All Forum Posts by: Dakota Rholetter

Hello Bigger Pockets Family!

I have recently been reading the book, The House Hacking Strategy by Craig Curelop and an interesting question that I thought about earlier was:

In a single-family residence where you rent by the room, is it a good or bad idea to have mixed-sex tenants? Or should an investor opt for same-sex residents?

My thoughts here were that if you had both female and male tenants under a single roof, it could cause tension between the tenants, in a good or bad way, but either way could prove to be troublesome for an investor/live-in landlord. 

Though, I do realize there are some laws in place that say you may not request certain genders this is due to the FHA. However, there are laws that say if there is a common space shared between both men and women, you can request one gender or the other.

What are your thoughts?

Best,

Dakota.

Hello @Marc Ferguson,

Congratulations on your start in investing in Real Estate!

The best advice I can give here is to Not Lie At All. It's probably a good thing you aren't a good liar, that is not the best idea when speaking to a private lender. This is due to: if you have to lie to them about numbers to get the deal, the deal doesn't make sense to begin with, you can lie to your lender but the numbers themself provide the real truth.

Continuing on, aside from that, I think a well outlined proposal is an outstanding idea. I am not sure what side of investing you are going into here (Flipping, Wholesaling, Renting) but make sure the numbers make sense before you have lunch with your lender/friend. Bigger Pockets actually has plenty of resources that will calculate your cash flow, outline your potential and create easy to read graphs so that you and your partner can see how much cash flow is really coming out of your investment. 

The biggest thing I can say is to have a clear understanding of where each of you stand in this journey. The cash flow split is completely up you, however, make sure it makes sense with what each of you bring to the table. Furthermore, when it gets closer to time to close, have everything in writing and go through all the right steps even though you are friends. At the end of the day Business is Business and Pleasure is Pleasure: Keep them as separate as possible. 

Good Luck on your Journey Marc, I wish you the best of luck and plenty of cash flow!

-Your Friend, -Dakota

Hello BP Family,

I am just starting out on my real estate journey (at 19) and I have heard from many investors that the best thing I could do before getting my feet entirely wet would be to either become a General Contractor or get in touch with one for a bit of an apprenticeship. 

That being said, if there are any General Contractors in my area of Western North Carolina I would be thrilled to sit down and talk with you for a few minutes. I am more than willing to work with you/for you to provide benefit for both of us while learning anything and everything about contracting needs.

Thank you for your time!

-Dakota

Hey Chad,

No apology needed; the real estate bug was the best bug to have bitten me in my life! Just like Spiderman when he was bitten by the radioactive spider, except in this case my ability is great wealth instead of web shooters. 

Thank you for the exceptional advice, I will definitely be looking into different areas and figuring out what areas around me look the best when investing. I also actually intern for a few realtors in my town, and we talk every other day about potential properties, and I greatly appreciate their time and wisdom. 

Again, I appreciate your time and great advice! 

-Dakota :)

@Bruce Woodruff That sounds like great advice! I will begin looking into some books on construction, I believe that you have a great point about having that quality/skill in the game of rehab and renovation! 

Thank you! (I followed you just in case I am in the Arizona Area and need a contractor!)

-Your Friend, - Dakota :)

Hello @Dan Sheeks, thank you for the reference book! I will absolutely check it out! 

-Dakota :)

@Bryan Balducki Thank you for that advice! I currently have Craig Curelop's book "The House Hacking Strategy" and that seems to be the smartest direction that I need to head toward first! With attending college courses and starting out, house hacking seems to be the best way to get my feet wet. (Just gotta find the property 1st.) I will begin contacting lenders to get pre-approved and see what I can financially do, so thank you for that advice as well! 

Again, thank you for your advice and I will definitely keep posting updates on my real estate adventure and hopefully in a few years I can help give advice to those beginning too!  

Your Friend, -Dakota :)

Hello Bigger Pockets Family,

Firstly, I would like to say that this site is absolutely amazing when it comes to generating great forums, information, calculators and anything that comes with investing in real estate.

With that out of the way, I will begin, my name is Dakota, and I am currently 19 years old and I live in Western North Carolina. I have a good chunk of capital saved and put away for my investing career. I am currently enrolled in college, taking some basic business classes in marketing and finance.

I took a liking into real estate investing at the start of this year (2021). I was just fooling around with the idea when I stumbled onto this, The Bigger Pockets Website, where I was led to start listening to the Bigger Pockets Podcasts on Spotify. From there I learned of hundreds of books to pick up on the subject of REI, the first of which I read was the honorable Robert Kiyosaki book of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." I took such a great liking in his book that I had to read more and more, the more I read, the more I came to love real estate.

 I read "Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki and "How to Invest in Real Estate" by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin. From these books I learned that my personal preference for investing would be in multifamily (or single family) rentals. I loved the idea of the home paying for itself (with the right number crunching) and being able to manage multiple of them with a steady flow of cash coming in each month (which is something Kiyosaki screamed that everyone should have and commit to having). 

Right now, I am currently working a few hours a week as an "intern" at Keller Williams as a "Marketing Specialist." Which is essentially just listing homes that are for sale on a realtor's webpage, I help with closings and organization of files, postcards that go out to the community and miscellaneous things such as that. I took this internship to learn about the selling side of properties to open my mind up and understand every aspect before getting my feet wet. 

I have a current goal to have my first rental property running before my 21st birthday which is in April of 2023. 

My question to you veteran pros out there is, what is your advice? Your advice for a young pup, such as myself, fresh out of the gate with minor capital and little experience? I appreciate all advice, and constructive criticism is always welcome!

Best,

-Your Friend, 

-Dakota :)