All Forum Posts by: Scott E.

Are you looking at converting this home into a rental or trying to renovate and resell?

These details may need to be disclosed upon resale, which means you may be stuck having a hard time selling this house down the road when you are ready (just like the current owner is having a hard time selling).

Deals are tough to come by, but I personally wouldn't be interested in buying a property with this history. Even if it's in a great location and the numbers make sense.

Commercial real estate investing is a bit more advanced than residential investing. 

Compared to residential it generally requires more complicated underwriting, more capital, and more due diligence.

With that being said, of course it's possible to start with commercial. But I had about 20 residential deals under my belt before I had the confidence and ability to do my first commercial deal.

We can offer more feedback if you share information about your other work experience, your financial situation, your goals, and which niche you're looking at (multifamily, office, medical, retail, industrial, storage, etc)

I have a few local mentors, but these guys about 30 years ahead of me in terms of experience, and they are not available to hold my hand as I build my business and do deals. They are there to meet with me periodically, make me think bigger, encourage me to be more creative, and help me avoid unnecessary risk.

With that being said, I don't really see a local mentor or an online mentor as a person who will be able to help you through "the logistics, planning, details" as you put it.

Your team will help you with those things. That is your real estate agent, general contractor, designer, architect, title company, hard money lender, property manager, etc. You will be in good shape if you put together a strong team who has experience, wants to work with you, and understands that you are new at this.

Sounds cool. But how is your technology going to be different from Matterport?

Welcome to the forums Nathan. You've come to the right place for somebody looking to educate themselves on anything related to real estate investing. Try to spend the next few months here on the forums, reading the blogs, and listening to the podcasts. 

Your plan to focus on out of state is fine, but it will come with plenty of challenges compared to investing near where you live. Building a team you trust out in TX or FL will be the hardest part. But a lot of those connections can be made right here on biggerpockets.

Yes you're allowed. Converting a garage to additional living space isn't a whole lot of construction and doesn't take much time. And you can contain the mess very easily by closing off that part of the house while your crew is working.

Just coordinate with the roommates. I'd try to make sure construction was happening at a time that causes the least amount of disruption to them (i.e. while they are at work).

 LOL! I guess we can only imagine...

Somebody just posted the same question 2 days ago, you should check out that thread.

Link

(Random fun fact - I grew up in Monaca PA. So I know the area well. Never have invested out there though)

You'll probably get a good recommendation here. But if you don't, just ask your real estate agent. Every agent I know has inspectors that they have worked with dozens of times.

It would be easier to help you here if you asked some specific questions regarding what you need help with. But with no specific questions, here are some random thoughts.

1. As @Austen Mueller said, you need to look at the zoning to see if you are even allowed to build multiple units on this property. And if a manufactured unit is possible. If you're not sure how to do this, walk into the city and talk to them about your plans.

2. You should have a conversation with a local builder AND an architect. Both of these contacts will help walk you through the process on if this is possible, how long it would take, how much it would cost, etc.

3. Looking at the numbers, what are you goals here? Live in 1 unit, rent the other unit out? Or build it and rent both units out? If you share more detail about the plan and numbers, we can help you underwrite the deal.