All Forum Posts by: Braighton Coey

@Priya Thomas I would highly recommend you go to one of the Cincinnati REIA events if you are available and have never been. They have an awesome local area expertise that can help guide you to success. Feel free to reach out to me directly. While I have no experience up in that price range, I could probably help you find someone that would be able to answer a lot of your questions.

Welcome @Tim Tritschler. I also have just recently started investing in Cincinnati and have been doing any research I can. One thing I have just recently accomplished was becoming a PRO member on BP (it is relatively cheap for all the great content), and I have been attending the REIAGC events that happen around here. 

I have gathered a large amount of resources that I can share. If you are interested, just send me a message. I am by no means an expert, but I might be able to expedite the process for you and save a little bit of time. 

Hello BP Community,

I bought my first house while I was a sophomore in college. I woke up one day and realized the amount of money I had basically threw away renting an apartment and began looking for cheap fixer-uppers. I finally found one close to school, in my price range and sealed the deal. I bought a duplex and rent the upstairs out to my best friends from high school. It has been a great financial move, and I would like to pursue other real estate opportunities.

My current niche is SFR in nicer school areas. Cincinnati, Farifield, Hamilton, Mason areas would all be fine. I'm not opposed to multi-family units either as hold method.

I would love for someone to sort of guide me through the process. I have no doubts I can learn from someone, but from start to finish on a flip. That whole process. A lot of help on the realtor/financing side. General watchouts/must do's. I am a blank canvas, but one that is committed and ready to learn. I also have many skills that I could help others with. I work as a Virtual Construction Engineer so I will not just be a leech. I will give back and help anyone out however I possibly can.

Thank you for any information you can provide and I'm looking forward to connecting with many of you. 

@Nicholas Lohr thank you. I needed this. This is indeed outside the niche that I set aside for myself, but wasn't sure if it was one of those deals that you shouldn't pass on. 

That is a great article and absolutely agree with the tenant concerns. This is exactly why low-income was not my niche. High vacancy rate and a bunch of expected repairs. 

My thinking was that a college kid(s) could rent this since it is under 4 miles to 2 colleges in the area. Again, this is outside my proposed niche.

I still would like to walk the property, just to see, but I will likely pass on this one as my first.

Thank you again Nicholas.

To anyone reading,

Thank you for clicking and being open to helping. I have found a deal that seems pretty amazing, but this is my first attempt and want to make sure the numbers are in my favor before pulling the trigger. I'm trying to mitigate my risks upfront. Looking for several opinions on whether this is a good buy or not.

Can someone help me with the numbers. I estimated $20k for repairs. Floors, Walls, Ceilings, Kitchen, Bathroom. Does this seem right? 

I looked around the area on craigslist and others to see rent was around $750-$800. I'm trying to be conservative and go $700. Same with ARV.

I looked up the taxes from the auditors website.

I am in the works of scheduling an open house but am just trying to figure out if this is a good first buy.

Thank you in advance for anyone willing to help.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3...

@Kerry Baird Awesome! Thanks for the encouragement. I could easily get $600 a month but he's sort of like my brother so it feels wrong. He is planning on moving out in a year or so and I'll be wanting to move on as well so that will open up 2 apartments for rent. I'm looking forward to that.

I appreciate all your feedback @Barry H. I have just wrapped up going through the entire BP free course. I am most definitely very detail oriented and will have no problem whipping up an executive summary for you or others to review. I would actually prefer doing it that way because I don't want anyone to feel uneasy about lending money and I don't want to have the pressure from a "What if" type of deal. I like to take calculated risks and always have an exit strategy or backup plan. It also ensures that I have thoroughly analyzed the property at stake and in a sense created some credibility for those trusting me with their investment.

I bought my first house when I was 20. Not because I'm rich but because I had to. I was paying $800 a month just in rent alone, paying for college tuition, utilities, and so on. Not a sustainable lifestyle so I was forced to make a choice. I began looking at cheap houses that I could buy and fix as needed where my "rent money" wouldn't just be going to waste essentially. I found a duplex and bought it for $26,000 after everything. Redid all the electric (old knob and tube), Installed central air, and other kitchen/bath upgrades. All in all I am probably into this house $40,000 total. My mortgage is $210 a month and I rent out the upstairs to my best friend from high school for $300 a month. 

I'm definitely excited about this venture and hope to one day be proficient as you have been to where I too can turn more down the private money route and then maybe still do a flip or two a year.

My name is Braighton Coey. I graduated from UC in 2011 with my degree in Architectural Engineering and now work with Messer construction as a Virtual Construction Engineer. I'm looking to get into the real estate market and recently attended Than Merrill's $200 class. I have a pretty good concept of the entire construction phase (I think) of rehabs, but am completely new to the steps prior and after fixing the house. Throw in taxes and LLC structure and I'm lost.

MY QUESTIONS: What advice can you give to a new person like myself? What is something you wish that someone would have told you when you were first starting? Any MUST DO's and MUST DONT'S are also welcomed.

I pick up on things pretty quickly and am willing to put in the effort outside of my 40 hour work week.  Let me know your thoughts and I thank you all in advance for your comments and answers.