You Can Own More Than One House?

Question

One of my very first sales back in 2002 was a townhouse in Broken Arrow, OK.  I was basically "given" the listing by my broker. I got it sold a couple of months later.  The Seller then asked me if I'd like to sell another house of his.

"How many did he own?" I wondered.

Over the next couple of years I sold 23 houses for him.  He taught me so much about what real estate investors look for in a home and how they do the math to see if it makes sense.  I was the real estate agent pupil. He was the mentor.

I still haven't forgotten what he taught me.  When I moved to Kansas City in 2004 I brought that knowledge and created a special niche of working with buyers, sellers and exchangers of residential income property.  It has been a fun ride.

Chris Lengquist · Answer

@Steve Vaughan I have one investment property.  It's not been my focus to own more than one or two quality properties though I am in the market for another one as my special needs daughter gets closer to an age where she will be wanting to live on her own.

Managing 290 homes and owning a brokerage keeps me busy enough in the real estate field.  Besides, my brokerage is my equity.

At least, that is how I look at it.

Chris Lengquist · Answer

@Colleen McKoy Everyone learning from everyone is makes us all smarter. I haven't met anyone yet that seemed to know everything. :)

@Luka Milicevic Thanks for reading.

Colleen McKoy · Answer

I also have been mentored for the last 3 years by an investor and feel the guidance has been invaluable. Glad to hear other agents receive great insight. @Tim Farrell

Luka Milicevic · Answer

Great share.

Thanks!

Chris Lengquist · Answer

@Curtis Yoder Tulsa is a great small city.  It is just so fragile, economically speaking.  Somehow OKC got all the growth but Tulsa is so much prettier with 10 times the culture.  :)

@Travis Hunter No problem.

Thank you to everyone for reading.

Travis Hunter · Answer

Really good stuff... and a formula that smells like money.  Thanks for sharing.

Curtis Yoder · Answer

That is a very simple formula that is not too far off! Even though our markets have changed a lot over that period of time I still buy SFH's in Tulsa that "almost" fit that model. You have to be patient and not take every deal that comes along. It is a home run when you can pick one up using that exact formula. Thanks for the share, good stuff!

Steve Vaughan · Answer

That's awesome @Chris Lengquist!  Have you been able to take that information and turn it into investment houses for yourself?

Chris Lengquist · Answer

I wish I could edit wold to would in the second paragraph. :)

Chris Lengquist · Answer

Doug Minton - Keeping in mind that he acquired most of his properties in oil depressed Tulsa in the 1980's and1990's, he was simply looking for rents to be twice purchase price.  That's how he described it, anyway.

$800/mo rent wold be a $40,000 purchase price.

Even he agreed that was no longer possible by the time 2002 had rolled around.  Thus, he began to sell.  Timing was everything for him.

But he did teach me cash on cash and Internal Rate of Return.  His philosophy, and now mine, is that the single greatest measure of a property is the cash on cash return.  If your money wasn't here, where would it be and could it earn at least as much?