All Forum Posts by: Tiffany Youngren

@Tiffany Youngren @Scott O'Neil *learning about investing, haha

@Scott O'Neil congratulations on the kiddo!

Sorry about those long hours…..

As a long time Real Estate Pro who had our own agency, and an experienced RE Investor, I first want to say that those are two very different jobs and people groups.

I would not recommend getting your license for the purpose of learning about Real Estate investing - or even to keep your finger in the pulse of the market.

1. Great job optimizing your budget - that’s a great idea, but as you learned from RDPD, it’s not the solution to what you’re looking for. I will say, though, that getting a handle on your “bad” debt is incredibly freeing.

2. I HIGHLY recommend playing CASHFLOW with investor friends (better yet if they are the mentor-types). This game really does work to help you practice mid set, vocabulary, and simplified financial statement.

3. Wholesaling does seem to get people cash. It’s not something I love, but I even if you decide to go a different route, learning how to wholesale is an amazing - if not the best - way to learn to find deals. You may just want to acquire them yourself :)

Right now, learning and whiddling down your debt is a job, especially when balancing a job and family.

If you set goals around that for a set time (like “2 months”) then make new goals for the next phase - and play CASHFLOW - that could really move you forward.

The only other thing, and it may not be feasible, but if your 9-5 job was in a position where you are also leaning about investing (like joining an acquisition team, for a syndication company, etc), that would be huge ….

@Kean Chew do you have pictures?

With a limited budget, I’d consider

1. Perception of the unit

2. Lead times on supplies

Also, hopefully you and your partner can DIY :)

1 PERCEPTION

When we make decisions on a remodel, we walk through and determine how simply altering the PERCEPTION of a space can eliminate early buyer complaints - especially about

- First Impression (exterior/door/windows/interior entry/colors/flooring)

- Space / flow (limited by budget, but not impossible to improve)

- Kitchen (cabinets/counters/appliances)

- Bathroom

…. In that order

With a bigger budget, that would be a longer list, but it’ll take some precision and creativity to maximize $6,000

> If everything looks pretty good - consider a coat of paint and a good staging company!

2. LEAD TIME

Fixers become expensive monsters when the project takes to long.

Doors and cabinets are usually taking extra long to get in these days, so refurbishing what you have for these items might be wise.

Hope that helps :) I love simple projects that just need some basic work!

@Adedayo Odugbesan I have 2 friends who got started this way. It’s definitely not for me - but I have talked with them about renting to them.

My friends love it, but it is a job (a big one), so both use it for a way to eventually move into buying properties.

It seems that building a strong team is #1 - just like any other REI strategy.

- Mentor/Group

- Accountant/Bookkeper

- Maintenance Company

- Cleaning Company

- Insurance Agent who can help

And of course the tools

- Management Software

- Deal Analysis Spreadsheet

- Strategies to find rentals and approach landlords

- The right contracts / attorney

Then run the numbers on available rentals to practice - and find deals that work.

Have you read a book (or listened on Audible) to become educated about how to do it successfully?

I read a lot of articles when I was approached by an arbitrager to rent my property. There is a lot of good info out there.

That would be a great first step - then run numbers, make offers, and get going!

Action is the best teacher once you have the knowledge.

Just beware: getting into it with very little money and making good returns makes this very addictive - much like a good-paying 9-5 job. If you want to end up with mailbox money, it’s a good idea to creat a plan with rules you set and follow to wean yourself from it so you can free yourself up with passive income.

@Stacey Thomas Have you tried out your local REIA?

My local REI friend group is amazing. I'd choose it over almost anything other REI subscription (except PropStream and my CRM/Automation software).

In addition to finding a deal and financing another in the first 60 days of starting it, we value our own local group because

- We get to hang out with like minded people from all walks of life

- They have great ideas that blow my mind

- We all contribute in our own way

- I have new and meaningful friendships

- We swap helpful vendor recommendations

- We can share / hear wins with / from people who we can be excited with (and without sounding like greedy jerks)

- They help me stay encouraged to keep on growing and growing!

I’ve been in other groups that fell flat and I wouldn’t pay a dime for.

I’d suggest being very clear with yourself about what you want to get out of your real estate investment group, and if you’re getting that out of it, then that is a priority investment.

Then, get one more deal and pay for BPPro :)

@Wei Jie Yang I’ve been watching the Estrella development in Goodyear AZ. Houses in that community runs around $500k with a pool and outstanding amenities.

I live in Billings Montana - but my dad lives in Estrella in Goodyear, and it looks ideal to me anyway.

@Randall E Collins Have you considered using what you know about finding off market deals to sell to buyers as a real estate agent?

@Jordan Burginton this is awesome.

1. What are his finance terms?

- Interest Rate

- Appraisal Requirement

- Inspection Requirement

- Amortization # of Years

- Does he want early payoff fees?

- Is he strictly a debt investor, or equity?

- Can you buy “value add”/fixers to repair and rent for more $?

2. Are you familiar with finding off-market properties? Do you have a strategy for finding/evaluating projects?

3. How much do you know about your market?

- Jobs

- Vacancy Rate

- Rents

- Cap Rates

- Rental Management Fees

Assuming that you have a handle on all that, if you are new to investing I usually recommend

1. Find out the info above

2. Decide property type: I personally prefer when people start out with smaller MFRs. It’s usually (generally) easier to get more return on your money.

3. Look at and analyze on market properties. Have a mentor look at your analyses and talk you through them. Go through them with your dad for feedback - you’ll likely learn a lot more about his preferences. And this is great practice.

4. Look up off-market properties and repeat step 3.

5. Make some offers!

6. Start a spreadsheet to track the take-home Cashflow for the properties you have in mind, and make a column for the properties you own as you begin to acquire them. This way you can see how close your pipeline is to reaching your goal and should encourage you to continue to evaluate properties.

7. Join a really good REI group. The power of having a REI friend group can be underestimated.

ANOTHER OPTION is to buy into apartment syndications.

RE: STR >>

Yes, it is much better to start with the types of investments your family is comfortable with. Always.

As you build their confidence, hopefully you'll also introduce smaller nuances they hadn't thought of along the way, and they'll see your success, so you'll build that reuse to migrate to other investment types like STR.

* You could also introduce them to STR more comfortably by renting your traditional rentals out to STR arbitragers. That's how we will be easing into STR.

* One other idea is to rent out to traveling nurses. This is especially good communities that are resistant to STR because (1) nurses usually rent longer than the STR rules restrict; (2) the return is usually better because they pay more for furnished units.

@Kayla Santangelo I’ll tell you what I’ve told my friends and family for 28 years now - get into it, especially part time - if you don’t need the money.

HOWEVER - as an investor, do the math on the commissions you’ll make on your own expected purchases this year. That might produce enough income to make it worth it - then you’ll have momentum (and more experience) to attract clients and build your REA business.

@Joe S. We use LVP - the locking kind - all the time. We do pay a bit more to get mid-grade. The low end stuff ultimately costs more in time, replacing broken pieces, worker frustration, and perceived value (it looks better).