All Forum Posts by: Trevor Ewen

@Chris Bardin As an out of state investor interested in Atlanta you have one thing that I am very envious of: local knowledge. 

Use that to your advantage. If someone lime me still believes there is potential in Atlanta, then you can certainly tap into it that much more.

Two words: New Jersey. Taxes can always kill a deal in the Garden State.

Omaha is high on my list, but I have a harder time assembling the ground resources out there (hint hint for anyone who wants to connect). 

I really like the business diversification of Little Rock, and that is probably in the three year plan. Richmond, Virginia has good significance with my extended family, which could make it a convenient move... but I haven't seen enough positive signs there to jump in whole hog.

In NYC, bad land-lording has been distilled into a fine art.

Unfortunately, many landlords have been encouraged to be 'bad' by city policies that will not reward them for good management (rent controls, etc.). Furthermore, housing is in such short supply, availability and price are really the only things that matter. Quality of management is so low in the minds of just about every tenant we know. They say that tenants reward landlords with good management. In NYC, tenants reward any landlord with a vacancy. 

There are an encyclopedia of city organizations you can appeal to for landlord issues, but it's sad that we can't take advantage of the market effect seen in other metros. Property managers that we know in Memphis, Atlanta, and Texas seem to compete on the quality of their management. 

Connections direct the markets. I try to network and get on the ground. If I develop a good relationship, that's the target. I think Philadelphia is the only market I have been pursuing for more personal reasons (we may move there in the next few years).

My personal connections to markets are Chicago and New York (where I'm from, where I live, respectively). While Chicago does offer some good stock for the price. The tax and regulatory environment in Cook County is dismal. New Jersey has much of the same overhead issues. You know the story with New York. The charts are a good start, but the people get the job done.

I'd much rather invest for a 1% rule with the help of people I know and trust. 2% rule is not worth the gamble, if you don't have a team.

Just did a deal in Memphis, TN. 

For investors who are employed full time in addition to investing: When New Yorkers, Californians, Bostonians, (insert other expensive metros here) do deals in low cost markets, we get a tremendous feedback effect from high dollar amount we are easily able to put into the low cost market. Wages are high in the northeast, so it's nice to redeem them outside the same economy. In the Northeast, the amount of money you can make is completely normalized by high lifestyle costs. Instead of living opulently or investing here, redeem the value of your money in a much lower cost market. This chart is a great example of the kind of transfer you can get:

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/real-value-100-each-...

Not only is my employer compensating for the lower value of $100 here. I am actively targeting markets where $100 is actually worth more than $100. Not shockingly, these tend to correspond with a lot of the good cash flow markets we like the throw around.

It looks like Atlanta may be a next stop, although I am happy to do another couple of deals in Memphis. Also very interested in Kansas City.

A few months ago my cousin questioned the virtue retirement. As a physician and successful investor, although his work will change, he never wants to stop working.

It's good to note that with a successful private practice in Richmond, VA, he will have no problem 'retiring' if he wants to.

Similarly, colleagues, friends, and the media have a tendency to characterize 'retirement' investing. Isn't it true that we invest for life? Investing is a lifestyle, not something we do to achieve a lifestyle.

How many people want to retire on a beach with no responsibility or other investments except for bonds? This seems to be the notion of retirement held by the population at large.

Noticed Providence on the list. Never thought about it much, but it is 3 hours from my home. Any thoughts Providence people?

Thanks Will.

We're looking at a deal in New York City (the Bronx, specifically). If you were to walk into this place, you would think: "Oh, it's a three unit building, and it needs some work."

Turns out the seller actually has 4 separate units in there. Furthermore, when we checked out the records, we found out it was a legal 2!

So, we're interested, but only if we can get it back (down and then up) to a three unit. We would buy it as the two, given the clauses that they get rid of the illegal tenants, but then we can only get it to cash flow if it is a 3 unit. 

NYC re-zone stories would be great, but any stories about the process would be helpful.

Thanks