All Forum Posts by: Mohammed Rahman

Hey @Andrew Rosenthal congrats on your first home! Huge milestone! 

As far as putting out your needs on BP, you'll have a better time if you reach out directly to brokers in your area and start from there. I've found that most agents that are active on BP and based in NYC don't cover Staten Island much and mainly focus on residential. 

I'm based out in Queens & LI, and know that Staten Island uses it's own MLS system as well.

You'll be much better off connecting directly with an agent that's based in your borough.

Hey @Venkata Ede - I'm going to against what most people are saying here: there's only a bad/good deal depending on what your investment goals are. 

Are you wanting to focus on monthly cashflow, then this deal may not be super great (unless you're ok with low monthly cashflow while property appreciates slowly). 

Are you wanting to buy this and flip it in < 2 years, then it's a bad deal. 

Let's assume your goal is to have the highest cashflow every month, you will likely barely break even as the first 12 months of owning a property are usually the most expensive (hidden costs, cap ex, etc.). 

Hey @Coty Jones I've used Cozy and liked it, they have no fees for less than 20 units. Cozy was bought out by Apartments.com a while ago but they still haven't charged any fees so I'd check them out if I were you - good luck

Hey @Anna Dyal - I'm sorry to hear about your situation and I'm glad you're feeling better enough to start going back to work. As others have mentioned too, refinancing to get you out of the hole sounds a bit tough since it seems as if you're wanting to focus on getting your monthly costs lowered, while not having stable income the last several months. 

I can think of a couple of lenders that may be able to get creative but I'm not too certain if it'll work, shoot me a DM if you want to talk further thanks! 

Hey @Cliff Benner - firstly I think it's great that you're putting yourself out there. It will be a difficult process for you given the background you mentioned in the post but it's all a numbers game. 

If you haven't already I recommend hitting up some networking events where other brokers/investors/lenders network with each other. A lot of times first time investors think it's difficult to find the money when it comes time to fund the deal, when in reality it's 100x more difficult to find the actual deal. 

Once you have a deal, other investors and lenders will be happy to work with you. 

Hey @Mike Schorah - I don't think anyone in the forums can point you at a specific list and say "hey this is the magic list right now." I believe you probably already knew this, because different markets will have different sweet spots. 

I lean towards continuing to call different lists in the market you've already got momentum in since you've probably done basic research about those markets and can continue a conversation once you get an owner on the phone. 

Just my $0.02, I don't think there's any right or wrong answer here. 

Seconded what @Tim Ryan said about being wary of options that charge you for courses or mentorships. For what it's worth @Alexander Layson I recommend picking up a BiggerPockets book (check Amazon) and starting there. It'll be a lower cost way for you to invest your time and figure out if this is really what you want to be doing. 

Being a recent grad and suddenly having disposable income along with minimal expenses lead to a lot of free time spent figuring out ways to get rich quick. Real estate isn't a quick way to get rich, and it will wash you out if you go into it thinking everything follows a specific step-by-step process (as it does in engineering).

P.S. I have a friend that works as a systems engineer in Amazon, and is based in Issaquah - I had the exact same conversation with him when he graduated. 

@Wendy Fate - once a property is rented... the landlord is not liable for the tenant's negligence (unless caused by the landlord, e.g. a broken stair step). My opinion (like most others) is that you shouldn't have been involved in this conversation from the start, but I do understand where your concern comes from as they're living in *your* unit. 

Hey @David Torres Are you flipping this property? Or did you purchase and hope to sell it without making any updates/renovations done? If the latter, it will be difficult for you to sell at the same price and you may have to eat the loss if you decide to sell. 

Alternatively, you could just try refinancing into a conventional 30yr note and then rent it out. 

Hey @Mike Schorah - Lots of useful feedback in this forum. I use PropStream as they also have a built in skiptracing feature along with the ability to pull property lists... much easier than piecing together a bunch of different software tools.