All Forum Posts by: Tony Castronovo

@Patrick Froehlich interesting how much buzz this thread has gotten. I’ll play along...I was 45 when I bought my first rental house. I got up to 8 houses (plus 1 flip/flop) then sold them all and used the proceeds to buy myself a 20-unit on my 49th birthday (literally closed on my birthday...so exciting!). I’ll be 51 this year and now operate 80 units.

Hi @Hanif Lawal. I applaud you for taking interest and action at such a young age. I have two boys your age who are passive real estate investors. They have the advantage of having a dad who is pretty involved in REI. I used to flip and buy & hold single family rentals but now focused on multifamily.

I have also had a college student working with me at one of my properties and have mentored many others on a more hands-on approach.  I used to have them join me on maintenance rounds to my properties and we'd talk real estate on the drive.  Happy to get you plugged into something like this but might need to wait until social distancing loosens up a bit.

@Mak K. send me a DM and I will provide you a solid referral.  Like most things in life, you get what you pay for.  I am not suggesting you have to pay top dollar for a property manager.  Just be sure your interests are aligned.  Any partner (and you should indeed treat these folks as a partner) should receive fair compensation and reward from working with you.  That also goes for contractors.  If everything becomes a nickel & diming transaction the relationship will eventually fail.  Make it a goal to find the win-win for you and any partners you engage with.  My 2 cents.

Cool! Unfortunately my properties are not in the Houston City Limits. Best of luck!!

@Brian Alfaro as @Mark Sewell pointed out, I started as a single family buy & hold investor. I had a great process and got pretty comfortable with it. But like you, I felt like I needed to scale my business and get to another level. After selling my single family portfolio, I 1031 exchanged the proceeds into my first multifamily deal...a 20-unit. I wanted something I could afford with my own money and cut my teeth on something big enough to be challenging but not too big to miss out on the education. The "on the job training" was priceless. I found that much of what I had learned and the skills I developed in the SFH space translated pretty well. But there were definitely notable differences. It was also a big change for me to make the switch from self-managing to professional property management. But these are things (for me anyway) that cannot be taught in a classroom.

I climbed the learning curve pretty quickly and became comfortable with multifamily operations.  The next step for me was to 'go bigger'...which meant raising capital through syndication.  Being a passive (limited partner) would certainly have been a way for me to gain experience.  But instead I just attended as many deal presentations as I could and raised the bar on my networking.  I surrounded myself with guys & gals with much more experience in the space.  People like @Michael Le who inspire me every day and push me to think bigger and step out of my comfort zone.  After several months of learning the mechanics I syndicated a 60-unit with a general partner who has been sort of a mentor of mine for many years.  Every day I learn something because I immerse myself with like-minded folks...like those on this thread.

As far as mentoring & training programs I will say this...I know many successful investors who work with a couple of the larger programs you have probably run across.  What I find most intriguing about these programs is the "ecosystem" they have created.  When I syndicated my most recent deal I had to educate a lot of my investors, whereas if they are already in the program they "get it".  I have given alot of consideration to joining a program and attend alot of their networking and educational events.  I don't know that the cost is what deters me as much as my way of learning is a bit of the DIY approach.  Happy to talk with you further.  -- Tony

Hi @THU NGUYEN. Exciting to hear what you've got planned. Let's chat this weekend or early next week. I'll give you my perspective on self-directed IRA custodians.

I think @Trent Stone has some provoking questions. What is it about real estate that gets you excited? Do that! 

Do you want to be a landlord? Do you enjoy swinging a hammer and want to be hands on? Do you like crunching numbers and analyzing deals? Is it the thrill of the chase to get deals under contract? Or do you think you would enjoy turning around a multi family apartment complex over a few years?

Maybe you don’t know the answers just yet. But follow your passion and not the shiny objects (there are plenty).

@Vijaianand Thirunageswaram I’ve been pretty slammed. But managed to  finish up our agave planters at Agave Heights Apartments this week. Pretty stoked about the transformation we are making to this property.

Hi Sean. Good to see you here on BP! 

@Felipe Carrillo how are you my friend? Feel free to give me a call if you want to discuss.

In brief, I never had any Section 8 tenants in my SFH's. But we have had some in our apartment complexes. Honestly, I think where people get their funds from is less of a factor. You still need to screen for all the things you would normally screen. I've had a couple awful Section 8 tenants but I think they were just awful tenants...not because they were Section 8.

The great thing is that we get the rent paid on time every time. We find our Section 8 tenants renew more and we have been able to get expected rent bumps. Some people worry about the inspections. Trust me...my standards are much higher than the Housing department so no problems there. Just keep a safe and functional property.

I use to think Section 8 tenants have no “skin in the game”. Why should they take care of your place...it’s not their money, right? Again, traditional tenants may not take care of your property. I don’t think there is a direct correlation here.

All this said, it’s just been some of my experience so far and we are still experimenting. My advice is to not shut the door on the idea...but screen them well. And make sure you understand all the related housing rules.