All Forum Posts by: Tyler Emerson

@Brent Barnes

Brother it comes down to where you want to be in life in the next year, three years, ten years, etc. and what you are willing to do in order to reach your goals.

Remember the old saying that if it was easy everyone would do it? Same applies in real estate. Your why should give you that drive to put in the extra work now, work through delayed gratification, and reap the grand rewards your efforts may bring about later on.

I have flipped homes, done renovations from the joists to the roof spendings two hours here after long work day and some whole weekends at a time to get projects done. You HAVE to be willing to put in the work. Education, podcasts, seminars, and books are wonderful resources to learn strategies and be able to setup up solid bases but you have to jump out there and try it at some point. Expect to fail along the way, but plan your hardest not to. And when you do fail, learn from it in every way possible and never let failed plans stop you. The only time you truly lose is when you stop trying.

Educate yourself (due diligence), get a plan based off your schedule/lifestyle, and get after it. You can learn and adjust plenty along the way. After that, breath, prioritize, and execute.

Is there such a thing as too much real estate too fast in the beginning, if the deals make sense?

So, like many other real estate enthusiasts I started out with good ol’ life changing Rich Dad Poor Dad. Fast forward six months, hours of podcasts, books upon books read, teams created, I’m in a situation and would like to reach out for a little advice!

I’m fixing to close on a single family home in my current town of Clarksville, AR. Purchase price of $51,000 through a conventional loan 20% down. Estimated rehab cost of about $5K.

Additionally, I’d like to purchase a full acre of land in town with future plans of building a duplex onsite as it is already zoned for multi-family. We are working on an agreed price, but listing price was $7,500.

AND, recently a single family foreclosure for $40,000 has come up: 3 bed 2.5 bath, just under 2,000 square feet, multi-level home with a basement and four car carport. There will be rehab that has to be done, nothing extremely major from initial looks. I’d really like to go after this property as well.

I’m still learning, and was curious for input on whether I should maybe stick to the one house I’m closing on and the land? Or go for it all. I’ve got about $22,000 saved up currently and saving like crazy as of late!

Thanks for the input!

@Chris Heeren

Is there anything specific you are doing to attain $900/month rent from lower priced properties? I’ve read/heard where some investors have their standard list of items they fix, no matter what like, when they first buy a lower priced property just to try and save time and money on additional costs of maintenance in the future. Items such as flooring, sinks, toilets, showers, etc.

In some of my areas the average rent runs about $600-$700/month. Most of the neighborhoods are quiet with little to no history of crime. Demographics show that the average age range runs from 25-35.

@Charlie MacPherson

Wow! That’s wild looking at the data. That could ruin plans one might have in obtaining a property. I’ve always seen the zestimate and just wondered if there was any real weight to the numbers it gave out, but looking at everyone’s answers and info here I think I’ll stick to continue using comparable comps and realtors!

@Jacob McAllister

True, finding the average comp prices is always an easy way to get a good idea of what I could expect to see for after repair values. I was curious like I said, there are several foreclosure and older model homes around me that I’ve been looking to invest in and give facelifts for buy and hold mainly.

@Jacob McAllister

True, finding the average comp prices is always an easy way to get a good idea of what I could expect to see for after repair values. I was curious like I said, there are several foreclosure and older model homes around me that I’ve been looking to invest in and give facelifts for buy and hold mainly.

@Michael Vincent

I’ll have to look more into Redfin, thanks for the info. The only issue is for me, looking at the app, is that it only shows some of the bigger cities around me.

Hello all!

So I’m continuing my real estate endeavors by constantly looking for potential great deals in my free time using many different platforms to include apps such as Zillow.

I see that Zillow always has a “zestimate” or estimate on how much it thinks the value of the property is really worth. My question is, generally speaking how accurate do you think this is?

I don’t think I would EVER truly trust an app estimate over a subject matter expert such as an appraiser or the like. Nevertheless, I am curious what the Bigger Pockets Community has to say.

Hope all is well this holiday season!

-Tyler Emerson

@Ray Fisher This is all great information to hear! I happen to know a banker locally that I’ve worked with before, buying my current house (too bad I didn’t know about house hacking before hand!!) It sounds like having these key people on my team will make a big difference. I just finished listening to BP podcast #239 that actually mentioned a lot of what you are all mentioning. Prove to one bank Initially willing to lend to you that you know what you’re doing and follow through, and other banks will open their doors. It makes sense though! It sounds lIke one of my fIrst moves needs to be to find a bank that will be willing to get creative on financIng with me. On the appraisal and other fees, are these costs that you have to really work with the banks to wrap into the mortgage?

@Ray Fisher I’m looking to do the same, reinvest to increase gains for the long run. Before long I should have enough to be able to put 20% down on my first rental property. But of course I don’t want to just stop with one! There are several single family properties I have an eye on and even a multi-family currently with very little history of vacancies. So if the math makes sense, is it challenging to work with banks on financing the deals? Which branches of banks seem to be open to helping out the most?