BRRRR ("fix and rent") in Baton Rouge area

[Eric P.]

I'm curious if BRRRR ("fix & rent") works in the Baton Rouge metro area. Essentially, the ability to have your purchase price + rehab costs <70% of the ARV, so after you rehab you can find tenants & then refinance to get all of your cash back. I'm sure there must be some areas / neighborhoods where this works? Of course, the other requirement is that the rental income is enough to cover your mortgage + expenses on the back-end. So this tends to work best in middle class neighborhoods.

Are there any licensed real estate brokers / agents who can help me find such properties? Not interested in Turnkey btw - I'd rather buy pre-renovation (not post-renovation) to capture the equity myself.

[Brandon Johnson]

@Jason Duet I find most of my deals now through word of mouth, referrals, and networking. I keep some online marketing going, but not very active. I buy a lot of deals from fellow investors in my network and rarely waste time with anything on the MLS unless it just happens to be in the exact location I am looking for. Like they say, your network is your net worth. I just finished having lunch with a new contact who is making big waves buying and selling flooded houses, but he is the old school type that probably will not be gracing Bigger Pockets with his presence because he is too busy out buying houses. Networking at every opportunity pays big dividends.

I have tried direct mail twice and picked up deals from the mailings, but right now I have enough deal flow I do not need to mail anything.  I'm a big fan of driving for dollars and I leave business cards on doors all the time.

As far as signs, I put one in the yard of every house I buy and it stays there until someone moves in to live there whether I sell or rent the property.