All Forum Posts by: Tatum Littleton

Obviously a lot of opinions... if it has worked well with this group of 5, I would stick with it and not try to change anything now. I understand both thoughts and personally would side with the one payment just for the simple fact that you get it all. However, if you do not get it all, you can put the pressure on all of them and surely at least one of them would essentially help you push the last person to get your rent. But, if you get all separate payments, you do know who to go after. 

So, with all that said and all the other opinions you have, I hope you've got enough different viewpoints and will do what works best for YOU! That's what it comes down to, what are YOU comfortable and willing to do to collect the rent. I hope this helped, good luck!

It is tough to cash flow in Austin now... or almost anywhere for that matter. If you're only looking on the MLS, a way to find a deal would be by creative financing and only looking at properties that offer that. Even if it doesn't specify they are open to seller financing, reach out to the listing agent to see if the seller would be open to seller financing or another way of creative finance. Another route to go is reaching out to past buyer's agents and asking if their buyers would be open to selling, you'll have to ask quite a few but you never know who would be open and could be a good possibility they would be more open to creative financing to get a lower rate and the price they want, it takes some work but I have begun to find success in that.

But yes, there are plenty of new builds with incentives as others have pointed out, and help, it just depends on your specific goals what a good deal means to you, and what you can afford. At the end of the day, it's all relative to you and what you're needs are. I hope this helps, keep working!

Good and fair questions David! I assume you have an analytical mind which would transition well into evaluating deals and doing due diligence in making sure a certain property would be a smart investment. Though there aren't necessarily specific jobs for that if you are happy with your engineering job, I would encourage you to do stick with that and look into analyzing deals on your free time to get familiar with the process and what is available in Boston. 

Find some local meet-ups and find investors who already have a portfolio and ask what they do to analyze deals and see if you could potentially help them and/or work alongside them as they are researching so you can continue to expand your knowledge. 

I hope that helped... I know it didn't answer your questions directly but gave you something to think about. Keep searching and reading the forums and getting familiar with the process, good luck!

I believe the biggest question is how comfortable are you with being uncomfortable? I think the least desirable is to rent by the room and have to share a bathroom or something like that but the more people you can get, the more uncomfortable but also less out of your pocket. Or there is going the multi family route and having your own unit and managing the others while you live there. It all depends on where you are personally and what you want to deal with.  The questions you stated above are great to consider but there are plenty more. 

The points made by Scott and Daniel are great as well! There are many different factors to consider and the good thing about it, is you can be as creative as you want and make it fit what you need/want. Of course, not all are going to work perfectly but this is real estate investing, there is plenty of work to do to find what is right for you. Good luck!

Great to hear Maleek, glad you are beginning a new journey into REI! A construction background can come in pretty handy as I can imagine you work well with your hands. Figure out your goals and what you are looking to get out of real estate. I love your idea to begin with a house hack, it's uncomfortable but I am sure you are comfortable being uncomfortable, being an Army Vet.

Now is a good time to invest since there are many not buying at the moment, so take advantage and be creative! Keep working hard!

Good question Oscarr! It can be as broad or narrow as you want/need it to be. Truett, in an earlier post, had a good example of a very specific buy box but it could get as general as a state or region of the country. As you are just beginning your journey and learning a lot, I would recommend getting as specific as possible when you are working on running numbers and getting familiar with the process and as you gain more knowledge and confidence you open your buy box to become more broad. And of course, it changes over time for what your goals are and what you want to do. 

Good luck!

Great to hear your questions and information on the area you're wanting to invest in. I think either MTR or LTR is a great idea and it seems you have plenty of reasons why your condo could potentially work, it depends on how much work you can and/or are willing to do. MTR will be a bit more ware and upkeep on turnover whereas LTR could be a year or more as you mentioned and not have to furnish or worry about vacancies. 

MTR could be a hit for travel nurses or utilitarian stays for people coming to Portland to work. If you like marketing and making it a welcoming space by furnishing it and designing it, I would say go for the MTR. If you want to not worry about furnishing and just want to get a long term tenant, LTR is the way to go. 

As far as pricing, do some searching on Facebook, the MLS, or maybe even Craig's List. If you list it, you can adjust it up or down depending on the interest you get. Having consistent renting in an MTR, keeping it consistent, being a good host by answering questions/concerns quickly, and having a nicely furnished and clean space will get you good reviews. As far as an LTR, vet your tenants well and make sure they are someone you do your due diligence on, and being responsive and quick to fix problems will make them want to stay another term.

All in all, it depends on how much work you want to do and what your goals and life allow. No matter the strategy REI is active... no matter how much you hear it's passive. Keep up the good work and questions, I hope this helped some.

Good for you! I love the creative possibilities and options in college towns. Theoretically, you could get more for renting by the room, but of course, it depends. So I would say run your own numbers from comps on Facebook or other renting sites for both by the room as well as the whole property and see what you can get and compare them to what the PM tells you. 

I always signed a 12 month lease for the properties I stayed in, you could allow subleases if a tenant does not want to do all 12 months. 6 months just makes it a bit more frequent of turnover and more work, depending on what you are comfortable with even with the help of a PM.

In my experience and what I heard from friends, for the most part, they were unfurnished. The only things we had were appliances like a fridge/freezer and a washer/dryer. Yes, if you do furnish it, you could charge more and probably should because you should consider more repairs and replacements. 

Keep it up!

Hey Jaden, glad you are here and asking the question... some would be too uncomfortable asking so good on you! 

I would agree with AJ that it isn't ever too early to start looking. I would encourage you to do research multiple deals a week in different parts of the country. Find where you personally want to be and hone into that region. You will hear mostly that house hacking is the way to go starting out, which I would agree with as well. Save up as much as you can where you are now look into the numbers you are running and find out what makes sense for yourself and your business, maybe it's in Texas, maybe it's not. 

I think that is a very doable and reasonable goal, maybe possibly even sooner depending on how you are saving. As I already mentioned, running numbers and seeing what could and couldn't work will answer some questions off the bat (no pun intended but that works LOL). Continue educating yourself and using BP forums! I would be happy to connect and discuss your goals and the business you started!

Keep up the hard work! 

Good for you for pulling the trigger! The first deal, as already stated, is the toughest but YOU DID IT!! I trust you did your due diligence and ran the numbers every which way for the past two years to find this deal, so I believe you are well prepared. 

I say this as an encouragement but, the work has only begun and now the fun part starts with you utilizing or growing your hospitality skills. See what works and what doesn't, that's part of the journey! Be creative and continue looking on these forums for different opinions and ideas. Find what complements what you are good at and able to do and that will take you far!

For us, it happened all rather quickly as well and knew little about what we were doing. We have a LTR and are looking for a possible STR. Honestly, we are all still learning, no one is perfect and all have felt this way to some degree. You are not alone, that is for sure. So, I commend you for posting and being honest, I'm sure others responding will help.

Keep up the hard work!