All Forum Posts by: Tuval Barnea

@Oyinkan Prater I second Micah Redden, you need to define your criteria since you are looking at a very large and diverse area.

I do believe that you can find plexes around those areas, however they don't come cheap, but since you haven't mentioned your criteria or price range, there's no way to know if the current inventory is relevant for your needs.

Feel free to shoot me a message and I'll be happy to provide more information.

Hi @Jignesh Savaliya, I signed a 3 year contract with a tenant, however I included in the contract 2 important sections:

1. Exit point - I specified an exit point every year, so basically both sides can end the contract with 60 days notice every 12 months. If you ask me, I should have done that a one side exit point that only I can exit the contract.

2. Rate increases - just like any other lease, there's the section that says that rent may increase on contract renewal date, however here I made sure it says that rate will increase every 12 months (at the exit point)

Hope that helps

@Rob Gillespie

Thank you Rob, the area is a premium area with flipped houses and new construction ranging from $600k to $900k (which is considered a lot of money in Atlanta). I'm not new to the flipping business, just to the flood zone issue, but as mentioned more than once in the BP forums and podcast, I prefer aiming at cheaper houses in premium areas that have some obsolescence that most people would run away from and build myself as an expert in that domain.

Knowing what I wrote above, do you still think that option 3 is a NO-GO?

I'm under contract on a house in Atlanta that I'm planning to flip, the house is in a flood zone because of a small Creek that runs in its back yard, however it is located in an amazing area with huge potential.

I am considering 3 options and would like to hear what the BP community think:

The house is 3/1, 1000sqft

1. Doing a cosmetic flip, adding another full bath and staying within the current structure. That option should yield around 15-20% of the investment.

2. Adding 500sqft and doing full rehab on the existing house. The investment here is nearly twice than option 1 but so is the potential profit, the problem is that for such project I will have to pull specific flood related permits and I have no experience with it so it will surely take longer and probably will eat up my potential profit.

3. Tearing down the existing structure and building a beautiful modern 2500sqft house that is above flood zone. That option is the most expensive and costs nearly twice as much as option 2 but again, the potential profit here is roughly 50% more than option 2. It will also require special permits and more time.

What would you do? Take the risk and invest big bucks to get bigger bucks or do something minimal and get out fast with less money but also less complications?

And another question, would you buy a house in a flood zone or does it scare you away?

What scares you more, having the actual house flooded (1% chance) or having to pay for the flood insurance?

Would love to hear your thoughts

Hi @John Turner, I don't think there's one "right" way to start investing in real estate, however since you mentioned that you are already house hacking your condo, I would suggest to buy a bigger house or a scan multi family (duplex can be a great idea) and house hack it. Since you'll live in the house you will be able to get around 95% financing and your tenants will pay the mortgage for you... If you have more money to invest, you can consider flipping (requires more work and more cash to begin with) or buying a rental property.

Hope I could help a bit. Feel free to contact me if you need some help

Hey @Terrance James III, I also love in Alpharetta and I flip houses (mainly in ATL area). I'm also a real estate agent and I'm working only with investors, so feel free to reach out and I'll be happy to help

Hi @Michael Perry,

Welcome to the BiggerPockets!

I'm a real estate agent and an investor who's doing exactly what you plan on doing.

I assume from your description that you are flexible on your housing and have no issues moving out of your current house and buying another one.

My advice to you is the following:

1. Sell your house. That should leave you with roughly $200K after all expenses are paid (considering also the $20K you have kept aside).

2. Find a duplex/triplex/quadplex in your area or in an area you'd like to live in and buy it as your main residence, that will require 5% downpayment and not 20% as required for investment property.

Since I live and work in your area, I know for a fact that finding a nice duplex for ~$330K is possible.

3. Live in one unit of the small multi family you just bought and rent the other unit/s to pay for your mortgage and you're practically living for free...

4. Now you should have roughly $180K in your pocket that you can use for either a full rehab flip or a moderate flip and a rental property with 20% down.

Hope that helps!

Thank you @Brenden Mitchum

I sent you a private message

Thank you @Mitch Messer

I sent you a private message

I am looking for GC to reframe a 3/1 house and add a second floor to it too make the house 4/3.

Need to see proven experience and past projects examples