All Forum Posts by: Carl L DeCesare

@Michael Jobe. And thank you for organizing the meet up.  It was nice meeting you and I'll be seeing you again.

@Alex Corvin , It was great meeting and chatting with you the other night too!  Let's keep in touch.  

@Account Closed, That's right.  The culture is such that I'll be motivated to help out others that are getting started when I'm more established.  

What a crazy past week and I half! I've been a long time listener of BiggerPockets Podcast and finally pulled the trigger and decided to take some action. I'm not a very social guy but I decided to go to a BiggerPockets meetup in Raleigh, NC where I live. While there I collected countless business cards of other like minded investors and contractors and was also referred to a wholesalers meetup which I attended and it was great. I also met two people who you've interviewed on the podcast, Dawn Brenengan from episode 101 and Karen Rittenhouse (and her husband Jim) from episode 2. Karen and Jim sat a with me, told stories, and gave advice for about an hour AND I exchanged info with Dawn, she sent me a deal 2 days ago, and I put an offer in today! I am feelin the power of BP! I expanded my knowledge base for about a year but eventually, I realized I had to take some action and build a network or else i'd never build a real estate portfolio. I was amazed and enthralled at how open other people in this industry are to chat and share info and I want to extend my thanks to you because the common thread of everyone I've meet is this site. THANK YOU!

Hello fellow investors. I'm actively searching for an investment property in the Raleigh or Durham area. I would love to invest an a multi unit but as those of you familiar with this market know, there are very few duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes in the area so I'm most likely going to settle on a single family home. I've been looking at potential buy and hold and also flip opportunities. I'm new to the area and don't much of a network of like minded investors with experience so I've just been using the MLS and working with a realtor to look at properties. I want to learn how to buy REO properties or use other strategies to purchase for below market value but for now, i'm just using the MLS. My realtor has referred 2 lenders to me and he has told me that they require 25% for a downpayment on investment properties. I had the perception that 20% was the standard and I'm posting this to get a referral to lenders that would take 20%. Also, if anyone works with contractors who they just love and would like to pass along their phone number, I would be eternally grateful. Thank you!

Thanks Dawn.  I'll come to the next meet up for sure.  Where's the location?  I'm fine with investing in single family homes but so many of the successful guests on the podcast preach that it's a must to get your property for below market value to cover for unforeseen circumstances.  

Jay C., I also dabble in the stock market and I've lost enough $$ trying to call bottom on oil stocks.  I'm too heavily invested now to even think of selling and it's looking like i'll be waiting quite a few years to see any returns and just crossing my fingers that the companies don't go insolvent in the meantime.  

@Dave Foster , I did live there over 2 year and I didn't know that.  Thank you so much for the info.  Very valuable!

I did the house hack thing, bought a double unit which I lived in the lower unit and rented the upper (which i'd recommend for anyone to do). I recently moved do Raleigh, NC leaving the investment property, now fully rented, in Buffalo NY. I receive an offer from a tenant to purchase the home which I would like to do because I don't want to be a long distance landlord and this is in the now in the works. The sale is going to leave me with nearly 6 figures that i'd like to reinvest (probably in Durham because the Raleigh market seems very high) but I have ABSOLUTELY NO experience on getting a home below market value. I'm very hesitant to just use my realtor and buy off the MLS. Is buying a REO property the way to go? I don't have experience doing direct mailing and feel like it wouldn't know where to start with it at this point. I want to do the 1031 exchange so i'm not hit with capital gains tax. Should I transfer all of the profit from the Buffalo home to one other property or use it for a downpayment on a couple properties? There seems to be very few multi unit homes around the Raleigh/Durham area so i'm most likely going to end up with single family houses. What would you do if you were in my situation? I'm very new to the area and as a perspective real estate investor so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Great, thank you all for responding.  I think the approach I'll take is to leave my money in stocks and start saving and building up some capital to invest in a rental property.  It'll take me a little longer to get the funds together but then at least I'll maintain a diverse investment portfolio, some stocks and some real estate. 

Thanks again!

I began putting aside a percentage of my modest paycheck and doing side work to come up with additional money to invest in the stock market starting in 2008.  From 2008- early 2014 I made very nice gains but they haven't been doing much lately.  Now, I would like to use this money I've built up to invest in a rental property or two.  If I sell my stocks, is there a way to avoid paying capital gains tax?  I've recently learned that a 1031 exchange is to defer capital gains tax when reinvesting the profits from one property to the next.  Can this apply to stock profits as well.

Thanks!

-Carl DeCesare (Raleigh, NC)

This is how I got my start.  I purchased a duplex and the tenants paid all but $200 towards my total amount for mortgage/taxes/escrow.  I can't even tell you how beneficial this was for my wife and I.  There are some negative aspects to it such as hearing our tenants walking around in the unit above us often but we were able to build up a considerable savings by having so much contributed towards the cost of our home.  We lived in this home for 2.5 years and had enough saved up to put 20% down on a single family home and now have a considerable amount invested into stocks and mutual funds. Bottom line, if you can handle living in close proximity to other people, do it! It's a great launching place for the rest of your investing endeavors.