All Forum Posts by: Warren A.

I invest in SFRs in Little Rock.

How likely we will see the end to income tax in Arkansas with Sarah Huckabee Sanders?

If likely , do you expect to see a meaningful or massive increase in property taxes to make up for loss in state revenue? How would it change your REI strategy ?

I use Hoffman Team for our Little Rock properties.  Jamie Hoffman is the owner.   Drew gives good points.  I know they manage properties in Sherwood and Jacksonville.  I don't know if Carlisle is too far for them but you could give them a call or email.

@Becca F.  I invest in Memphis and Little Rock area.  The homes are mostly in $100K to $200K range.  I'll send you a DM with more details.

@Becca F.  That is so great that you can manage a rehab with a contractor and put sweat equity in and hopefully you are getting a great return so far.   Glad your approach is working out well for you.  I did and still do prefer the more passive route.  Even with the challenges, I am still sticking with our turnkey strategy.  Many ways to approach real estate investing !

@Jennifer Shen Good diverse opinions here. Turnkey means different things to different people but I like the definition of a provider who does end to end (locate property in good area, good rehabs to minimize deferred maintenance, markets, screens tenant, and in house PM). We closed on our first OOS turnkey in Aug 2017 and present day we have double digit all OOS turnkey portfolio. I chose the turnkey path as we wanted the more passive route and equally important , we wanted to minimize risk .. at the expense of highest potential returns (ie remote BRRRR). We used leverage (20% to 25% down) to scale with sufficient reserves.

The past two years have been hard on us personally due to myriad of reasons 1) higher turnover costs in our area possibly related to COVID and local market dynamics 2) bad section 8 tenant (not allowing anymore for our homes) --> eviction and costly repair  3) unexpected high cost repairs on few properties  - water intrusion needing french drain, plugged old sewer line needing new sewer line,  fallen tree that pulled electrical cable that pulled out the wall electrical panel.    So I would say our past two years were 1.6x to 1.7x the 10% reserve I set aside for maintenance + turnover costs.  With the above said, we are still in the black though given cashflow and scale.  We will see if 2023 is better.   I do trust our turnkey company and believe they are good people.  I give them feedback and they seem to listen.  If you decide turnkey is right for you, then I think it's a matter of knowing to a reasonable degree the area you are buying into and the possible risks.  A good turnkey will shield you from many risks but cannot eliminate all of them.

Real estate company collapses, 500 homes affected, $10M from investors across Canada missing

I wanted to update on this. Knob and Tube was replaced with Romex and passed city inspection. All walls patched up. I sleep better at night now.

I wanted to update on this.  Knob and Tube was replaced with Romex and passed city inspection.  All walls patched up.  I sleep better at night now.

My wife has student loan debt at 2.625% @ $575 a month.  Looking back, had we focused on paying it off first, we would have missed out on getting started (which for a new investor, can be an incredible hurdle) and buying our first 3 investment properties.   Good properties that tick boxes are incredibly hard to come by nowadays.  We were able to get loans even with her student debt..  So I think it just depends on individual situation.

Hi Lisa, I am going through similar situation now.  Please see my thread  .   Triplex was built in 1930.  The electrical work alone was $4.49 a square foot.  All quotes from licensed electricians were $ / sq foot to remove K&T and replace with Romex.  Then $3,375 to restore the walls (plaster and sheetrock) from a contractor via help of our local property manager.