All Forum Posts by: Thomas Enright

Create a filter on Zillow or Loopnet and just run the numbers on any and every property that you'd want to own as if you are going to buy it. If you don't know all the numbers to calculate, do some searching for all the various expenses that go into a RE transaction.

Hey everybody, my name is Thomas and I had another account on here and neglected the account and the email for a while and wasn't able to get back into either of them so I'm starting anew. I've been a real estate investor for about 4 years. My day job is as an active duty Marine and I've done that for about 8 years and I've held my NC RE Broker's License for about 3 years now as well. I bought my first property in 2016 and held it as a rental for a couple of years while I did stuff on the brokerage side of real estate. When the Marine Corps moved me to Maryland in early 2019 I sold it because I didn't want the headache of dealing with it. Big mistake. I made a little bit of money but have since learned that I'll probably never sell another rental again. After that, I flipped 6 properties remotely in Memphis, TN which was enough to teach me that I want fewer headaches and moving parts. I've been private lending for about the last year and after all of this bouncing around I've decided to settle back to holding rentals and stick with it because I can't keep bouncing around. Going forward, I'm currently under contract on what should be an amazing house hack and I'm also searching for small multifamily buildings in the Washington/Baltimore metro area. Also, I love sitting down with other investors and discussing anything real estate. Due to my dabbling and limited experience in a handful of areas, I can usually help some brand new people figure out whatever they need. Aside from real estate, my hobbies include climbing, mountaineering, training my dog, and spending time with my amazing girlfriend. If anybody is local, let's meet up!

Just to play devil's advocate in the responses, wiring a house with CAT-5 or CAT-6 (Ethernet Cable) would be a really good way to attract renters that want a connection faster than wifi for things like gaming. I'll be the first to say that there might not be much of an ROI for this though.

I'm currently under contract for $300k to purchase a house with 2,100 sqft above ground that's finished. It's in pretty rough condition and based on comps in the area it should end up being worth $380k-$410k once I have it all shined up and this doesn't include the basement. The basement is 1,000 sqft, unfinished, but I plan on finishing it as an inlaw suite because it's got its own entrance. In the county I'm doing this in, all the tax cards read "above grade living area" for square footage. As finishing the basement would obviously not add anything to the "above grade living area" but I would add about 50% more living area, how would an appraisal, CMA, or ARV be calculated with a finished basement vs without a finished basement? Would an appraisal use all of the newly created sqft in his/her calculations? Or stick to the above grade sqft and the basement would just be an amenity similar to a fenced-in yard? I'm very familiar with the appraisal process but I haven't ever seen the "above grade living area" before and instead just seen the "heated living area." Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!