Investing in a War Zone

[Joseph Gaston]

Hey guys, my name is Joe Gaston and I'm new to BP as well as RE investing. I have taken some time to get familiar with some basic RE investment strategies and I like the BRRRR strategy best. I plan on investing in "War Zones", the plan is to buy city owned vacant Multi Family homes (3 - 4 units) , Rehab them, stabilize the property with Section 8 tenants and Refinance out of the original loan. I want to Hold them for long term cash flow. I am not looking to flip or longterm apreciation but instead to BRRRR the heck out of them, pull out the forced apreciation and repeat. I realize that I will need a strong team, I figure I will need a great GC, PM, RE attorney, CPA and Flexable lenders but I feel as if I'm forgetting something. Any advice from Veteran Investors will be greatly apreciated, I am ambitious however I am a rookie so I really am trying to minimize my mistakes. Any Ideas ?

[Ozzy Smith]

My question is why do you WANT the war zone?  Especially as a newbie there are many obstacles that you are going to face and you haven't even alluded to but simply asked what are you missing.... LOTS.

You will struggle to get many banks to lend in these areas let alone probably not have any comps.  It will have to be long term because there are VERY FEW investors who will even entertain a property in these areas regardless of the price or returns.  Finding a contractor willing to go there to do the work will be a challenge and if so you will need to keep someone on site around the clock to make sure your materials don't "walk off"