All Forum Posts by: Tom Hertel

B.S. in Biology with a minor in Ethics, got an M.D. after that.

Kind of a hypothetical here:

I'm curious how much money people feel they would have to make annually at an enjoyable "regular" job (working non-crazy hours) in order to decide that real estate investing is not worth their time?

I honestly don't know what the number is for me...

@Jay Raught, thanks for the response. I have a few questions.

1) Is that more of a "flip" of a note rather than buy & hold until it is paid off? 

2) Does "TX" just stand for Texas or something else?

3) In your example, the purchase price of the note was for $2464.34. How much debt was actually left on the note when you purchased it? Ie, now many pennies on the dollar did you pay.

4) How does someone go about finding notes in the first place?

Thanks for the response

@John Van Uytven. The more I read and learn about REI, the less I like the idea of managing tenants with a buy and hold strategy. It just doesn't seem worth my time if I could earn 10+ times as much money per hour just working more at my day job.

It's interesting that you bring up notes, because that's where I may end up diving in. I make enough money with my day job to be able to invest in notes relatively soon without having to find partners with additional capital.

Any suggestions on where to start with note investing? Thanks 

...per hour (or per year) at a "regular" job to believe that your time spent doing REI buy and hold would not be worth your time? And if you have a number in mind, would that number change if you really liked or really disliked said job?

For an extreme example, if you had a job that made $10,000/hr, it would obviously not be worth your time to spend 10 hrs/wk looking for properties and managing tenants when you could just work a little more and make that money 100-fold over.

So, what's your number?

How'd you go about learning rents for a specific neighborhood?

Knowing the area, just a couple of questions you can ask yourself: 

 - How close is it to the shops/restaurants on Grand or Selby? The closer it is, the more I'd try to market it to the real estate investor as a rental property, looking for tenants interested in that scene.

 - Is it within the St. Paul History Preservation District? I'm not sure how much renovation you've done on it already, but if it needs work, reno in that district is a huge pain in the behind (all reno that can be seen from the outside of the house has to go through the Preservation Council for approval). That could scare off someone looking to improve the property, whether it's an investor and a primary resident.

I'm curious how people with full time jobs, who buy 1+ properties per year for buy & hold, go about finding their investment properties? MLS? Foreclosure websites? Advertise? Something I've never even heard of?

Thanks

Thanks for the response Seth, I'll take a look at those. Would you suggest Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" or his "Cashflow Quadrant"?

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to get into real estate investing in the next year or two, but I want a full education (or as much of an education I can get from books) before I even think about making my first deal. I have a high-paying, full-time job that I'm not looking to replace, but rather supplement with passive income and tax breaks in the future (ie buy & hold with a management company). 

What books would you recommend for a newbie like me? Here's my tentative list:

1) The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

2) The Book on Managing Rental Properties by Brandon & Heather Turner

3) What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures, Updated Edition by Frank Gallinelli

4) Hold: how to find, buy, and rent houses for wealth by Gary Keller

5) The happy couple's guide to investing in real estate : a comprehensive manual for working together as a couple to build a brighter future by Chakib Jaber
- Admittedly, this last one is help quell my wife's anxiety about REI

What are you thoughts on my book list? Any suggestions of your own?