All Forum Posts by: Tim Puffer

I just moved from Howell to Holt. I lived in Wixom for a year before Howell. Howell/Brighton is going to keep growing. Southeast Michigan has no-where else to go but that way! I think it would be awesome to get a deal in that area.

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Both can be great. It all depends on what you want to get into. You could buy a SF and then later buy an MF and decide which route you want to go from there. This seems to be how a lot of people choose which they like better.

Are you looking in the Brighton/Howell area? Why did that duplex deal fall through?

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Good stuff Austin! What many people DON'T do is take the time to educate themselves. And even then many don't apply what they have learned. I'm am not as far in in my learning a you, but I'm going to get there. REI is exciting not only to one day have freedom from it, but just to learn it. There are so many things you can do to create success for yourself!

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Morning everyone!

Does anyone know of any REI groups in the Lansing area? I would love to meet up with other investors to network, learn, and help others out in any way I can.

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Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Hey guys,

I have a property lined up that seems to be a pretty good option for seller financing. The owner owns the property outright. It is a 4 unit apartment building, all four 1bd/1ba. Anyways, the reason I got interested in this deal is because it looked neglected and had a for rent sign in the front. So i called the guy and asked if he was invested in selling and he told me anything is for sale for the right price.

I just don't know where to start with setting up a seller financing deal. I know that first i need to figure out how much he charges for rent but it was tough getting any real numbers out of him. He's running the place like a mom and pop shop. One of the units he is renting out as a studio, as a favor to one of the long term tenants. Then two other units are empty, one needing work to get to rent quality. I know there is opportunity for big value add here seeing as this place is located right across the street from a big university. The owner is old timer kind of guy and I can tell he is starting to get burned out. So i need some advice on how to handle this and create an opportunity for a good seller financing deal.

Any advice would be great!

Here's a few issues I see with this - The units are most likely being used for student housing which is why they may be in rough shape. With student housing you ARE going to have a ton of things to repair as they will be damaged by students (assuming you were to rent to students). Additionally insurance for student apartments is significantly higher due to above reasons. But most importantly each unit is only a 1/1, which is going to limit the rental market. Of course you would have to judge what you eventually find the rent rates to be and compare to what the market rate is to figure out if there is room for expandability.

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There is tons of great content on BP. Everyone is friendly. I'd definitely do some of the webinars and dive into the forums.

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Originally posted by @Bao Nguyen:

@Christopher Brainard Good points, and I agree. But even with hands-on investors would benefit from this coop/system. Case in point: Cross-selling. Let me paint you a common scenario that all buy-and-hold investors experience:

When a prospective tenant calls me about a property that I've already rented out, they usually ask me if I have other properties in the area, similar properties, etc. And most of the time, I tell them no because I run a tight operation and never have more than 1 or 2 vacant units. However, by saying no, I sound like a 1 or 2 property investor. I wish I had a list of all my local investor's available units so I can say "yes, I have 20 other SFHs available...what exactly are you looking for?".

Furthermore Chris, with this type of "coop", no investor is forced to give up any part of the business process that they don't want to manage 100%. The service is there, if the investor choose to take advantage, if not, do it the old fashion way and do everything yourself. :-)

Bao - Great point. It would essentially be a means of building a large network base. Almost like a BNI group, but exclusively real estate related. It would definitely cut down the time spent searching for certain services, at least the ones as a REI you are comfortable passing on to another.

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Originally posted by @Bao Nguyen:

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Originally posted by @Justin Workman:

start slow and grow organically. Dont over leverage and rush into deals. Look at doing live in flips or buying a multi unit for your personal residents. There are tons of ways to get started, but every overnight success is years in the making. It takes drive and hard work to succeed. Good luck.

Thanks Justin! How did you get your start?

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Originally posted by @Adam Kent:

Tim, Listen and learn. I reach out to multiple different agents contractors and investors as I was getting started. I knew I was going to do buy and holds but these people helped me refine my goals and approach. I learned as much as I could and then jumped right in. I made mistakes and still do. I learn from them every time. I found the BP SFH rental analysis tool to be extremely helpful. Good luck.

I am learninglike crazy right now. Between BP and a certain investor from Lima, OH, I'm getting a ton of great advice!

What is your approach, flip, buy and hold, wholesaling?

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All Forum Posts by: Tim Puffer

Tim Puffer has started 12 posts and replied 288 times.

Post: Metro Detroit SFH vs MF investments

Post: Metro Detroit SFH vs MF investments

Post: Zero deals & wildly successful.

Post: REI Groups

Post: Advice to set up Seller Financed deal

Post: Realtor learning about investing.... new to the group

Post: Why do Michigan SFH investors reinvent the wheel everytime?

Post: Why do Michigan SFH investors reinvent the wheel everytime?

Post: Excited about Real Estate

Post: Excited about Real Estate