All Forum Posts by: Demetrius Morros

I have used 3 property managers in Birmingham, all of whom I think are good: David Franklin at Barrington Real Estate, Thomas Noe at Frank Poe Real Estate, and Jessica Madison at Turnkey Realty. No one makes me happy 100% of the time on everything, but I like all of these and plan to use them more in the future.

Jimmy

Robert,

The house on 38th Avenue looks like a good house to me. I just sold a house at 300 Martin Drive a few blocks north of there. If you have a two car garage and especially if there is some kind of bonus room, I would look into that one. My house sold for $118,500. I haven't looked at comps closely on this house but that is a ballpark figure for that area.

The other house is in the North Pratt/Sandusky area. I do not like Pratt city , and I would not buy a house in Sandusky unless it was a dirt cheap rental and a very good house.

If you find a good deal in Pell City or Lincoln let me know. I work some in Pell City and I would think it would be an excellent rental market as you describe. I am a tide fan too by the way.

Robert,

To answer your questions (and these are just my opinions - others probably have different ideas) :

1. Nothing worth doing or having is totally easy. It takes , time , effort and education. That is why more people don't do it. That's why even educated people give money to stock brokers who many times lose their money because they don't want to spend the time and effort doing real estate. Even when you do everything right too things go wrong and real estate is not perfect.

2. Educate yourself and you will be less scared. Talk to people who know what they are doing and get many opinions and make friends with other investors. Surround yourself with people who will help you and actually know what they are doing. Many investors do not know what they are doing so be careful.

3. Wholesaling is about knowing buyers, building a buyer's list and finding deals. If you network enough you will find those people. Jason and I and others find properties all the time. If you start looking and networking and go to the AIA meeting you will run into opportunities. Let's take a property I found last year in Centerpoint as an example: 3 BR/2BATH House in Centerpoint on 18th Avenue NW. I don't want to give out the actual address online because a friend of mine now owns it. The property needed about $500 in repairs (It was in great shape). It will rent for about $750/month. As far as cash flow goes, no matter how you come up with the cash to buy it your payment and insurance and taxes need to be nor more than $350-400 ( and preferably less) to make this consistently work because you have property management, repairs, etc. Keep in mind that about 25-30% of rents realistically go back into the property. I was able to put this house under contract for $28,500 after negotiating with the seller for a long time (a year) . I loved the house, but for various reasons did not want to hold the property. I had some cash saved up , but the timing wasn't good so I decided to wholesale it. I called a friend who I knew was looking for property. He liked it and wanted it. I assigned it to him for $33,000. Not a huge profit, but a small amount of cash. I signed a contract with the seller, signed an assignment of contract with my buyer and he closed. No funds required by me. No real estate agent involved - only me, the buyer, the seller, and my attorney. I got a check for the spread. Do that a few times, and reinvest in marketing and save and after a few of those you find deals that make more money or have cash to put towards rentals.

Jimmy

I agree with Jason. In Birmingham you can buy rentals in the 30-45K range in areas like Centerpoint that cash flow well. One strategy I like is to wholesale to make cash and save cash and then buy with cash. You don't get the power of leverage , but you don't have a mortgage payment. Servisfirst bank has a program where they will loan on fix up properties in some parts of town, but I believe you have to qualify based on personal credit, etc.

Robert,

I am in Birmingham too. I have an intermediate level of experience (5 years) and own some rentals. Maybe we can talk and share some thoughts.

Jimmy

Yes, that is it. It has been at the Homewood Senior center until the last couple of meetings. I will look for you there too Ron.

Jimmy

Morgan,

I am an AIA member. I will be there tomorrow. Hopefully I will see you there. I'll keep my eyes open for anything under 40K. Generally, I run into a lot of those type deals. Thanks.

Jimmy

Thanks. I have had experiences, but not sure if I truly qualify as experienced. I have experienced what not to do though so that is one thing I can share. Take care.

Thanks guys. Glad to be here too. I have been listening to the BP podcast lately which is actually pretty good. I have a full time job and do my investing when I am not working so I could relate a lot to what was said on the last podcast.