Are you investing part-time?

Are you investing part-time?

Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2008 · 45 posts · 0 votes

I started investing in real estate last year. I still have a day job that I like and keeps me pretty busy during the day, and often at night. So I was wondering who on BP is investing part-time like me.

I've bought 3 properties so far in the past 8 months or so. Each property is at a different stage.

- Property 1 was rehabbed with hard-money and sold on a lease-option. I am currently working with a broker to refi out of the hard-money. In this economy, things aren't looking too good. I just found out today that one bank wouldn't underwrite my loan because the existing loan is with a hard-money lender.

- Property 2 rehab has just finished and is currently being marketed to find a retail or lease-option buyer.

- Property 3 was purchased on a land contract, 7-months, no payments. I am on the third month, and nothing has started. The first two properties were financed with the same hard-money lender, and they are not financing any more with me. I am reluctant to find new lenders for fear of how their credit checks would affect my chances to refi out of properties 1 and 2.

When I read some of the posts on BP, I read about people doing a lot during the day. Many phone calls are made. Where are those who are doing this part-time and can only do anything at night and on weekends. How do you cope?

My best method to work around this is to use email. In my current job, I'm on the phone with clients all the time. But I'm also on email all day too, so I can easily and quickly respond to an email on my lunch break or something, which doesn't last very long at times since I can get bogged down with work.

So I'm just curious and hoping to get some ideas from what part-time investors are doing or have done before they went full-time.

Thanks.

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  • Real Estate Investor · TX · Member since 2008 · 14 posts · 0 votes
    17y

    Call me old-fashioned, call me crazy...etc... but we're doing it the slow/lazy way. I plan on keeping my day job and look to REI more for our retirement years. We're buying then turning over to a property manager to rent out for us. The most intense part of what we do is house hunting, and we have that down to next to nothing... a call here and there to the PM and we're done... that way I can focus on my day job without worries... are there different/better ways to do it... sure... but so what? We're doing it our way... doesn't make us wrong, nor does it make anyone else wrong who does it differently... that's the beauty of REI... there are millions of ways to get there... pick one and stick with it.

  • Residential Real Estate Broker · Grand Blanc, MI · Member since 2008 · 885 posts · 316 votes
    17y

    I'm also in Michigan and acting as a part-time investor. However, I've been ramping up more and more.

    We've been investing part time since early 2004 and have bought and sold several properties. Our strategy, for the most part, is to buy and hold. I prefer to buy them in cash, or with little down on a land contract. I have used mortgages, but find the paperwork really slows the process and can beat up your credit.

    Investing part time is do-able, but it does require extra pains during the day with answering phone calls and responding to emails. That's why I always keep my BlackBerry handy! Some things just can't be accomplished after 5:00 PM.

    Hopefully some day in the near future I'll be able to invest full time. I'm trying to set myself up to do so while still maintaining the 9 to 5.

    Where are you from in MI?

  • Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2008 · 45 posts · 0 votes
    17y
    Originally posted by REIJourney:
    Call me old-fashioned, call me crazy...etc... but we're doing it the slow/lazy way. I plan on keeping my day job and look to REI more for our retirement years. We're buying then turning over to a property manager to rent out for us. The most intense part of what we do is house hunting, and we have that down to next to nothing... a call here and there to the PM and we're done... that way I can focus on my day job without worries... are there different/better ways to do it... sure... but so what? We're doing it our way... doesn't make us wrong, nor does it make anyone else wrong who does it differently... that's the beauty of REI... there are millions of ways to get there... pick one and stick with it.


    Sounds good to me. Whatever suits your needs. I personally have no intention of keeping my day job forever. So REI is just one of the steps to building my own business. I do plan to hand off buy-and-holds to a PM. I'm just not there yet.
  • Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2008 · 45 posts · 0 votes
    17y
    Originally posted by Mark Yuschak:
    I'm also in Michigan and acting as a part-time investor. However, I've been ramping up more and more.

    We've been investing part time since early 2004 and have bought and sold several properties. Our strategy, for the most part, is to buy and hold. I prefer to buy them in cash, or with little down on a land contract. I have used mortgages, but find the paperwork really slows the process and can beat up your credit.

    Investing part time is do-able, but it does require extra pains during the day with answering phone calls and responding to emails. That's why I always keep my BlackBerry handy! Some things just can't be accomplished after 5:00 PM.

    Hopefully some day in the near future I'll be able to invest full time. I'm trying to set myself up to do so while still maintaining the 9 to 5.

    Where are you from in MI?


    I'm in Livonia. How are you able to buy your homes in cash? Have you been able to build a list of private lenders you use?

    I agree. The mortgage process is brutal. I feel like I'm faxing my whole financial life to them. Even with the land contract, are you buying "nice" homes that need little rehab and therefore little cash?

    One of my goals this year to build a list of private money sources that will allow me to buy all cash with little to no paperwork. My credit is what I'm concerned about. Needing to refi out of the hard-money loan forces me to ensure that my credit isn't taking too many hits. I need to get out of that with private money, if I can.

  • Real Estate Investor · TX · Member since 2008 · 14 posts · 0 votes
    17y
    Originally posted by reiwalf:

    Sounds good to me. Whatever suits your needs. I personally have no intention of keeping my day job forever. So REI is just one of the steps to building my own business. I do plan to hand off buy-and-holds to a PM. I'm just not there yet.


    Rock on man! Make your goals and stick to them. Find what works and dump what doesn't!
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