All Forum Posts by: Nate T.

It's tough out there right now if you're just waiting for deals to come to you. I haven't purchased a property off the MLS since 2014. I know some investors that are having success with that, but they constantly submit tons of lowball offers and/or LOIs. I haven't purchased a property from a wholesaler since 2012. I agree with your assessment on those.

Recently I am mostly buying by tracking down owners of distressed property, from website leads, or occasionally from road signs.

But I went to a seminar on Saturday and there was a wholesaler there doing 10+ deals a month, getting almost all of them through direct mail.  

All of the grassroots methods still work, you just have to put in more effort in this kind of market.

@Ashley Benning I will email you.

We have private funds available for real estate investors in the Phoenix AZ metro area.  Here is a quick summary of the terms:

• No Loan Fees
• Up to 5 Year Term
• Interest Only payments
• 9.5% interest
• Secured by 1st lien on real property. Residential property only. Phoenix metro area only.
• Non owner occupants only
• Purchase or refinance OK
• Minimum Term 6 months
• 60% LTV (somewhat flexible depending on the property and borrower)
• Borrower pays escrow fees and lender's title policy

@Kyle Karges

1 lease, with parents co-signing for each occupant.  You should listen to the BP podcast with Bill Syrios (#140), he's got a lot of great info for student housing, and he was very helpful when I had some questions about renting to students.

I mostly use Randy Norton, Looking Glass Home Inspection.  He's been great.

We have been getting most of our deals from website leads and tracking down vacants.  

@Isaac Moore and @Avery Gilmer 

Whose doors are you knocking?  We haven't had much success with the pre-foreclosures lately since there just aren't very many of them.

And I'd be interested to hear what you use for tracking down owners.  We use lexis-nexis but it's expensive.

If you are buying retail, cash flow is pretty unrealistic.  If you are buying at a discount and you can qualify for low interest financing then you can potentially cash flow.  You don't have to be at 1% to cash flow.  It also depends on other factors such as interest rate, down payment amount, etc.

But honestly I don't think this is a great time to buy a single family rental property in Phoenix.  The prices are too high.   

What to do?  You could consider buying out of the area, in less expensive markets (I've never been brave enough for that). You could fix and flip (which is great right now if you can find a deal).  If you're set on long term single family investing in the Phoenix area, you might consider ways to enhance your cash flow, such as:

• Vacation rentals
• Student rentals
• Group homes
• Offering lease options / seller financing

I haven't been here forever but I don't think 2% deals were ever "a thing" in the Phoenix area.  In the bottom of the market (2008-2012) you could get 1% deals, and if you still own them today they are probably close to 2% deals.  But other than that it really doesn't exist.  For example, if you buy a median house today for $240K, it will rent for somewhere around $1400.  Nowhere near $2400 or $4800.  If you get that same house wholesale for $175K you still wouldn't hit 1%.

There are lots of good paid options (Builder Trend, Zoho Project, Teamwork, etc.).  

Here's a free one to check out:

https://www.smartapp.com/gantterforgoogledrive/

Lots of nay sayers on here... there are plenty of good ways to make this work.

You could sell the house on a wrap with 30k down at a reasonable interest rate, with a 6 year balloon. Then you've got good cash flow and $0 tied up in the deal.

Or bring in a partner to put up the 30k.

I would also have no problem keeping it as a rental at a break even cash flow or slight negative since you're building equity so fast.