All Forum Posts by: Anthony Angotti

There is nothing sane about what you have to be prepared to do in order to make a start in this business. Please take that as a given. The only thing I can fully agree with Grant Cardone about is his statement that real estate investors should, "Forget about 9-5 and start working 95 hours a week."

But the hours are not as bad as WHAT you have to do. I see people whining all the time here about their fears of unclogging toilets at 3 in the morning. People, unclogging a toilet is EASY. Wait until you have to chop a house stack with a demo saw and it dumps a pound of 100-year-old fermented dried filth on you. Wait until the first time you get sick from some mysterious disease because you were prepping a paint job somewhere in some filthy area and some decades-old bacteria were waiting for you to scrape them up. Your first massive vanity clog in a rental where your tenant has been dying her hair in the sink for years.

There are people on this site who have knocked on one side of a door with a dead body on the other side. And it just goes from there. You may think you're going to escape the nasty by investing in a different way, or following a system, or, or, or...

It continues to boggle my mind, year after year, that people get into real estate thinking they're never going to get their hands dirty, usually just because some guru told them it was possible. The price of contractors and handymen keeps going up and up and up, but no, you will always be able to afford to pay people whatever extortionate sum they want to do something that needs to be done today, and of course they will always show up. Sure.

Come on, people. Let's say a guy in one of those annoying bright blue suits with goop in his hair walked into your life and announced that he could offer you a sure-fire opportunity to get into the port-a-potty rental business. Low starting investment, high returns, big money all around. And best of all, if you followed his exclusive franchise system, YOU WOULD NEVER EVER EVER have to smell CRAP in your business. No, not once.

Would you believe him? Would you nod your head enthusiastically along with his fantastic energy and clap? Would you rush to raise the limits on your credit cards to take advantage of this fabulous opportunity? Would you try to rope your friends into it? And yet the gurus manage to tell you you're going to buy real estate, hold real estate, sell real estate, and you are never really going to have to fix real estate, clean real estate, paint real estate, none of that, AND PEOPLE BELIEVE THEM.

I'm asking for contributions here. I know that some of the things you have to do get so nasty that some of us, like me, won't openly talk about the absolute nastiest thing we've ever done in this business. We don't even want to remember it. But can you help out and add an example here of some less-than-pleasant thing you've had to do to get to where you are? And please, nothing about how you managed to cheat someone, steal something from someone, broke the law to your great advantage. You can just save that for Judgment Day.

@Shawn Williams

Growing in this business requires getting outside of your comfort zone. So why not start with this deal? Leverage does not equal risk. It’s just a business expense.

Besides by using some leverage and keeping more cash on your balance sheet, you can have some dry powder and weather a storm if one happens. If you spend the entire $150k and you have little reserves left, that doesn’t leave you much wiggle room.

Leverage is the biggest reason why real estate is attractive as an asset class. And you are throwing that out the window. To be honest, if leverage wasn’t a tool in real estate, I wouldn’t invest. If you aren’t comfortable with it now, then when will you be?

Plus, the median home price in Pitt is $259k according to Redfin. Your budget is almost half that. I always aim to invest in neighborhoods above the median because they usually signal desirable areas where I can get great tenants who take care of their place and pay me on time every time.

Hypothetically speaking—

You have 150k cash your uncle left you. And you want to purchase a turn key rental property in Pittsburgh all cash no mortgage. What specific neighborhood would you suggest? 

I understand leverage maybe putting 50k down on 2,3 properties. But starting out I don’t want any leverage. 

I am in my late 40s. I have always dabbled in real-estate and done well. I am approaching it in a much more specific way now. Should be closing on my 6th rental next month. 

What is the goal number of homes for most of you? I do not have a set number yet. I read most investors only have 12 on average.

Are you looking at a monthly dollar amount more so than house or unit amount?

Just trying to keep it real here. I know one outfit doing well near me, and I'm not sure where the money is coming from, but the tradesmen involved are just about as local as you can get. Does anyone know of a single investor successfully pulling off a string of BRRRRs in Allegheny County and living somewhere else? Built a team out of their Core Four, followed the best advice, making it happen? Anyone? Because the more I look at it, and the more people contact me here trying to get me to run point on their projects, the less plausible it seems to me, and I would like to talk to such a person over a McRib or two, and learn their mighty secrets.

Hi there

While I have lived on the Westcoast for a good part of my life, I am out of US for past few years. Recently I discovered cheaper houses in Pittsburgh (compared to the west coast cities), and I am thinking to put my cash toward a hassle free rental investment either in sfh or a duplex, in that area . 

Hassle free means a turnkey property which will likely not require any maintenance for next few years. 
In a good neighborhood, where I wont have a challenge in finding good renters as I won't have time to evict anyone or chase someone if they damage the property. 
With the above two constraints , what are my options? My budget is ~ 225k (including downpayment and financing).

Does anyone think it is a bad idea to remotely do this? I am ok to visit for a couple of weeks while doing the transaction. 

Thank you in advance. 

Has anyone had experience with this? Where did you find your gator lender?

I have a rental duplex in Lakewood, Ohio. This older home has older ceiling fans in the bedrooms.

I'm planning to replace all the fans with LED light but wanted to hear peoples experiences on this.

My thoughts are, ceiling fans are another object in a rental that break a lot, they get dusty and gross, and these don't provide much light to the rooms. Tenants never change the lightbulbs on them, and not sure if they even get used. An LED lights up the room so much better and does not get dusty.

No, the house does not have central air, but this is Ohio so A/C window units are commonly used for the couple months of the year they are needed.

I have purchased a primary residence that I will turn into a rental in Michigan.  I plan to do deals throughout the country though. 

Should I register my LLC in the famous 3 of Delaware, Wyoming or Nevada? Or stay in m y home state?

Thanks!

Thanks Anthony. This is an example of the unit I was looking at in the 15221 area code. Looks like it will rent for ~$1500 and will cover the costs. I agree that the taxes seem a bit high, but the math still works out for me if I can get a rent of $1500 for this.

7553 Penn Bridge Ct, Pittsburgh, PA 15221 - For Sale (homes.com)

My price range is not more than $175K. If I can get a condo or townhome that can attract a g

What is Forest Hills zipcode? I would rather not do Section 8 tenants. I know the rent is secured by the vouchers, but I have heard that there are other multiple issues that one needs to deal with in those cases.

Thx