All Forum Posts by: Chris Davidson

@Juan Carlos Cabrera checks with your zoning laws online that will have the minimum. As far as actual building space really depends on the style of building and unit sizes. Some cities require X number of parking spaces or landscaping that would also increase the amount of land needed.

@Thomas Dunsmore, You definitely can advertise, but I would not take any money until you actually take ownership. This is a tricky area as so many things can cause a delayed closing or a deal to fall apart. If you aren't financing that is one less thing to worry about, but what if another winter storm comes and all the pipes burst and ruin the unit on May 5th. 

I would wait until you are closer to closing. Right now the speed at which units are getting filled you shouldn't have an issue with vacancies. Just put your systems into place for when you do close. 

But you could test your price range coming into closing and list it at an uncomfortable high price and get a feel for the market.

Best of luck Mate!

Since it hasn't been mentioned I use TenantCloud, and have like how it streamlines maintenance request and allowed me to track appliances. I had used Cozy years ago, but moved to TC and haven't looked back.

@Julianne Paragas you are on the right track. If you are looking to get a mortgage on the investments a HELOC might be a better option as you only have to pay interest only, and when you refi the properties you would pay off your HELOC, and then have the credit line freed back up.

Say it takes you 3 months to find a property you have the cash sitting there and doing nothing while you are making payment. With a HELOC you just don't draw on it till you need it. The rates on the HELOC will probably be higher, but since you would be refi the investments it would be paid off as quickly as you refi them.

The only difference between a 15,20 and 30-year note on the investment properties will be the size of the payment and how long it takes to pay them off, thus affecting your cash flow. All of that is just a matter of preference and what fits your goals and plan the best.

@Daivic Vora, what makes it a great deal? That will be the criteria you need to tell the agents you talk to. Wish I could help with if California is best for you or not, but that will come down to your goals and plans for achieving them. 

@Daivic Vora, do you have a certain style property you are looking for and cant decide on which city? If not I would work on defining what you are looking for before looking for an agent in each city. Since you are new to the MF scene, you need to be more direct to be taken seriously. 

What cities are you looking at?

@James Elden I would work on building a portfolio with different types of renters. The best explanation I have heard was on one of the BP podcast maybe #448 pretty much spread your units out a little where the tenants will most likely be in different fields. Ex if you have 3 have one near a hospital, one near a major factory, and one near an office park. That way if a hospital(factory, or ETC) shuts down and you had 3 tenants that worked there you are out all 3 just 1 out of 3. not foolproof but you get the idea.

@Kedwin Allen Pull the trigger on it. Get your tools out, or borrow some watch some videos if you don't know what you are doing and do the repairs yourself and get it rented! Paint flooring and drywall are not hard to learn. And if you make a mistake learn from it and move on.

@Kayla Tucker congratulations on overcoming one of the biggest first hurdles! Keep it going and when you hit a bump in the road and things get a little uncomfortable reach out chances are someone has been there and can give you some pointers on a path forward!

@James Elden This is a macro question with microfocus. When you say cheaper homes be less affected, are you referring to value loss or vacancy and loss of rental income? And are you trying to set up a portfolio that is more resistant to housing values or vacancies? If you look at the 08' mess, blue-collar jobs not related to construction were not as affected as white-collar jobs in sales and finance. If you look at the current economic situation many white-collar jobs just went to working remotely and some sectors of blue-collar jobs were affected dramatically. 

In summary, a property in a more expensive area during the 08' mess would have had a hit on value and possible loss of collections depending on the tenants' source of income. Where a cheaper home would not have a large hit in value and likely had little effect on collections. Where in today's market a home in a more expensive area would have seen an increase in value and likely little issue with collections if the tenants were in an industry still working. Where the cheaper homes would have seen an increase in value the collections boils down to the source of income. All that being said it is driven by macroeconomic policies. In 08' there was a squeeze on available capital where currently it's very available and they are injecting as much capital into the economy as possible. 

As for the mobility of the lower end and higher end, I believe that is more on an individual level. If you look at the Fracking boom many individuals from lower-end housing dropped everything and moved across the country looking for opportunity. Then on the opposite side, you hear of many high earners that were renting in large cities that could work remotely leaving during the pandemic.

Hopefully didn't cause more confusion, but help show there are many factors in play during crashes and downturns than first seen on the surface.