All Forum Posts by: Tommy Harper

Heres my two cents. I know a decent bit about MTRs and there is a good amount of material on it. Without repeating what some of the very knowledgeable experts in this space will say, I will highly recommend to "test the market". This to me would be the quickest way to see if where you're looking meets the needs. I hate to say, but I did this "test the market" for renters before I ever bought my house, and what I did was I took pictures from a MLS listing and I posted it up on craigslist to see how many hits I would get and I said I was going to need a renter in the next 30 days (because I was trying to buy the house) and I got a slew of emails in on interested potential renters. Now what you could do is that same exact thing, look for a pretty house w/ pictures online, say its yours (dont advertise the address, just the areas you'd think you'd buy in) post that on some sites (maybe it wont work on furnished finder because they may want an address, but im not exactly sure) and see what happens. Or you could just call recruiters for travel nursing companies and get to know them well and see what they think their nurses are looking for

Owen, your comment is helpful and appreciated. Thank you.  I see you're a lender? How is the Omaha market. I've visited Offut AFB years ago (many times) when i was in the navy. 

What is your experience and opinion of the carrot platform? Thinking of going this route to build out a buying and selling websites but am looking for a few people who either know someone who has had experience with it or they themselves have used it for at least a year and are willing to share details with us. Obviously someone who used it and followed instructions on how to set it up properly and invested in doing all the tasks/procedures to set it up accordingly over time. I've read some online reviews but there just didnt seem like there were that many available. 

 Dan, sent you a message. But for readers, do you follow a per sq ft cost, or do you try to get more intimate w/ details (like that is how I as a interested part would kind of want to see things), material costs at least at a high level per section (drywall, kitchen and counter/cabinets, painting, bathroom fixtures/tiling, etc) and then have associated labor costs. Do you use these estimates for future purposes to basically become famliar w/ costs to the point where you might not have to ask anymore because you already have seen so many estimates? From your experience even if you have a trusted contractor, how much do you normally go over for total cost? How important is it to discuss specific details as to the finishes/styles, etc before a project is started, like how detailed do you want to get?

What is your experience like doing STR in northern VA/DMV area (loudoun county, arlington, alexandria). Where are you doing it, what is your strategy (individual rooms, entire house, only weekends, only 3rd bedroom to test the market, etc) what are you trying and how are you doing in this area?

NOVA INVESTOR - Fairfax VA

Hello, I'm Tommy Harper. Rather new real estate investor, however I believe I already have a good bit of confidence in regards to analyzing a deal (I do financial analysis/modeling for a living) so i have the ability to think outside the box creatively. I do know a decent bit of creative finance strategies as well, at least enough to be dangerous. :) I understand my local market I believe, although it does take time to look closely at how much a property would sell for after repairs. I'm actively looking for fix/flips and BRRS now in the NOVA market and as someone new to this I'd like to actually take that first step. As you can understand about this market, finding a property that you can fix and flip or actually one worth holding, is a bit of a challenge. The opportunities that are worth anything can go fast, or actually finding something worthy of an investment vs calling it your primary home is a bit of a challenge. I'd love to network and actually talk w/ those who have done it in this market 

Please let me know if you have time to chat.  I can provide my phone # to better discuss. 

I've read some of the posts throughout bigger pocket, but I still have a few questions which I'd prefer to chat about, but they are related to things like: working w/ a contractor and expectations (budgeting, how detailed your estimates should be, working w/ the contract to communicate details of the job and if how often you actually have to visit/see the improvements), how do you select your contractor vs just picking one, HOW DO YOU GET THESE LEADS (I know various ways just seeing how you do because a good deal is challenging to find around here, not saying its impossible), , and what are your experiences w/ buy/holds as it relates to what are reasonable expectations for rents (are you meeting the 1% or near rule?), do you find it easier to rent per room or level vs to a family, how do you set your rents to manage risk (do you stick to 1 year leases, or 6 months and then just ride on a month to month in case if someone turns out to be a dud, etc.....and I've never tried STR in the NOVA area. I've seen live data but it looked inconsistent around here, so definitely would like to primarily chat about fix/flip and holds.

 Christian - let me know if im on the right page, so the incentive for the contractor is because he/she is ALSO responsible for the rehab budget, they're NOT inclined to inflate the material costs? Is the idea here, the contractor getting paid $0 for their own labor IN EXCHANGE for you covering the interest to be paid on the loan? Does that sound about right? So hard money loan around 10-11% on 300k is 30-33k ish, they do work and on a 300k house they'd probably expect to get paid 30k in labor? From your experience and looking at the financials, in terms of percentages of both the HM loan % and the percentage of funds in labor the contractor charges, are they similar in %? if so that would make sense, but i do like this, i think. I'm new to investing, but I'm a financial analyst by day, so I'm a #s person. I'm trying to learn from others who have done this so I can walk into a deal w/ more confidence, i.e. do one sooner :)