All Forum Posts by: Tim Park

Thank you both for your thoughtful answers. As I'm surrounding myself more and more with learning resources, it's a great relief to hear that starting out is as simple (at a high level) as finding a great broker and manager and proceeding from there. I really appreciate you both taking the time offer some advice to a newbie!

Hi all,

Apologies if this is the wrong forum or a silly question.

I have enough liquid capital now to start to pivot to investing full time, split between equity investments in the stock market and buy and hold rental properties. Would not having a W2 income harm my ability to get commercial loans for leverage when purchasing larger MFR properties? Am I able to build an effective real estate portfolio solely on the back of capital gains/dividend investing?

@Joseph Cacciapaglia thank you SO MUCH for such an incredibly comprehensive answer. My actionable roadmap has gotten much more detailed thanks to you. I will certainly reach out regarding team member referrals if I settle on SA as a market.

@Catie Sullivan thank you for your advice about finding a team! I will make sure to focus heavily on finding the right people. And thank you for the well wishes!

@Jeff Piscioniere You've hit the nail on the head with that analogy. Unfortunately no one in my immediate network has experience in this area; while it would be nice to navigate the process with a partner and learn alongside them, I would prefer to learn from someone who already knows the process if possible! Regarding your suggestion about looking at the Midwest, I have to admit that it's a market I haven't examined yet, but from your description sounds promising.

Re: stock investing, I am self educated and previously traded primarily in options. With a decent W2 income and taking my relatively young age into account, I mostly traded high risk positions with very high upside ("If I lose $100K on this position, I will have made more than $300K in less than a year from my job to make up the loss, but if it blows up it will 2-10X"). This also basically only pays off because of the insane bull market we've been in for a while now, exacerbated by the COVID recovery the market has seen. Now that I've achieved sufficient capital to be self-sustaining, I've significantly de-risked my portfolio into long term equity holdings with no derivative positions.

Another general question for everyone: Does leaving my job and no longer having a W2 income harm my ability to get a commercial loan for leverage when purchasing larger MFR properties? Am I able to start an effective real estate portfolio solely on the back of capital gains/dividend investing?

Hi all,

I'm new to REI and have family in Denver, Aurora, and San Antonio who know the areas relatively well (I myself am in the San Francisco Bay Area). I am looking to get into investing in one or several MFRs in one of these areas primarily for cash flow purposes. I have a rough idea of what things look like at a high level thanks to the very helpful responses to my post here, but am intimidated by trying to navigate the whole process myself.

I am reaching out to this community to see if anyone would be interested in partnering with me on a MFR/commercial apartment building in one of these areas, to show me the ropes and guide me through the process in a way that still allows me to be involved and learn how everything works. My primary goal is to learn enough to be able to navigate this type of deal on my own. To compensate for my inexperience, I can bring capital to the partnership to the tune of low 7 figures. Any tips when it comes to vetting a potential partnership are also greatly appreciated.

Meta note: please let me know if this kind of request is inappropriate or awkwardly presented! I'm very new and am not acquainted with the social status quo amongst real estate investors.

@Joe Norman and @John Sledge, thank you both so, so much for the thoughtful and comprehensive responses. You have already provided a ton of info around my open questions. I'm so glad I joined this board! I'll look for some resources on performing due diligence on a property.

@Jon Coleman I am leaving my full time job as a software engineer now that I can comfortably do so, and am planning to dive into REI as a full time gig for the time being. The long term goal is to set up largely passive income streams, but I would like to be as involved as I can be for my first few forays as I think that would be the most effective way to learn the ropes. Your point about finding an experienced partner is a compelling one and something I will strongly consider. If I do end up wanting a partner, is networking within a local investment club the way to go?

Hi everyone! I'm a 26 year old living in the SF Bay Area, but I'm looking to invest in lower-cost areas with more potential for positive monthly cash flow. My primary candidate right now is San Antonio, TX, as I have family there and it is not too far from California. 

I've been working as a software engineer for the past few years, and have been an active participant in the stock market—however, I have zero background in real estate. I've fortunately been able to accumulate an amount of capital that allows me to stop working as an employee, and am looking to focus my efforts full time on leveraging that capital into real estate investment that will (1) provide monthly cash flow and (2) diversify my assets beyond solely the stock market. I'm looking primarily at MFR/small apartment buildings.

Happy to be here, and I look forward to learning from and exchanging ideas with you all!

Hi everyone, I'm new here! Quick intro: I'm 26M, and have been trading in the stock market for a while now and am looking to (1) generate nontrivial monthly cash flow and (2) diversify some of my money out of the stock market. If it's important, I do have the bandwidth to do this full time.

Apologies in advance. A lot of what you are about to read will be incredibly naive, uneducated, and probably overly optimistic. I am looking first and foremost for education and I've found that getting over myself and asking potentially dumb questions is an effective way to get it. (Also, sorry for the wall of text).

I'm a complete newbie to real estate, never had a property before. I'm in the SF Bay Area and would prefer to buy outside of California. I'm looking to buy a small apartment building or MFR with several units. I am working with ~$3MM in capital so if I'm understanding things correctly I can leverage that to ~9-12MM in buying power. Is an apartment building as a rental property unrealistic and overzealous for a complete newbie? If I do want to skip SFR and jump into MFR, should I start with something smaller (~4-8 units), with a smaller investment but for educational purposes? I want to do this right, and am willing to spend as much time on education as is necessary, whether that be weeks, months, or years (though I expect to never be done learning).

I have this thought which may be completely wrong: a single multiunit property with $X NOI seems easier to manage than N separate properties that each have roughly $(X/N) NOI.

I've been reading the beginner articles here, but am feeling directionless when it comes to actionable steps to take. I've laid out a rough high level outline below and would appreciate heavy criticisms and corrections. If those criticisms are "you aren't ready for something like this", so be it, but I'd appreciate it if those kinds of criticisms are more like "you aren't ready for this, but here are some resources to educate yourself more" or “you aren’t ready for this, but here are some ideas for a more approachable first investment”.

My primary question is: How does the following outline look? Are there steps missing? Are there unnecessary steps?

Each step also has subquestions.

High level outline:

1. Explore target markets

1. I have family in Aurora, CO and San Antonio, TX that know those areas fairly well so am considering starting with one of those two.
2. I will probably end up having a separate post with questions about exploring my target market.

2. Find a mortgage broker, real estate attorney, escrow officer, accountant, insurance agent, contractor, realtor, property manager, and handyman

1. This list was taken from the BP ultimate beginner's guide. Is it exhaustive? On the flip side, are any of those team members superfluous?
2. For each team member: do I need to find one local to my target market? Or does location not matter? (I assume most of these should be local to the market)
3. For each team member: How do I go about finding someone beyond just searching on Yelp (or, is Yelp actually pretty good for this)? Networking in investing clubs? Networking on BiggerPockets?
4. Is it necessary to assemble a team before moving on to any of the next steps?

3. Incorporation 

1. Is this something that should be done for a property of the size that I'm looking for? Can I rely on a good attorney to guide me through this?

4. Find a property

1. Do I just wait for the realtor to suggest buying opportunities to me? Is LoopNet the go-to resources for quickly searching for these kinds of properties?
2. I will probably end up having a separate post with questions about evaluating a property.

5. ??? (I feel like there should be more steps here but I don't know what they are)

6. Close the deal

1. Can I rely on a good realtor to walk me through this process?

7. Find tenants

1. Can I rely on a good property manager to handle the bulk of this, or should I be handling most of this myself?

8. Ongoing maintenance

1. Can I rely on a good property manager to handle the bulk of this, or should I be handling most of this myself?

Again, sorry for the wall of text. Please, please, please let me know if you think I’m completely out of my depth and have any suggestions as to where I should direct myself. If anyone has any other general tips, I’d appreciate those as well. Thanks in advance to those who respond, and happy to be here as part of the community!

@Salvatore Lentini the main thing is that I have no idea where to start. All of my investments until now have been in the stock market. I recently realized a nontrivial (low 9-figure) gain in the stock market and am looking to 1) establish monthly cash flow and 2) diversify my assets beyond just the stock market. At a glance, from my limited understanding, multifamily rental seems like a good avenue for monthly cash flow for someone with decent starting capital.

I am reading as much as I can here on BiggerPockets but still feel directionless. How do I find a good group to join? How do I find a mentor, or, lacking that, the right resources to guide me? I feel like there are so many articles to read but I don't know how to exercise the information that they present and have no idea where to start actually taking action.