All Forum Posts by: Danielle Wolter

Thanks so much for the info @Dan H.!

I bought a property several years ago before I knew about BP, or really anything at all about real estate investing. I thought rent covering the mortgage was great cash flow. It's worked out OK as I'm in a high appreciation area, but could have been better. I then proceeded to buy another property to live in and then eventually rent out years down the road. Moved on quicker than I thought, rent was $1K less than I thought I could get because I failed to do any research, and I can't sell it without taking a loss at this point....so I eat $1K each month praying for appreciation LOL. I actually run my numbers now....

I have a bachelors in accounting and finance, MBA, I'm a CPA, certified contract specialist and real estate agent. Honestly, the business degree has both given me a great background in how business is done, but also provided a great job to enable me to fund my real estate investments. I believe all of these, while not necessary for everyone, has enables me to be a better real estate investor.

@Alexandr Balan Your CapEx seems low to me, but I'm not sure what the building (HOA) takes care of. You'll need property management in there unless you plan to manage it yourself. You will likely have to pay more than 10% down, and the interest rate on a rental property will be higher than 3.75%. You will likely need at least 20% down and the interest rate will be closer to 4.5%+ (I always use 5-5.5% for calcs to be conservative). I'm not sure where this is, but the property taxes seem low. It may be correct based on your location, but I would double check them. The vacancy rate seems quite low as well - I typically use between 8-10%, or at least one months worth of rent.

@Kimiko Jimenez thanks for the suggestion!

@Brianna M. I'm currently buying a property in Colonial Acres (38117) but also really like certain parts of Raleigh, Whitehaven, Bartlett (if I can find a good deal), parts of east Memphis, the University area, just to name a few. I try to stay in areas where rents are typically above $800 for a 3/1 or 3/2. 

@Brianna M. Have you been out to Memphis yet to check out the areas? A property at that price point (unless like Jay said, you're getting an extremely good deal you can flip) is going to be in a pretty rough area. I know everyone's investment goals are different, but I personally try to stay in the $80-120K range in Memphis as these areas tend to be decent working class neighborhoods. You also may have trouble getting conventional financing for 10% down. I'd look for owner or private financing, or get a HELOC if that's an option.

@Zachary Blomberg Personally, I would use the HELOC now as I don't try and time the market. It's hard to know when/if the market is going to go into a downturn. Just make sure your buying good deals and market fluctuations shouldn't have a significant impact on you. That's my opinion.

@Tyler Black I love Memphis and think it has a lot of potential for future growth, and with the new investment FedEx is making in their facilities, it's unlikely they'll leave any time soon. I just got back from a trip out there a few weeks back and learned a lot. PM me if you want to talk about different areas, strategies, etc. 

@Rick Hoffart Welcome to BP and congrats on being almost debt free! What a feeling that must be. There's a lot of great on the forums. Good luck to you!