All Forum Posts by: Alex Johnson

What Wayne Brooks said. Order an O&E from your title company to get a birds eye view of what all is in play. Here in Colorado, you'll be able to easily see which position is foreclosing with the NED. Illinois may be entirely different, but it's a quick, easy, cheap place to start. You should also be able to find the foreclosing attorney's contact info in there

It's part lifestyle choice and part investment decision. Could putting 15% down on a rental and staying in your primary give you better cash flow? If you really like where you live now and you'd have to pay a bunch more to get the same house, staying may be the better option. But if you've been wanting to move for a while, your current home seems like it would be a good rental. I wouldn't agree with Thomas that just because a property has an arbitrary value that it isn't an investment property. 

The company I work for manages 1,500+ homes and they just switched to paying through 7-11 (or through our website). I guess the tenants get their own barcode that is linked to their account with our property management division. They can go to any 7-11, scan the barcode and pay rent in cash there. Keeps them from needing to come to the office and they can pay cash (as opposed to grabbing money orders or cashiers checks.) Plus there's a 7-11 on every corner. 

Once you do a few you'll start picking it up pretty quickly, at least for first-passes. Memorize what a new furnace, water heater, and electrical panel all cost (including install). Know what roofs cost in your area (e.g $7-8k for a standard 1,500sf home. More if it needs decking replaced). I generally ballpark carpet and paint based on size of the home. Needs a small bathroom completely remodeled? $3-5K. Basement finish? $30/ft. Basement needs egress? Few grand each. New stainless appliance package? Couple grand there. When you start to see all of the same repairs come up, you'll quickly be able to throw together an estimate that will give you an idea if the deal is even in the ball park

I think it really depends on what market you're looking at, what you're willing to take as an acceptable return and also what kind of terms you're writing into your contract. We did 200 deals on the MLS here in Denver last year alone for one of our institutional investors (all buy and hold). We picked 98% of them up below list price (which doesn't happen all that often in Denver), but they are a cash buyer and take everything as is. If you're able to spice up your offer with things like closing times and contingencies, we've seen people have really good luck getting stuff at a discount.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'll just keeping digging around in a few markets to see what will provide an acceptable level of cash flow. I feel like we've been a little spoiled out here in Denver being able to hop around owner-occs, putting less than $10k down on a deal, getting excellent cash flow and seeing great appreciation. Have to get past the mentality that not every market will be like that

You can also consider doing a 30yr and paying it down as if it were a 15yr. That way if you ever come across some hard months you are only liable for the smaller 30yr payment.

Since it's your primary, you can also look at a HELOC

Subject pretty much covers it. I've picked up a few rentals in Denver in the past 2 years but I bought them as primaries, moved in, then moved onto the next one. Now I'm in a primary that I'm not going to leave for a few years, so I'm looking at picking up a rental the old fashioned way. But I'm priced out of the Denver market when it comes to 25% down rentals. So let's say I have $30k to play with, any markets you would suggest with good renter pool, good demographics, good job market, and decent cash flow? Been looking at parts of Michigan, Indy, Columbus and KC

Download the Nextdoor app for the neighborhood. You'll find lots of referrals from your neighbors and can sometimes find neighbors who are contractors that will do smaller side jobs for you.