We are buy and hold investors...invested in Las Vegas, 5 homes, before the boom and pop, and are holding the homes as they are positive cash flow. Next, we discovered a suburb of Houston, TX with newer homes, masterplanned community, and the purchase prices and rents are good... buy for $140k, rent for $1,400... we have 7 there. We are looking for another area to do this in. Ideally, buy newer homes in the $130k-$150k price range, rents in the $1,300-$1,600. Anyone want to boast your town or have any suggestions as to where to do this? We don't want t have all of our eggs, or too many eggs, in any one market place. Do you think 7 sfr's in one market is enough? Even though they are renting well, and cash flowing well, isn't it a tad risky to do too many more? Any feedback will be appreciated!!!
I have to agree with many that say MikeOH is spot on... He mirrors my thoughts on so many posts that I am blown away. I have pulled back from posting so much because it got to be less constructive and more destructive criticsm I was hearing. I would rather sit on the sidelines and "read the book" instead of jumping in an giving my opinion.
I know what MikeOH does it positively the best way to do it, and certainly allows him to invest in more properties that the average investor. Everyone would agree, if they only knew how, they would! My input there is that we have managed to become what many would view as successful REI's, without using that formula, and we did it despite buying at close to retail and with rents of 1%. Please don't tell me we aren't successful, as we too are entrepreuners and we think we are successful in not working a 9-5 for the past 17 years, having wonderful vacations & lifestyle, raising great kids, and we are still pretty young (43,44). Mind you, we had plenty of cash to invest upfront so we also did it a way others could not... we worked very hard to put cash away when business was good, and a good chunk of it on Real Estate. MikeOH's posts leave a newby to believe they absolutely can not be successful unless they do it his way... I KNOW they can. Of all the millionaire REI's out there, not too many were as "good" at it as Mike is, but they still are Millionaires. MikeOH comes off as the Bill Gates on the forum that knows how to do it, but it is his little secret. There is enough Real Estate to go around, Mike, so share your "how to" knowledge with others, instead of saying "Just do it!" and then your critism will be more constructive. In the world of Guru's: You will get everything you want in this world, if you just help enough other people get what they want!
I encourage all newbys to listen to Brin Tracy's "The Luck Factor" and you might learn that if you find someone that is having the success you want, do what they are doing, spot on, and you too will have their "Luck".
Also, regarding the why people rent and rental tenants... my own belief is that it is a "risk" to buy a home, they are new to an area or don't have a job that can guarantee that they will be around more than a year at a time. Our society is full of risk averse people. That is most likely the reason Grandma & Grandpa rented. I can say that we do not rent to the tenants with absolute crap credit, that have credit card debt up the kazoo, and smokers need to do it outside or lose their deposits. My tenants do care about "their" home. We keep the homes to a high standard and they tend to live up to it. Bad Credit is easy to see on a credit report, and they won't be able to come up with the rents or deposits we charge, or they live in less desireable neighborhoods than we own in, and they rent from landlords with less restrictive guidlines, maybe the newby's that are afraid to be vacant so they rent to the first interested person. Maybe that is why we have little turnover and no evictions on my record... I know it will eventually happen, but so far we are "lucky" :)
I find the question kind of strange actually. If you look back to my first post on this forum, I made one very generic comment that it seemed to me that there were some responses to the orignial poster's query that were a little condescending and perhaps not as helpful as they could be. Here's exactly what I said:
I did not single any person out in particular, nor did I think that what I said was antagonistic in any way. In fact, I think that I was only echoing what others had already indicated.
I really have no desire to simply argue with MikeOH or anyone else on this forum. My desire in joining this forum (which was recommended at the REI meeting that I attend along with a couple other networking sites) was to be able to share ideas with other rehabbers and real estate investors for the mutual edification of all parties involved. My concern upon first reading this thread (and certain others on this site) was and continues to be that by being too self assured, too condescending, or too "know it all" certain contributors to the forum may actually be discouraging the open flow of communication by making people feel that if they dare to post something that goes against the flow they will be ridiculed or criticized unmercifully.
I think it is pretty self evident that this has already occurred to some extent.
I have repeatedly said that I agree with a lot of the things that MikeOH (and others on this forum) have to say. I respect his opinion and theirs. I don't, however, feel that he respects the opinions of anyone who doesn't agree with him and I agree with buyselllv that he comes off as someone who touts only his way of investing but then guards that method as a "secret."
Conversely, I find it odd that I still seem to be the only person who has even attempted to offer some opinion on the original question asked by buyselllv and I am the one who is being repeatedly chastised by the site administrator. As I said before, my first post singled no one out, I attempted to answer the question that was asked and share what little knowledge I might have that is worth sharing on the subject. When MikeOH chose to then engage me, I responded to his comments in the same spirit and manner in which he directed them.
I wouldn't worry too much about any further "disruption" from me in that regard. I will probably just ignore MikeOH for the most part from here on out as I am a little too busy to get into a pissing contest. I would like to utilize these forums to learn and broaden my horizons on all manner of real estate investment. I actually employ lots of different tools in my real estate portfolio and love hearing all sorts of new ideas and perspectives...the ones I agree with and the ones I don't. I hope to be able to continue to share ideas with those who care to do so and hear theirs as well...and I hope that those of us who do want to do that will be made to feel from the site admin folks that our opinions are valuable and welcome as well...even if they disagree with others who may have been around the site for a longer time.
As to your question about Sean Brown...sure, I know him, have done business with him, and think he's a pretty good guy. And, if you're referring to the other thread I posted on...I happen to agree with about 85% of what he said there...this time. I also know Rehab702 (who posted on this thread) and about five other people in these forums. I agree and disagree with all of them regularly in person and expect that I will alternately agree and disagree with all of them on these forums as well.
BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
19y
Tamara -
I was not chastising you, but trying to figure out your intentions here. While your first post was not related in any way to MikeOH, the next 4 were. That said, I hope others here also question Mike and others on the site, as that is how we all learn.
You're welcome to agree or disagree with who you want here. Otherwise, I'm glad that you've decided to stick around and I look forward to your contributions - outside of any fighting/bickering, of course! :wink: