your 20-30 year old recent graduates. 


I 1000000% agree with that, cash flow is great but not the be all end all but house hacking can be a great way to get going and become comfortable and familiar with REI in general. Glad you are taking this long term approach and setting yourself up for the future.

Post: My House Hack and first *investment*

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

This looks like pretty good just on paper, other than the fact that your new tenant is late on rent... as long as that doesn't escalate to bigger problems, I think that's something you can deal with. Good for you for jumping in and getting started with REI!

From the info you provided, I doubt you're cash flowing but that's great you aren't paying your mortgage in full on your own, which I don't think is talked about enough. Cash flow is all anyone talks about but you're saving $1,100 of your income to reinvest in something else, it's not the end of the world to not cash flow (in my opinion), so good on you! 

Keep it up!

Post: Fundamentals on investing

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

Great question James and I think all the replies are helpful and would tend to agree with them! 

As for numbers, taxes, comps, insurance, maintenance, etc. I don't have much to add other than running numbers from a few different standpoints such as, realistic, and very conservative, to what seems like may be a stretch, I like it because you get a range of numbers and if none of them work, it answers a lot of questions, if some work you may have to do more research or be creative in other areas such as financing or strategy. Real Estate Rookie by Ashley Kehr does a good job of painting a very clear picture of that as well as other fundamental ideas, it is very basic but does a good job of overviewing all of REI.

Also, the Ultimate Beginner's Guide is a nice, quick explanation of different aspects where you can find something you're more interested in and explore that further. 

Also, keep asking questions! 

Post: Best way to use Rent payment from the property?

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

As you have probably read, there are no perfect answers and I hope you find your answer through accumulating knowledge and bits from everyone's different contributions (the great thing about the forums). But I would agree it probably isn't the best to pay down the mortgage although you absolutely could if your ultimate goal was to be relieved of that debt ASAP and if it is, then do that! 

However, if you're fine (it seems like you are) making the payment and cash flowing, keep it where it is, and YES! at least put that profit into a high-yield, savings account. Save it and use it when you need it for something unexpected. There are plenty of options and so many are just beginning for you to put money in an account and have such a low barrier to entry, so why not do it?

Maybe you want to update the appliances or another part of the property, do that! Or maybe you want to take someone out on a special dinner and celebrate, do that! (Something not mentioned enough here)

What I want to say is, is it's up to you, it's your profit! All of these recommendations are just that, opinions and recommendations, you know what would be best for you and it is great to get different ideas. Keep it up and I hope you've got some ideas. 

Post: Purchasing long-term rental in Texas

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

Hey Jenny, there are quite a few areas around Dallas and Fort Worth that are great for long-term rentals. The suburbs and cities surrounding Dallas proper have great opportunities for cash flow as well as appreciation. 

AJ is right about the property taxes but is possible! So doing your due diligence is needed but north of Dallas is growing quite a bit and would maybe recommend looking more into those areas as Dallas as a whole is vast and maybe honing in on one area is a bit more manageable as you are out of state. There are plenty of opportunities to be had and if you can make it work, do it and jump into out of state investing! 

Post: Turn Key Short Term Rentals?

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

There are pros and cons of course, but it's up to you depending on how much you do or don't want to do. If you want as little hands-on as possible, turnkey is obviously the way to go BUT you can still sell/get rid of furniture you don't like and make some small changes. You can also see numbers for how well (or not well) it has done and decide on that and maybe what you can keep doing or do even better. As you mentioned, you will pay a bit more but it may be a great deal doing no work and can get visitors asap. 

Again, it depends on what you want to do and it seems like you have already had some good thoughts and thought it through. Take all the opinions and figure out which ones work for you! Good luck!

Post: Tough decision on VERY desirable property

Tatum Littleton
Agent
Posted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Austin, TX
  • Posts 104
  • Votes 57

I agree with a lot of what Corby mentioned, if you are willing and able to make $300 negative cashflow work and believe it is a strong appreciation then maybe go for it. But if all you are looking at is the appreciation then getting that negative cashflow may be a bit more detrimental than you anticipate. 

A good deal is relative to everyone on this site... though many will see the negative $300 and tell you to walk away immediately. But maybe you can be a bit more creative than LTR, such as STR or MTR. Or possibly another route that Corby threw out there. The way things are currently, we have to be creative and look in the hard to find places. So, maybe this isn't the best play or maybe you can deal with it for now and you come out on top after refinancing. This one takes a bit of work to make the numbers make sense, maybe it will, maybe it won't.

I hope this helped and got you thinking a bit more!