All Forum Posts by: CJ M.

@Taylor White

Good God! That's probably going to wipe out most of your cash flow for one your properties for a year (i.e. before you make that money back).

@CJ M.

Bump

@Tadela Tedemet

It's hard to say. This could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Like others have suggested, it's up to you to run the numbers, to know whether or not those things will add value. Has this contractor worked with other investors? Is this contractor an investor himself? Does he have any references you can check? Personally, if I had a contractor who understood value adds and simply was giving me an honest assessment of his opinion every once and awhile (without being pushy), I think I would be very happy with that...especially since he's providing quotes at the same time.

Also, you said these are your first properties. Does the contractor know you don't have a lot of experience? If so, he may just be trying to help you out.

@Mary Ann

Unless there was some serious demand for the ammenities provided by the HOA, I would avoid them like the plague. Costs, and rules around them can change at a moment's notice, and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. You'll also want to check to make sure the Association permits rentals. Some Associations permit them, some only allow a certain percentage of rental's in the complex, etc. For example, I live in a condo, and they used to allow rentals. All of a sudden last year, they changed and no longer permit them.

 Also, I don't know what everyone else's experience has been, but what I found from personally living in a neighborhood with condos is the long-term owners like to talk. And, many do not like rentals in the community.

@Isaac B.

Most of my rentals are C neighborhoods, and some B neighborhoods so I don't even run credit. There's a reason why they're renting, and not buying.

@Christian Hutchinson

I would ponder the words "opportunity cost." That should give you the answer to what you need to do.

@Ty Dunse

It's hard to say. If you have a system you can put together now, that will help you manage and maintain properties when you move away, then by all means try and find a property now. But if you don't have a great support system, you may be better off waiting to buy a property nearby your new home.

@Khiry Glenn

There are always good deals to be had. I think your market is also going to play a big factor. In the midwest, so far we have not seen any decline in applicants looking to rent. That said we're still in the very early stages of this pandemic, so it's anyone's guess what the market will look like iver the next say 1-12 months. My advice, would be to continue to move forward but make sure to pay closer attention on keeping adequate reserves.

@Matthew Daniel Langner

Honestly, my biggest challenge was me. The mental adjustment it took to be able to take a risk and step outside my comfort zone was rough at first.

@Braeden Henry

I would find a value-add multi-family property I could buy for roughly $10,000 down, and then save the rest of my money for reserves/rehab. Then, raise rents, refinance the property in 6-12 months and pull $ out from the equity.