All Forum Posts by: Troy Whitney

 I hear what you're saying Donald.  It does require a minor investment to do the coursework and take the exam.  In reality you're setting up a small business which pretty much always requires some sort of start up capital.  That said, you should be able to do so for less than $1,000.   If you do decide to become an agent, be sure you shop around and avoid the high desk-fees.  I wouldn't pay more than $200/month unless they're giving you some really good leads.  Just my two cents.

My question is, why not just become an agent?  Why is wholesaling better than being an agent?  I understand that the upside with wholesaling is theoretically higher but in reality, you'll find more prospective sellers, not just people in dire straights.  Also you'll have more time and resources available to you to make things happen and you won't feel like you're trying to take advantage of people by trying to take their property off of their hands for a 30-40% discount.  Just my two cents...

 Jay  I can't argue with anything you've said.  Obviously you've been doing this a long time and have found your niche to wealth.  I would love to have the success you have.  I definitely need to learn from people like you.    And yes of course, if vacancy is a problem then the 2% number is meaningless.  I have no personal experience investing in the mid-west.  I only own properties in WA state and Philadelphia, where rental demand is quite strong in a lot of neighborhoods, and, if you provide a good place to live, tenants seem to want to stay for several years at least. Some neighborhoods there though are known to have issues with people not keeping up with their rent, and I've worked to avoid those.  I've had two separate brokers there tell me that well-qualified tenants on average will stay 5-7 years there, and both of them are investors themselves.  We'll see if that holds true over time.  Multi-families, student housing, etc. are a different story.  Turnover with those is significantly higher.  I am planning to build up my inventory over time.  So far I'm doing quite a bit better than $200/month per unit but I know I'll need to factor in major repairs at some point.  All mine are in great condition with fairly new roof, systems, etc. now so I'm assuming that it should be a good 4-5 years before I'm hit with major repairs since I've already taken care of all of that.   I'm also interested in flips or even bigger project at some point so I'd love to stay in touch with you.  Thanks again for your thoughts and wisdom.

Jay you may be right. Maybe I am in the honeymoon period, but so far so good. And if my irritation rubbed anyone the wrong way I'm sorry. I just don't like smug people. Making a blanket statement that people that invest in properties with higher rent/price ratios are newbies and eventually they'll learn to be as awesome as those that buy in pricier areas seemed unfair and unfounded. I admit - I'll learn many things doing this. I think all of us can maintain a sense of humility and an attitude of willingness to help others. I also think most people need some sort of cash-flow long term and .5% just isn't that good, especially when interest rates start going up. If you have a mortgage and rates go back to anything resembling normal - hard to imagine you'd break even month to month let alone have positive cash flow per month. You and I both know there are many ways to make things work in this business, and many more to go broke. My favorite property is probably my commercial property in Yakima with a NNN lease. It's a concrete and brick building that's done almost nothing but make a solid 13%/year since I bought it almost 8 years ago. I'm also not slumlording on the others. Two of these properties I bought I've put a fair amount of work into them so I can get good tenants (One needed only about $500 in repairs that the seller paid for and I rented it within two weeks of closing. I had probably 15 people contact me the first weekend wanting to rent it and we went over there and had it appraised to borrow against it and the tenant is taking great care of it - she's neat and tidy, and has a good job. So yeah - we'll see but of course there are risks in any venture. I'm just looking for the best combination of risk/reward. Low to no cash flow doesn't work for me personally. There are tons of properties like that here in Seattle. The market is sky high and the numbers do not work. Buying something for $200,000 that rents for $1,000/month? With 20% down that's an $800 mortgage payment. Yeah - No thanks. There is NOTHING in that for me. Sure the property might go up in value, but we all know that doesn't always work, especially after the run we've had the last few years.

  Anyways - I'm regretting a little getting involved in this discussion.  I don't like arguing with people as I did last night.  If someone writes something that annoys me I'll try to just let it go.

 Yes of course, you're assuming the inevitable price appreciation of your property.  So you're the greater fool then?  You're also assuming my properties won't increase in value.  Here's the catch though Bob.  I don't need my properties to appreciate, but I'm pretty sure they will because I'm careful where I buy.  I'm looking at areas that are on the upswing where there's very high rental demand and there's a lot of activity going on (new growth, changing demographics, etc.)  So I get both potential appreciation and cash flow.  So my 2% is still better than your .5%.  If I'm wrong though I can live with that, though I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong since I'm buying undervalued properties. 

 Nope - I've never talked to him and I don't have a guru.   Maybe you're right but he does own a lot of properties and has been doing this for like 30 years I think.  But you're right - for all we know maybe he's actually homeless.  Of course though, so may you.  

 I still think 2% is better than .5%.  .5% isn't all that special Bob.  In fact, I'd say it's sub-par.  2% is pretty special if you can get good tenants, and I seem to have done that.  

How about you show me the money.  Teach me great one.  How can all of us get rich on .5%.

Ok I lied - I will waste a little more time. I was just talking about gross returns on cash invested.  But enough about me. Tell me how .5% a month is a magic formula  to grow fabulously wealthy.  Instead of bragging about how rich you are.  Why don't you share your magic numbers.  Give us a deal you did and explain how .5% is better than 2%.  

 I'm gonna let you do the math genius.  Not wasting any more time on this.  Of all the people I've come across on BP you are the only one that comes across as a smug jerk.  Why are you here?  To talk about how much money you have?   Bragging about how awesome you are for your 6%/year gross rental returns.  Either you're highly levered and just assuming that nothing could ever possibly go wrong, or your returns suck.  Either way it's nothing to write home about.    And yeah - the guy from Stewardship properties grosses somewhere in the neighborhood of $400k/month.  Just horrible I know.  You do much better of course.

 per month gross rental revenue:  http://stewardshiprentals.com/

 Ok tough guy:  Prop #1:  $44k purchase price all cash - rents for $800, Prop #2 bought for $38k rents for $720 nets $600, Prop #3 bought for $70k, rents for $1,400   -  if that's what noobs do - I'll be a noob all day long every day - and yes I'm working on a loan against these to buy some more