All Forum Posts by: Clark Kirkpatrick

This looks like a good deal! Cash invested is quite low for conventional financing?

That's really unfortunate about the racist neighbor. That could cause long-term problems, and I don't know what can be done about it?

I'm planning to have my kids rehabbing young as well! That's awesome that yours are involved at such a young age - they'll have those skills forever and they'll always be useful!

Hi Scott!

You might try Slatehouse Group. They manage a ton of properties in this area, and their rates are quite reasonable. I haven't talked with them about that area specifically, but let me know if you want a contact to get in touch with them!

I've wondered about this too, as my farm area is mostly 100+ year old houses, a high water table and lots of rain recently.

Every single house I look at has moisture in the basement. Not puddling, but dampness on the floor. Each basement has a floor drain so if the water actually accumulated, it would be able to escape.

I've come to the conclusion that it just doesn't matter. They're generally C class houses and neighborhoods, and I'm house hacking a 200 yr old duplex in this area now. I run a dehumidifier in the basement and I have some concrete work to do around the base of the house to assist with drainage. Besides that, I just don't worry about it.

I've used mysmartmove.com and that seems to work pretty well. 

It costs like $30 or $35, and gives you a lot of info about the person, including criminal, credit and eviction history.

Welcome Stefen!

There are a ton of great resources here for people like you, so dig in!

I invest without a license, and I use those website for comps. That is often good enough.

There are a lot of benefits to having a license though - for example, if you're in a hot market and speed is important, you can go see a new listing straightaway without having to coordinate with your agent first. You also have access to a wealth of MLS data that isn't available to non-agents.

One drawback is that you have to do a lot of paperwork as an agent, whether it's for your deal or someone else's. I really value the fact that my agents handle that for me, along with dealing with the seller and title company and all that. Those tasks are no fun, but crucially important.

For some investors, being an agent brings a good source of side income each year. I have a full-time job, so that wouldn't be so helpful for me because I wouldn't have time to do both.

It also costs money each year to maintain your license, and a broker will take some of your earnings. 

Some investors swear by not being licensed, and others say they couldn't do what they do without it. It really depends on your personal circumstances.

Cheers!

Hi Chris!

Good decision jumping in the forums, there are a lot of really generous and knowledgable people here just trolling around for questions they can answer.

Your multifamily plan sounds like a good one, I hope you'll post about a deal when one comes up for you!

Cheers!

Hey Strom, welcome to the forums!

I'm glad you're here - let us know when you have specific questions, because there's a wealth of information and super generous people willing to share their knowledge.

Cheers!

Hi Harken!

I spent time traveling the world, now am in a corporate job, and I'm working all the time to get out of it, mostly through real estate investing. I feel you. 

Here's what comes to mind:

1. Advice: Read the books BP has published. I'd begin with Set for Life, but it's not really that important which one you start with. I've read most of them and they'll give you a comprehensive overview of how the RE industry works and how you can use it to quit your job.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/store

2. Connections: Go to your local real estate meetup group. It might be on BiggerPockets, or it might be on meetup.com, or you might just google for it. Go to each meeting, listen to the presentation and talk with people. 

3. Opportunities: Once you've read a few books and met a few people, your knowledge of the real estate market and their knowledge of your local area will come together to create opportunities for you. Opportunities are local.

4. Assignment: find out what real estate investing strategy appeals to you. I like buy-and-hold rentals, because they'll pay you until you die and you won't pay taxes. Then go up to the "tools" tab on this website and learn to use the calculator for your preferred strategy. Go and find some real houses in your local area and use the calculator to analyze that "deal". 

If you do these things, and you have the will and ability to take real action, you'll be on your way.

Cheers!

Hi Jeff!

It certainly sounds appealing to live in a new house all the time, though moving sucks. 

You're partly getting a new job by doing this - trading your time for money since you do your own work and then sell the finished work for a profit. If that's your preferred business model, this could be a good play for you.

The risk is in the market though. It's been going up since 2011 or so, which has been great for people who have done things like you're describing. History suggests that sometime the market will come back down though, and that is risk for you.

You could just live there longer and ride out the downturn. That could be a good risk mitigation strategy, but it would also limit the number of times you can do this, and thereby limit the amount you could profit from it.

Just a few ideas. I'm jealous of your construction background! I have a background in watching youtube videos about construction and then doing the work twice because I screwed it up the first time.

Good luck!