All Forum Posts by: Travis Hewlett

Hi @Brianne H.,

The project is going really well, although there's definitely some scope creep. We are in full construction on the house and suite, and going through the permitting process for the garage. We've reached out to quite a few appraisers to find out how they appraise the garage. There aren't many comparables for triple car garages, or legal suites in Ranchlands, so they are having a tough time putting together our As-Complete Appraisal for us to let us know how much we'll be able to re-coup of the construction budget at Re-Fi. In speaking with a few appraisers they mentioned as a minimum they would use the cost of a standard 3-car garage, 37.5k, and any additional value from the deck and size would be based on the appraisers opinion. 

I will send you a DM, and hopefully we can line up a coffee and I'd like to hear about some of your projects! Have a great day,

Travis

Hi @Brad McClain,

I'm sorry for the delayed response! As Tony mentioned the Meetup.com group Calgary Real Estate Investments is pretty good. They have two meetings per month. There are also other meetup groups and a BP meetup on Dec.4 at Limericks pub @7pm. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/63...

I would also suggest REIN, the meetings are quite good and they are introducing some new real estate technologies and changing the direction of REIN. I haven't heard much about it yet, other than what Patrick Francey, CEO of REIN, has mentioned on his Podcast. I will send you a DM and hopefully we can grab a coffee! Have a great day,

Travis

For anyone that is a Ray Dalio fan, he put out a free e-book called "Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises". It's an extremely comprehensive study of credit/debt cycles, how they work, and how to evaluate the state of different economic cycles on a very macro scale. It's an interesting and very educating read. Have a great day!

Thank you for your comments and insight @Todd Dexheimer, they are greatly appreciated and I really enjoyed your podcast as well! I'm really looking forward to investigating the Denver, Dallas, and Austin markets and how they play out over the next couple of years. Thanks again!

@Nick Gray,

Have you considered moving into sales or business development within your field? Sales and business development allow you to still make a great income, build sales skills that help with raising money in real estate, builds your network, as well as allows more flexibility to assist with growing your portfolio. 

Hey @Tyler Wood,

check out the BP podcast 157 with Hal Elrod. The miracle morning completely changed my life. Work on yourself, learn to love the process, and the results will follow suit. Network at every local meetup to meet prospective buyers and other wholesalers. If there are local experienced wholesales, ask if you can work with them and help them by bringing some deals to them. You'll learn from doing, and make less mistakes if you learn the right way to do things early from mentors and experienced wholesalers. 

Also having a job to pay the bills while you get your wholesaling business on track relieves a lot of stress. If you found a real estate related job ie. contractor, property manager, agent, mortgage broker, etc. it will benefit you dramatically in your future investing career.If you go right into wholesaling without another source of income, it increases the possibility of burning out. Good luck!

Welcome to Bp @William Troy Weisler!

I can only share comments on my experience, but when I hear of people competing on bids it's a little scary. I bought my first property in 2014 in the peak of our local market where everything was going extremely fast and I ended up paying 16k over asking. 2 months later the oil and gas market, which drives the growth locally, completely crashed. Luckily I bought a property that was a fixer upper and I did all the renovations myself, and it also had a basement suite for an additional source of income. 4 years later, this market has finally bottomed and I'm just able to re-finance and pull out some capital. The moral of the story is take a good look at which stage your current market is in, look for properties that can add value too, properties that can cashflow as rentals if they don't sell, and if possible buy properties with multiple incomes ie; multi-family, suites, garages that can rent, storage, etc., to minimize risk. Happy Investing! 

I agree with @Chai Xiong, four hours is enough to cause burnout and potentially spoil your appetite for future investing, if you're handling all the turnovers yourself. Spend the time early to build systems, checklists, and the right connections to make turnovers seamless and least time intensive as possible. 

I would suggest moving your tenants to a month-to-month lease. Some buyers will like to buy an empty unit and include that within their conditions, and other buyers may want a tenant so they don't have to worry about filling the unit after they've purchased it. Having the tenants on a month-to-month lease will allow yourself some flexibility with the sale. Personally when buying a unit, I prefer it to be empty so I can do my own due diligence on prospective tenants and not be stuck with an inherited tenant. 

@Brian Burke, @Ben Leybovich,

First of all it was a massive surprise to open BP and see responses from BP legends and two my favorite podcast guests ever. I've listened to all of your bp podcasts, at least 5 times over, and hopefully you'll be slotted in again in the very near future. Thank you very much for taking time out of your day and responding, it absolutely made my day !

I really appreciate your insights and thank you for your recommendations on the other posts and book. I'm definitely playing the long and sustainable game, and working on growth and reputation, so that when opportunities present themselves, like the last downturn, we're in a position to be prepared and really capitalize.

We are currently working on projects in our local market which is definitely very near the bottom of the trough and should begin to follow the upswing of the energy market. It has been an exercise convince investors that NOW is the time to buy properties in our market while it's depressed. The energy market is recovering and is gaining momentum, allowing us to get some traction and momentum as well. We're house hacking, and joint venturing to acquire as many rentals as possible while were in this trough, and will start flipping properties as the market allows for a larger spread in ARV, and houses aren't sitting on the market as long. The Multi-family market is quite saturated right now, and good deals are few and far between.

Texas and Colorado were on the top of my list, as they are easy flights and I could definitely see myself re-locating to either location. I like Phoenix as well, but I do a lot of research about climate change, and am a little nervous about some of the water and head issues Phoenix could experience, if the current trends continue. I found a group an apartment investing group in Texas that webcast their monthly meetings, and we'll plan a trip down later in the year to attend in person. We would likely partner the first couple of deals with a local investor that has a great track record and team so we're not coming into a market and expecting good deals to be thrown at us. 

Brian, do you find it easier to raise money from investors on flips rather than long term rentals, because they see a more immediate return on their money? We are building our investor list, and currently focused on rentals (BRRRR), but could definitely incorporate flips if it helps building a larger base of investors.

Thank you again gentlemen, you've really inspired me to post and reach out more on BP, and capped off my Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. In the spirit of giving, and because you took time time out of your day to respond to my post, I'm going to hit the forums and respond to at least 10 posts and if you let me know a charity you each support I'll make a couple donations. Have a great day,

Travis Hewlett

Kaizen Projects