All Forum Posts by: Todd Rasmussen

@Angel Wu

We started with a turnkey provider and pretty quickly started to do it without. The only way to make it a "safe bet" is to do your due diligence on every deal, and that is important whether you assemble your own team or use a turnkey provider.

Turnkey is easier which is why assembling your own team has the possibility for higher returns.

@Jon Martin

Framing for a towel rack to attach to rather than drywall hangers.

@Christine Smith

What strategy suits you best? Go with the market that lets you start with a strategy that suits you.

@Mark Fitzpatrick

Give the buyer the specs of the place you want in Charleston Mount Pleasant. Tell her you'll trade the condo in Myrtle Beach for it along with a note (same terms she just offered you) on the Charleston Mount Pleasant area for the difference between what the two places appraise for. If it was a fair offer to you, it's a fair offer back to her.

@Logan McKay Zylstra

Cash flow is the limiting factor of most new investors so I think it gets the lion's share of the consideration, but to your point there's no beating value adds on something that will cash flow positive. Even if the equity is just on paper, it's real when a bank will let you lend against it to grow. Cash flow is still what I focus on, but I haven't ever bought something that wasn't at least a small value add. Market appreciation only investing is for placing unneeded capital for long periods of time, I'll never have enough wealth built to think that I can afford the opportunity cost of doing that.

I had this same thought but saw she had more recent posts about dealing with a tenant. My guess is she is up at least 6 figures.

@Elizabeth Seiferth

Any investment path is better than upgrading your primary residence. Sacrifice now and reinvest returns. It is the only way you will see exponential growth. Also, don't consider personal preferences when you are looking for your STR. Be objective and follow the numbers. The rewards for your discipline will be substantial.

@Brynn H.

Thank you for your service to our country.

Your problem is that you are looking for a house. Look for a Marine who is moving away from Pendleton that bought on a VA loan a few years ago. With a few years of principal pay down, rent increases, and value appreciation, you might find enough margin to make one of your strategies feasible and bail them out of a tough spot by doing a sub to.

@Charles Hannah

If you are paying 25% down, I'm guessing the seller doesn't need the principal repayment... Also calculating paydown requires math or they'd have to hire a servicer to not figure it out between you two. Both of those sound inconvenient which is the opposite of how you want this experience to be. Just go to interest only with a balloon payment. Math is much easier and there isn't any chance for confusion on the payoff. My ultimate goal would be to talk them out of the balloon payment before July of 2026, so after a year of on time payments, reach out to talk shop and see how they did reinvesting that 25% down. Depending on who the seller is, you can learn something or put that money back to work for them to try and help them hedge inflation.

@Will Stewart

You can pay $100's to network with other new investors and to learn what one person has learned about real estate

or

You can spend $20 to attend a local meetup to network with seasoned investors and take the cumulative knowledge from that entire network

There are people that genuinely would benefit from those courses; I've just met very few that ever thought it was worth it.

If your time is so valuable and limited that you need someone else to organize the information into a course and sell it to you, you should probably just be investing in syndications or taking some other passive approach anyways...