All Forum Posts by: Ricky A.

Ciniqué (like the accent?), that has to be the best intro I've ever read on BP.

I'm sure others will chime in with some great resources to get started, but I'd also say check out TREIA (http://treia.com) if you're looking to meet local investors.  

Good luck with your REI career.

I don't know much about auctions aside from attending a handful (say 3) of them.  A lot of it will depend on how foreclosures work in your state and county, but here are some places you could start:

• Newspapers - I assume all places require public notice of foreclosure sales/auctions, and I bet most places still require disclosure in a publication with significant circulation.  Look in the classifieds for Public Notices and/or Legal.  Look for the attorneys or whomever is making these listings, and they might have sites where you can find all their foreclosure sales/auctions.
• County Courthouse - I assume some counties may have a place for public notices of this kind.  The subsequent steps are similar to newspapers above.
• Auction.com - They list some (but not all) of the foreclosure sales/auctions in some locations.  Look for a "Live Auction" in your area, and the info page will tell you when and where the auction is.  I actually went to one yesterday in our county to see how it works.  Turns out, I was there were only two attendees there, so I was able to ask the guy some questions about the process.  I could imaging that, if the property had been more desirable to investors, there would have been more attendees and it would have been a good place to make some connections.

I don't disagree...including the last sentence.  The event was well done.  

I think there are few people who would have the foresight to structure the meeting that way, and the structure really maximized the value for the attendees.  I think there are even fewer people who would be willing to put in the effort needed to make it happen.  

In fact, there may not be any individual (i.e., non-company) that would be willing to put that much useful time and effort in an event like that.  So I applaud them for doing it.

Had I not had any expectations...like if I had just been milling around the community center and just happened to have stumbled into the meeting...I would have thought it was amazing.  However, with the pretenses that were set, I just felt a bit used.

TREIA definitely promotes paid offerings at their meetings, but that's the expectation that they've set, and I don't have any ill will going to their meetings...I know exactly what I'm going to get.

I agree with Art's feelings.

I did receive value out of meeting other local like-minded investors.  I'll also say that, for a company-sponsored event, I felt last week's meeting (not saying anything about the future) was run respectably.  That is, there were no product pitches and the sponsors' names were just out there in a "we have services that may be beneficial to you, but there's no obligation" fashion.

However, what really put me off was that this was billed as one thing, but it was really something else.  It was billed as a small informal meetup, when it was really a corporate marketing event.

Don't get me wrong...I have absolutely nothing against corporate marketing events where the attendees receive value and products/services aren't pushed down the attendees' throats. It's just that, if you guys had been forthright about the nature of the event, my expectations would have been correctly set, and I would be screaming about how AMAZING the meetup was.  Instead, I feel like I was duped a bit, so my view of the organizers isn't nearly as favorable.

But then again, maybe it's my own fault.  I should have realized the gig when you mentioned paying for the meeting space and printing name tags.

I assume the "struggle" that you're referring to is simply the time and effort to do the BORING tasks needed to keep your books up-to-date.

If that's correct and if there is value in having up-to-date books, there should be some value in minimizing the time and effort required to keep them updated.  Therefore, I'd really consider the suggestions @Arlan Potter and @Brie Schmidt made.  

Although Excel is great, using a software like QuickBooks or Quicken could provide a lot of value.  The ability to link to your credit cards and bank account to automatically download new transactions is a huge time saver.  You can simply import new transactions and then quickly categorize each by account (e.g., type of expense) and class (e.g., property).

Personally, I prefer QuickBooks to Quicken because it enforces some accounting principals that can actually help catch mistakes before you hit save.  Also, you may be able to save some money come tax time.  I have my Chart of Accounts set up to mirror the Schedule E, so come tax time, I'm handing my CPA a report with all the info in a ready-to-use format that saves him some work which saves me some money.

My other suggestion would be to not allow yourself to watch HTGV until your books are updated. :)

@James Hutson, I'm going to try to attend.  I'll confirm within the week...just need to rearrange something else.

@Nick Merryman ,

Great job getting started!  I think the 1st one is the hardest.

My first was simply keeping my old townhouse as a rental when my wife and I moved.  My second was a single family bought in January specifically to be a rental...so in a way I consider it my first "real" purchase and now I'm gung ho to get more.  I plan to get at least two in 2015.

Good luck with the wholesaling.  If you find more than you can handle, let me know.  I'm looking for some ugly properties in Durham that I can fix and hold.

Last year, I wasn't as good as I should have been with regard to attending TREIA and TREIA West meetings, but I plan to be there in 2015.  Hope to meet you there.

Welcome, @Greg Mu 

If you're looking to meet other local investors, I'd suggest attending the monthly TREIA general meeting and ]TREIA West meetings.

Hope to see and meet you there!

My company (not real estate) has used Kevin Bassett at Bassett & Byers (on Lake Boone Trail) for probably 10 years now.  He has been a strategic partner for us helping us craft our tax strategies and legal entity strategies.

He's well versed in real estate, of course helping me with my couple of rentals and helping the company which owns two properties (held in an LLC) and is the landlord to the operating company (an S-Corp).

Although I wouldn't consider myself an advanced real estate investor, at Bassett's annual tax seminar last month, there were some faces that I recognize from the TREIA meetings. One of them mentioned owning a large apartment building in Durham and holding it within a self-directed IRA. I think that's a testament of the level of advisement that Bassett can provide.

I think he might be worth including when you interview CPAs.  

PM me if you'd like more info or an introduction.

Welcome to BP, @Martin Warren !

I know Decatur well...well, I used to.  I graduated from DHS a couple of years (or decades) ago.  My brother lives off the Beltline, so I make it there at least once a year.  It's also an area that I'm interested in investing in. 

But back to you.  Congratulations on putting yourself in a place to really consider investing. 

Should you continue paying down debt or should you buy your first rental?  One of the textbook answers would be to do what produces the higher return.  That is, if you can achieve a higher cash-on-cash return from investing in the rental than you're paying on your student and car loans, buy the rental now.  If not, pay down the debt first.

However, that assumes NPV is the only thing that matters.  I think investing and finances are much more nuanced than that.  

Like Wes mentioned, no two people have identical circumstances.  Even more, people with similar financial situation can still have very different beliefs and philosophies about money, life, and investing.  So two people that seemingly have the same financial situation could have very different, even opposing, approaches that are right for each person's situation.

I think it's great to ask the question, though, because you can get different people's perspectives and see what resonates with you and your beliefs.  Therefore, I'll give you my thoughts which, of course, are based on my beliefs.

Given the price point you're talking about plus your cash savings plus your excess monthly cash flow, I would consider investing now versus waiting.  Of course, there could be details that weren't mentioned that could change my thoughts on this, but on the surface, it sounds like you are in a pretty stable financial position that could weather any investment property hiccups without risking financial ruin.

The real reason I would consider now versus waiting though is experience.  People always talk about the time-value of money, but I think there is also a time-value of experience.  Sure, buying a property now will give it more time to make money for you, but I think the real benefit is that it starts the experience train rolling.  I think it's the experience that you gain in the first few deals that can really compound to accelerate your financial future, and buying that property a year earlier, making mistakes and learning sooner is what will have a larger impact in your future.

Those are just some thought.  Like I said, it's based on what appears to be a very stable financial position.  If you were to say that the student and car loans are at 30%, I would probably answer differently, but otherwise, I would say look for the right deal and until you find it, continue paying down the debt.