All Forum Posts by: Zeke Liston

Hey folks,

Craigslist used to be my go-to spot to list long term rentals.  Craigslist wasn't pretty, but it was easy to use, and it worked (I found lots of great tenants via Craigslist) ...unfortunately, over the years, Craigslist produced fewer and fewer tenants, and more and more spam.  :( 

These days, nearly all my new tenants come from Facebook Marketplace.  

Ironically, platforms designed for real estate (Zillow, Apartments.com, Rentler, etc.) produce very few tenants for me, compared to FB Marketplace (and I also find a lot of their functionality to be user un-friendly, from the landlord side). ...you'd think that platforms custom-made for real estate would make the process a snap for landlords, but it takes me a lot longer to post and manage rental listings on Zillow or Rentler than it did on Craigslist. Plus, Zillow, Rentler and the other real estate platforms tend to have all sorts of unnecessary hoops to jump through for landlords, and I find a lot of their design very un-intuitive (I remember spending waaayyy too much time just trying to figure out simple things in Rentler).  ...why can't they make it easier?

Does anyone still list rentals on Craigslist anymore?  ...if so, how is it performing?

Which platform do most of your tenants come from? 

Has anyone seen data/reports on which platforms prospective tenants gravitate to the most?

Am I the only one frustrated with the cumbersome functionality of real estate platforms (Zillow, Rentler, etc.) for listing rentals?

Any suggestions on how to get more tenants from the real estate-focused platforms (Zillow, Rentler, etc.)?

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Hey! I am planning to buy my first investment property. I am looking at Licking County, Jeffersonville, Columbus, Cleveland, OH; McAllen, TX; and Fayetteville, NC. Can anyone convince me why I should start investing in these areas and share more details based on their knowledge/experience? This would also help me narrow it down.  

Thanks! 

Hello BP, looking forward a reputable and honest property management in Toledo Ohio for residential properties. Have been striking out, hoping the third time is a charm. Please share suggestions and experiences.

Thanks a lot

Happy Friday! 

A quick background on me. In 2015, I purchased a single family home in Reynoldsburg, OH, that will be paid off in October. I'm looking to put my equity to work. I'm thinking for my first investment property that another single family home or small multi family would be a good first step. My home has had most if not all things replaced at this point, so I'm leaning BRRRR as I have equity (HELOC) and have worked with contractors on various types of projects before.

Since the start of this year, I've put a lot of time and effort into my financial and real estate education through the BiggerPockets podcast and a handful of books (a few BP books, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, The Richest Man In Babylon, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad). My goal is to put what I've learned into practice and become a real estate investor. I'm looking forward to taking the next steps and assembling my team of real estate Avengers.

I'm specifically looking for mentors, real estate agents, lenders, contractors/handymen, bookkeepers, CPAs, lawyers, insurance agents, and property managers. I'd love to connect and learn more about your experiences and how we could potentially partner in the future.

Drop a comment or send a message - looking forward to hearing from you all. If you aren't personally involved in any of the above roles, please still say hello or feel free to share your referrals/tips if you have them.

Thanks a bunch, have a great weekend!

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to Bigger Pockets but not so brand new to the real estate game. To give a brief background, I've flipped 2 properties and am now looking to venture into rentals. I know of FHA loans and that seemed enticing, but in my area (St. Petersburg FL) with the "low income" I'm making (around $4,200 per month) at my job, it's proving difficult to find a multi family property that I can afford with month to month tenants or with 1 vacant unit. I'm very very handy, jack of all trades if you will, so I can renovate properties without breaking the bank in labor costs. My question to everyone is this. With just under $100k in the bank to invest, how would you make your next move? Flip a few more properties? Dive into rentals to get more monthly income coming in? Wait for the intrest rates to drop a little? Move somewhere that isn't so expensive? I'm at the point where there are too many options for me and I can't decide which is the best course of action. I appreciate any thoughts and comments.

Hi Bigger Pockets community,

First a little bit about myself, my name is Jubal Noel, I’ve recently graduated college with an electrical engineering degree. I started my first job this past June and have been (mostly) saving up as much money as possible since then.

Primarily I invest my money in stocks, but recently I learned about real estate through the bigger pockets podcast and have been largely inspired. I feel like I'm in the perfect position to start investing my money into real estate instead of stocks because it seems like the ROI with stocks is lower than with real estate.

I’m close with my brothers and we’re all working and still living with our parents, so we don’t have much expenses. We are going to pool our money together and by the end of this year, we will have ~90k dollars to invest. 

I finished reading the "How to Invest in Real Estate" by Joshua and Brandon, and even before that I listened to several podcasts. I've decided I want to start out with small multi family properties and use either a buy and hold strategy or the BRRRR strategy, depending on the time investments.

I love engineering, I’ve been working as a full time engineer for 8 months now about. The problem is I want to have a comfortable lifestyle and to travel. Engineering makes ok money but I’d like to make an additional 40-50k a year at least using real estate. That’s my current goal. I live in NYC and I’ve yet to check the market.

This year I plan on doing as much research as possible as me and my brothers save our money for our first deal, there’s 3 of us total.

If you read this far thanks so much! Expect more posts in the future that will be shorter and have more specific questions! And any insights anyone can give me on anything is greatly appreciated. I plan on reading as much informational books as possible during this time so recommendations are welcome.

Hi! I am new to this arena, my husband and I are buying our first home with the idea to house hack. My long term goal is to buy within the next month, then within six months be ready to purchase our first BRRR or flip; likely out of state because Washington is a little wild with the real estate. It's been wonderful to join the forum's and read everyone else's posts. Thanks!

Hello Heather Evans here! I'm new to real estate investing.  Looking to do my first purchase soon back home in Nashville,TN!  A little nervous, but I'm excited. I live in Denver,Colorado.  Any advice  on buying  an out of state multi family  property purchase?

Hey BP community,

I am a long time listener of the podcast, and really want to get started with investing in Real Estate. My goal right now is to retire my fiance and try to be more in control of what we do in our lives when it comes to making money. We currently live in San Diego, but are open minded to out of state investing for sure. We are eager to meet like minded people and start our investing journey in hopes to live our lives doing what we love and hopefully helping others along the way as well. We currently have some money saved up thats sitting in a bank account and waiting to be invested, but I am not sure whether or not to invest in an airbnb for more potential cash flow or a multifamily for a steadier income. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We are just excited to be here and start our journey! 

The thought of buying cash flowing rental properties interests me. However, I'm from Long Island, NY and cash-flowing deals are very hard to find. I'm considering purchasing out of state but don't know which markets I should look out or how to find deals in said markets. I'm 20 years old and have about $105,000 outside of retirement that I'd love to do something with. However I lack the confidence and knowledge to get started. Any tips?