All Forum Posts by: Wayne Snyder

Hey Eric,

I am a new investor up in Moscow, I grew up in Lewiston and Cottonwood so I am a local, my wife and I bought our first duplex in December.  I did the same thing you are doing now, learning everything I can, looking at the market. 

What I have found in the last year around here.

1) Moscow and Lewiston are not the same markets. Moscow's market last year was on the edge of being cash flow positive and the last few properties that have come on the market this year plain out don't make sense. Lewiston seems to give you the same property for around 10k less.  Lewiston also seems to be more stable since it doesn't rely on a student population.  

2) REI groups. I have found three groups in our area. 1) There is a Lewiston/Clarkston REI group you can find on meetup. I haven't been there but have talked briefly with them. The last two meetings were at a Clarkston property and on the same day as another REI group that I go to. 2) There is an REI group that is based out of Pullman that meets maybe once every three months, I have met a few Moscow contacts and while the people are great they mainly focus on Pullman. 3) Coeur d'Alene REI group. https://www.northidahorei.com/ This group I go to every first Thursday of the month.  It is a LONG drive but the information, the people and learning how to apply what's going on in a market that booming before ours has been invaluable.  Mostly this team has shown me how forgiving real estate really can be. 

3) Washington Landlord and Tenant's laws are very very different than Idaho laws.  For me it such a difference that I won't put my money in WA until I have proven to myself I can scale and become hands-off in Idaho.

4) Trust your numbers!  On the other side of your purchase is almost exactly what your numbers told you it will be.

5) Find a real estate agent you can feel comfortable with. I mean really comfortable with.  If you don't feel like you can get into an argument with your realtor and still be friendly and professional at the other end, then keep looking until you find one.  Money brings emotions, emotions bring tension, and you need to be able to work through that.

Feel free to reach out if you want to BS about real estate! 

You are correct I am looking at the initial asking price and I have been putting in offers at lower prices with my realtor which if I understand you correctly you are saying just send them a written agreement not using a realtor.  Regardless, I am getting push back from sellers of not wanting to negotiate, so this has to lead me to think what am I missing and for me, I think I am missing the context of what does my market look like and what realistically can sellers get for their properties in my area.

@Christopher Hunter I have created a deal analyst tool in excel using the calculation I have found on Biggerpockets and searching Google.

I am finally in the position to be able to purchase my first property, I am pre-approved, have the capital to spend, and am running the numbers for every property on the MLS in a 40-mile radius. The problem is after running through 80+ properties I have realized two things.

#1 The Bigger Pockets deal analyzer video numbers don't work out for my immediate area, having 5% for a vacancy, 5% for repairs, 10% for capital, and 10% for property management leaves you with 0 properties that cashflow in my area. 

#2 I remember that all of the properties I have looked in the past 6 months have not cashed flowed but I am not picking up on what is the norm.

To figure out what a good deal looks like in my market, I have turned to the spreadsheets and I have started to record all the numbers for each property that I analyze and the data is now telling me what the market looks like.

For example:
 The 1% rule doesn't work for the purchase price -> rent income I now know anything that is higher than 0.68% is above average in my area.

 The 50% rule for expenses doesn't work but around 70% does.

This has also given me a good range of expected expenses based and allowed me to see a large range for how much each unit can rent given for in my area.  The more numbers I collect the better the picture of the market I get.

So BiggerPockets what rules of thumb are you creating for your area?

@Art Perkitny, I would really be interested in how you pulled that data and generated that CSV.  I am guessing a nice little Postman script with some xml parsing?

Hey Justin,

I am an Idaho native and I am trying to do a similar thing, getting a list and of certain areas in Idaho and trying to build a list of identified properties.  What I have found, most counties have a gis website, most gis websites have a REST API so if you are developer savvy you may be able to build something to pull information.  Saying that each county doesn't supply the same information in the parcel maps.  Some counties give you legal description, property address, and contact info, while others give you legal description and property address.  For me I have been calling counties and seeing what it takes to get a list. Some counties charge you 25+ dollars and provide you a report file,  not a csv, that is not search friendly and some say you have to come to the court house.  So far I haven't found any user-friendly ways to get information. If you find a better way please let me know.

Thanks,

Wayne

Hello Kenny,

My name is Wayne and I am also in the same boat as, saving capital and expanding my real estate education as well as in Moscow, Idaho.  

@Ethan Smith

Washington State as doesn't have its own tax.

Luke, 5 year leases? Is that a common thing? As a tenant I don't think I have ever seen that?

@Daniel Mills if you don't mind, would you let me know where in Idaho you are investing? I am saving up capital for my first purchase and trying to find people who may already have knowledge of my area.