All Forum Posts by: Cody Smith

Hey @Timothy Busse, I'm curious about a few things with your analysis...
For your closing costs, how are you getting $2000?  I have read different things about this, and I've seen recommendations of 6-7% of the loan.  
For your Property Management costs, I've seen people generally recommend 10%.  Do you have a PM lined up that'll give you 7%?
Also, for your rents, are these around the avg/median for the area and comparable properties?  If they're lower, there may be opportunity down the road for a greater return through rent increases.

@Mick Durr that is a great set of info, thank you!  I had not realized of some of the developments you mentioned so I highly appreciate you bringing that into the convo.  What timeline are those numbers (on median sale prices and DoM)?  Are they this last year?

I would love to go bigger once I get my feet wet in small multifamily because of the greater control you do have over the value of the asset and the ability to scale.  For now though, I'm going to go forward with the challenge and see what I can hash out here in St. Charles County. :)  Are you planning on investing in large multifamily around here?

@Account Closed, welcome!  It sounds like you have the energy to try out real estate investing- I love it when people are so fired up and passionate about something.  It is absolutely possible- but does it makes sense at your stage?  You have to be the one to figure that out.  Taking action is incredibly important, but it's pretty important to know clearly what direction you're going to optimize your chances of success.

I'm in the learning stage myself and my advice is to keep listening to podcasts, keep reading, keep connecting.  Start with your WHY- why do you want to pursue real estate?  If you can answer the WHY, it'll help keep your fire alive when it falters and life happens.  It will help you to keep pushing. 

Secondly, I would highly recommend stepping through the steps and creating a business plan using the Ultimate Beginner's Guide.  I used it and it has done wonders for keeping myself focused on my mission, my why, and my beginning investing strategy (house hacking a multifamily).  

Additionally, consider finding a local real estate meetup to start making connections with experienced real estate investors who can help answer your questions and give you additional perspectives.  BP has a meetup finder you can utilize here.

Lastly, this website has SO MANY RESOURCES IT'S CRAZY.  Use that search function for questions you have- it can answer just about everything.  Start using the calculators to get comfortable with the different aspects of calculating real estate deals. Start building systems to get the information to populate the calculators accurately.  You can also listen to past webinars as a Pro member- so you search for ones on topics you are interested in.  

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and connect!  Good luck!

@Dan L., welcome! I gotta second the BP BRRRR book that @Jake S. suggested- I'm reading through it right now and it is jam packed full of awesome information and tips like why BRRRR, about each step of BRRRR, and building your team.  

Consider the house hacking approach as well once you get the capital. It can be very versatile and work with SFH and small multifamilies. Maybe even do a BRRRRouse hack! Good luck!

@Mick Durr Hey Mike, thanks for your post.  I have been thinking about where my next areas of attack may be, so thank you for the suggestion.  I'm trying to see where I can get in the next few months around St Charles County before I begin to expand my search.  What has you interested in St Charles County?

@Jon Wilson It sounds like you have a pretty solid idea of where you want to start- a small multifamily to house hack with a set amount of money to work with at this point in time. I'm working on getting my first multifamily to house hack where I'm at too! House hacks seem like one of the best ways to start. The BRRRR strategy is also pretty incredible and you can combine it with a house hack.

Based of those numbers (65k saved, max mortgage of 275k), are they compatible with the areas you want to invest in nearby?  You'll need to look at some comps in those areas and see what small multifamilies are going for- dilapidated and otherwise.  

You could work with an agent to have them automatically send multifamilies that hit the MLS to you in that price range to start getting a better idea. They could also provide you with a list of recently sold multifamiles in the last year. If you let them know exactly what you are looking for, they may be able to lead you to deals before others too.

You could also work with a lender to confirm how much money they are willing to lend you to make sure your expectations are correct for your mortgage.  You shouldn't need them to do a hard inquiry to give you an estimate.

Also, see if you have a local meetup in those areas and network with other investors- they might be able to give you some additional insight on those markets and what you'll need to do.

Lastly, great job on the saving.  That's a good chunk of change and is enough to make a world of difference.  Good luck and if you have any other questions, feel free to message me.  

Hey @Matt Conrad, I've found the same thing to be true about the numbers from properties on the MLS. The St. Peters area seems to be even crazier. Do you know how they price the properties around here? I've read in David Greene's BRRRR book about how some areas in the southeast value square footage more while California is more heavily skewed towards proximity and condition.

Hey there BP friends-

I've been working on expanding my knowledge about real estate in St. Charles county- more specifically the small multifamily arena.  

What I'm aspiring to do is purchase a fourplex to house hack to start- since I work in O'Fallon, I'm trying to keep the house hack as close to there as possible. So far the market appears to be pretty tight for that category with very few small multifamily properties popping up on the MLS. I'm thinking that finding an off-market deal via cold calling, direct mail marketing, connections, etc is more likely.

I wanted to know how are you all doing in the St. Charles county market with small multifamilies?  I would love to hear from those who already have them or are on a similar journey.

Thanks for reading!

Nick's approach of aggressive goals and finding the CANs instead of dwelling on the CAN'Ts is incredible.  Podcast episodes like this that shift perspectives and have so much positivity are absolute gold for the soul.  Seriously life-changing stuff.

Thank you guys so much for having Nick on to share his story!

Congratulations!  That’s great.  I also hope to be in the same situation someday.    

Since all the units are tenant occupied, what steps do you take to have one of the tenants move out so you can take their place?