All Forum Posts by: Angel G.

@Manuel Rodriguez - that's a great question and one that I too asked several years back when starting my own real estate journey. When developing my own investment criteria, having separated meters for all utilities was must for me. I didn't want to worry about a tenant being careless with their use of utilities and run up a bill that I had to cover. There have been though a few rare occasions where a property had all utilities separated except for water but the numbers were too good to pass up. In that instance I was very conservative with my estimates for what the monthly cost would be in the numbers that I ran. Best of luck!

To do this in the new calculator follow these steps:

1. Go to the page that shows all of your reports. 

2. Click on the report that you want to print.

3. When you have the report open you're going to see a button at the very top that says "Sharing Options"

4. Click "Sharing Options" 

5. In the window that opens click on "Download PDF"

There you go - you can now print the PDF you downloaded. Hope this helps!

Hi everyone - I recently noticed that the BP calculators have gone through a great upgrade! I like the new look and flow, especially the rental calculator which I  use on an almost daily basis. I did however realize that there are some items missing that were a great part of the old calculator as well as some technical issues. Here's a quick rundown:

1. No option to delete report(s) - in the new BP calculator, once a report has been created it just remains in your deck of deals analyzed. 
2. No Archive Tab/Section - in the previous calculator there was a way to archive your reports which was great to keep those properties you may want to refer back to in a separate "non-active" folder. 

3. Issues with importing reports from old calculator - when going through the process of transferring all reports from the old calculator to the new, the numbers all transfer over in the negative. 

I will say that the one page flow as opposed to multiple pages is a big win - the new setup makes things so much easier. Great job BP! I'm tagging @Mindy Jensen on here as I know she was very responsive to a previous post about the calculator from another member. 

@Geri May I'm having the same issues as well. I noticed several changes:

- There's no longer an archived reports tab. Everything is now all together. 

- No ability to delete reports

- Everything transferred over with negative numbers 

@Steve S.I would definitely move on to the next applicant. You even said it yourself "She's made me very nervous and it seems like she's somehow running a scam on me." Refund the money and look for a tenant that shows responsible behaviors from the start in meeting due outs. 

  

@Anthony Dooley - Good copy 1st Sergeant! Thanks for the feedback. Tracking all that the MLS is definitely not one of the first places people should look to for deals as it is more retail as you alluded to. However, I will share that it is not something I would completely write off. As we say in the military, it's just another avenue of approach / course of action to find a potential deal. My last duplex was off the MLS, with a great property that the seller accepted an offer 15k below list.

@David M. - Great advice and insight, thanks!

@Mark Johnson - I'm definitely capturing your point on verifying the realtor's experience with investment properties.

@Evan Polaski - Spot on! I like the recommendation about calling for rent signs and mistakingly asking about the property for sale! That's a great idea.

Outside of setting up systems for finding great deals, my main intent with this post was to capture great suggestions such as the ones you all have provided so when the time comes that I call the realtor to view a property on my behalf, they know I'm a serious client. As an out of state investor I would not have the ability to view the property myself.

Thanks again everyone!

Situation:

New investor decides they want to finally take action in their real estate journey. They've listened to countless amounts of podcasts, watched webinars and read a variety of real estate books. This investor has now reached out to you and wants to find a deal.

Here's My Question:

I'm safely assuming that realtors are constantly contacted by people who are ready to "invest" to find out later on that they were not really prepared to move forward. What then, can those who have genuinely done their homework, have lined up financing and are ready to go do to give you all the confidence that they are worth the extra effort to assist?

I'm sure there are things that you see from your clients that make you think "yup, they're ready and really serious about this."

Any advice that you could share, I'm sure, would be a great benefit to not only myself but to all those new investors ready to rock!

For the record, here's my approach when contacting a realtor to ensure that I'm mindful of their time:

1. I share my specific investing criteria

2. I line up financing and have it ready on standby

3. When setup on the automatic listing notification portal, I run the numbers on those properties that meet my criteria. I double check those numbers and then send my realtor a note when ready to move forward.

Thanks in advance for your time and advice!

Thank you @Brandon Roof!

After much research, planning, goal setting, and purchasing my first two SFR with the VA Loan while moving around duty locations with the Army, I finally took the first action step of building my multifamily portfolio with the purchase of a Duplex several months back.

As I begin to build momentum with my purchases, I want to develop a "template" or rather a material list with (color / type / brand/ price / vendor) that would serve as my go to for items such as paint, types of blinds, carpet, flooring, hardware, ceiling lighting etc.. I figured if I go ahead and do the leg work now and put together a quick reference list of cost effective items that will enhance the quality of my rental, it will save me time and money later when needing to do the actual renovations/updates.

I'm tracking that markets/locations can vary with styles as well as people's personal preferences etc.

Does anyone have a list that they wouldn't mind sharing of what particular items have been your go to when updating your units?

Thanks in advance! 

@Lauren Olson

I was in the same situation you are several months ago. I put countless hours to learn the basics of real estate investing, watched the youtube videos, listened to the podcasts, read the books and watched the webinars. Now I was ready to make the first critical move to see what I had learned and put in an offer on a multifamily home to achieve cashflow. I decided that in order for me to earn cashflow I had to look out of state. Here are a few items that worked for me:

1. Yes, as others had mentioned, identify your goal and refine your strategy. 

2. I chose to invest out of state so I knew that building a team was important. 

3. First team member was a lender. I reached out to several and shopped around for the best quote. Mission complete. 

4. Next, before I find the deals I needed to know that someone was able to look after my properties and help me make this a more passive investment. I needed to find a reputable property manager. Found one - mission complete. 

5. Now that I had lending and a strong property management team in place, I was ready for the deals! I reached out and selected the best investor friendly realtor I could find to help view the properties on my behalf and provide me with any listings that met my criteria. 

6. While waiting for the deals to come as well as actively researching the MLS, I researched and interviewed contractors.

7. I'm a big fan of the BP calculator. As the deals came through I would run them through the BP calculator and ensure that the numbers worked for me. 

8. After a week or so I found a duplex that met my criteria and produced a great COC return. I submitted the offer and closed on the property several months ago. It's now in the hands of my property manager who has been doing a great job so far!

Best of luck to you!