REI Goals! New Investors from Louisville

REI Goals! New Investors from Louisville

Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2014 · 34 posts · 16 votes

After lurking about BP for a year and now working on our second property, I figured it was time to finally introduce myself. In 2015 my wife and I bought and flipped a condo - our first investment property. We only made half of what we expected, but it was still profitable and we learned A LOT! (like never flip a condo or in a neighborhood with a serious HOA...) We closed on that property at the end of January and a week later we closed on a SFH that we are currently rehabbing with plans to offer for sale for a few weeks, and hold if it doesn't go for the desired figure. This is a much better deal than the first and we are having so much fun.

We started into real estate investing in order to reach two goals:  The first is to generate  $100k or more in cash over the next 4 years in order to upgrade our primary residence to what we really want with no mortgage  (we are currently 4 months away from being house debt free!).  The second is to spend the next 10 years after that accumulating a rental portfolio to compliment my 401K so that I can finish working before my 60th birthday.

My thinking is that we need to rely more on flips to reach Goal 1 and more on BRRR for Goal 2, but we will evaluate each opportunity as it comes and try to make the best choice. I would love to hear from some pros here on whether this strategy is the right way to reach our goals, or if there is a better way to get them done. Thanks!

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Clay SmithBusiness Member
Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2013 · 419 posts · 244 votes
10y

BRRR is a business strategy. We leverage business loans to fund growth. I hope that you do not plan to stay debt free as you grow your business. Scale the business quickly and let tenants pay the loans.

What I am saying is that you should become a stripper.  The more you take off, the more yout get paid. You will get there faster if you equity strip at 80/20. Don't leave money in the asset. 

LREI Property Management LLC4.6456 Reviews
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  • Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2011 · 331 posts · 278 votes
    10y

    @Kurt G. There is much to be impressed with in this post.  I am particularly inspired by the fact you identified the reasons for investing, made goals to support those reasons, and acted quickly upon said goals.   Everyone should do this and yet so few do.  People will decide to be wholesalers, rehabbers, house hackers, etc with no comprehension of whether the investment methodology supports their nonexistent goals or current lifestyle.  

    To answer your question, flipping is a great way to raise chunks of cash, so keep that up for goal one.  I'd suggest spending a little time working on systems that will help you execute this part of the plan with less and less effort.  

    BRRR and turnkey properties may each satisfy your long-term goals. The appropriate step here is to decide 1) what income stream do you need, 2) determine the number and type of houses/tenants you need to support this income stream, and 3) how much management you want to do / have time for both now and in retirement. The answers to these 3 questions should guide your purchase decisions moving forward. Finally, given current market conditions, I'd start buying asap.

  • Clay SmithBusiness Member
    Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2013 · 419 posts · 244 votes
    10y

    BRRR is a business strategy. We leverage business loans to fund growth. I hope that you do not plan to stay debt free as you grow your business. Scale the business quickly and let tenants pay the loans.

    What I am saying is that you should become a stripper.  The more you take off, the more yout get paid. You will get there faster if you equity strip at 80/20. Don't leave money in the asset. 

    LREI Property Management LLC4.6456 Reviews
  • Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2014 · 34 posts · 16 votes
    10y
    Erik Hitzelberger - Thank you! We definitely need to better define our goals and our business, and your comments are very helpful. While we are new to the game, we have come a long way in assembling a team with an excellent real estate agent and most of the primary contractors. I will continue to make sure we have the right people in place to handle what we can't. We are certainly vetting some of them now. Beyond that I will be looking for every opportunity to make the process more efficient. Honestly, I have only defined cash flow / income requirements as 'maximum' at this point and will need to work on putting a meaningful number to it. Regarding property management, we plan to manage ourselves until we have enough properties that it becomes too much and that generate enough cash flow to make sense. Pure guesswork at this point, but I am thinking 4 - 6 properties...? Clay Smith - I should mention that for now a HELOC on our primary residence + cash is our means for buying and rehabbing with cash. We will cash out refinance when the time comes for properties we decide to hold, pay off the HELOC and then use the additional cash to jump into the next deal. That's all business and I will leverage for growth there, but it will be old cars, non-designer clothes, and a paid off mortgage in our personal finances. I just can't live with debt in my daily life. The biggest barrier to fast growth will be a need to take one property at a time through rehab and sale or refi, and seasoning periods. Unless somebody has a work around, I don't see much of a way around those barriers for a while yet. I do have time and am not averse to slow but steady growth, so it's not the end of the world, although I find seasoning periods to be frustrating and red tape-like.
  • Equity Raiser and Turnkey Provider · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Kurt G.:

    After lurking about BP for a year and now working on our second property, I figured it was time to finally introduce myself. In 2015 my wife and I bought and flipped a condo - our first investment property. We only made half of what we expected, but it was still profitable and we learned A LOT! (like never flip a condo or in a neighborhood with a serious HOA...) We closed on that property at the end of January and a week later we closed on a SFH that we are currently rehabbing with plans to offer for sale for a few weeks, and hold if it doesn't go for the desired figure. This is a much better deal than the first and we are having so much fun.

    We started into real estate investing in order to reach two goals:  The first is to generate  $100k or more in cash over the next 4 years in order to upgrade our primary residence to what we really want with no mortgage  (we are currently 4 months away from being house debt free!).  The second is to spend the next 10 years after that accumulating a rental portfolio to compliment my 401K so that I can finish working before my 60th birthday.

    My thinking is that we need to rely more on flips to reach Goal 1 and more on BRRR for Goal 2, but we will evaluate each opportunity as it comes and try to make the best choice. I would love to hear from some pros here on whether this strategy is the right way to reach our goals, or if there is a better way to get them done. Thanks!

    Hello Kurt!

    I would like to welcome you to BP! I know I do not need to tell you what a great place this is to learn everything you need to know for REI! Feel free to reach out to any professionals on here. They are often very excited to give out some advice.

    It sounds like you have a great plan in mind, but you are unsure where to go next. My advice is to keep reading the forums on BP. Try to see what others are doing. This may help you plan your next steps.

    Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.

  • Clay SmithBusiness Member
    Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2013 · 419 posts · 244 votes
    10y

    Hey Kurt. I do BRRR using private money at 3-4 deals a month in various stages. I also do flips the same way. As you get more experience you will find more opportunity.

    LREI Property Management LLC4.6456 Reviews
  • Professional · Carlsbad, CA · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    @Kurt G.

    Welcome to Bigger Pockets. BP is full of resources. You will find resources here from blogs to pod casts and forums. You can also send messages to members. This is one of my favorite features of Bigger Pockets especially for asking specific questions.

  • Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 31k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    10y

    Welcome aboard @Kurt G.

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