All Forum Posts by: Bob Langworthy

@Christopher Canzoneri, I have many clients in Public Student Loan forgiveness programs and I usually try to advise them out of it. If you have any ability to increase your income, you should do it. Your "savings" of $100,000 is only $10,000/year. It shouldn't be difficult for a young guy to earn an extra $10,000/year or more (possibly a lot more). The bigger risk is not in waiting to start your real estate investing, but in working hard to keep your income down for a decade. 

My council would be to seek to double your income in the next three years, pay back the money that you owe, then start your real estate investing career.

@Sandra Holt, I leased for 7 years before buying a commercial building 2 years ago. The plan was always to buy, but it took a little time to build my practice, save for a down payment, and find the right building. One thing that worked for me was to find a value add play. The building I purchased is a block off the main drag in town and was vacant. In addition, 2 of the 4 offices needed extensive renovations. That all worked to my advantage when negotiating a sale price.

Now that I'm in and have the building fully leased out (and 7 parking spaces leased to local businesses as well) it cash flows nicely.

So if location isn't absolutely crucial, look for a value add play in a good location. Just a thought.

Welcome to BP, @Kyle Baker! I'm in Brunswick and am also a fan of commercial real estate. Having said that, I'm looking for a residential property for my next investment so that I can gain some exposure to that asset type and see if it is of interest to me long term.

Keep up the great work!

I’m doing this now. It’s my first real estate investment, a four unit office building with more parking than is needed so I lease out seven of the parking spaces. It has worked beautifully. In terms of getting started, “vacuum the truck”. There was a podcast about 15 episodes ago where that phrase came up. It basically means do the next small thing that you know how to do. Maybe that means researching commercial lease rates in your area, or talking with a commercial broker, or driving around to look at potential buildings. Whatever it is, take the next step. I wish you well!

• Update #2: I referenced a 4000 sq. ft. empty office building in a prior post. In the 1300+ days that it has been on the market, the price has dropped from $540k to $330K. In addition to the building, there's 12 acres of land that could possibly be developed. Not having the ability to write a check for it and realizing that the location is not ideal for many businesses, I decided to do have an initial conversation with a local hospital about their need for office space. I'm friends with the VP that just completed a $6,200,000 renovation and asked him about a need for space. They said that they were all set. Bummer! My plan to get an LOI from the hospital and then buy the property wasn't going to work!
• Plan B: Make a very low offer. Maybe the seller just wanted to dump it at this point. I made a low offer and it was rejected. Not even a counter offer.
• Plan C: Make an offer closer to asking price, but with a 90 day contingency to market the property and secure a tenant. The seller's reply was basically, "That won't work."

So at that point I decided to walk. Even though this property is a great value, it's not right for me. I've seen enough clients run headlong into trouble and heard enough stories here that I decided to be patient and wait for the right opportunity. Currently, I have an offer in on three residential buildings in a nearby town: 2 duplexes and a single family. I'll let you know more when there is more to know.

Congratulations on making the move to Maine, "the way life should be"! My practice is in Brunswick, but my real estate is in Brunswick, Topsham, and soon to be Lisbon. There is a lot of opportunity in this area and that includes Richmond. In addition to being a bedroom community for Augusta, there has been so new business activity there over the last decade. And, as you have discovered, property prices are much lower in Richmond than in MA.

On a personal note, I'm headed to Beverly later this month. My son is doing a 10-day leadership trip in the Adirondacks that will be leaving from Gordon.

Are you will want to familiarize yourself with the concepts of net operating income and capitalization rate. There’s a lot of good information on this website about valuing commercial properties.

The Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow podcast hosted by Kevin Bupp is another great resource. He recently interviewed the head of a national car wash association who also owns 5 car washes. It was a fascinating interview. Bottom line: you can make money anywhere in real estate if you take time to understand your particular niche/market and find great deals.

Rob Guzas of Management Alternatives and Systems Services (MASS, Inc) is a great accountant that works with investors and small businesses.

Welcome to BiggerPockets and welcome to Maine, @Logan Jamieson!