All Forum Posts by: David Lecko

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Carmel.

Purchase price: $194,000

Cash invested: $9,700

This is my first house! With 5 bedrooms in an A-Class neighborhood, I rented out 4 bedrooms each for $550 per month and lived in the 5th. The monthly mortgage (including taxes and insurance) is about $1300 per month, so that gave me some extra cash every month in addition to living for free. Now it is a full-time rental property.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted to reduce my living expenses before I quit my 9-5 job!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal on the MLS. It was a couple hundred days old listing. Most of the negotiations involved my list of things needed fixing before closing. There was mold in the attic from a previous hole in the roof and we made sure it was fixed properly before closing.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a 5% down primary residence mortgage.

How did you add value to the deal?

I added value to this deal by bringing 4 friends to rent rooms and make it cashflow!

What was the outcome?

I stayed in this house with my 4 friends for 9 months after I quit my job. Then my business started doing well enough that I didn't need roommates anymore, so instead of kicking them out, I got an apartment. Later they moved out and I found a new family to rent the entire house.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest lesson I learned was to use a lease document! Since we didn't have a lease in place, this became their word vs mine. We each forgot exactly what was agreed upon on several things. Firstly my roommates thought I was responsible for cleaning the house after move out. I thought they were responsible. We didn't have anything on paper, so ultimately I took care of it. Another thing was the actual move out date. I thought I asked for them to give me 90 days notice. They gave me 30.

Handyman special located in Indianapolis, Indiana. 3 bed, 2 bath, 1500 square feet. Needs cosmetic repairs. Sold as is. $65,000. Accepting best cash offer. For more info leave message.

ARV 142,000

Repairs needed 40,000

Video of interior: https://youtu.be/MvGJmiZIKK0

Video of exterior: https://youtu.be/wPHCez4o3z0

Hey guys,

I'm looking for someone to help me find run-down looking houses that I can fix up and add to my rental portfolio. 

Ideally you are someone who's new to real estate that would like to get paid for a few hours per week to help me. You'd also participate in the strategy of selecting neighborhoods, analyzing deals, and managing a real estate business so you can more quickly start doing your own deals.

Your job is to drive certain neighborhoods 2 hours per day (8-10 hours per week) that meet any of the following criteria:

• Stuffed-full mailbox
• Broken or boarded up windows
• Tarp on the roof or falling-off gutters
• Visually in bad shape
• Snow fell but there are no tire tracks or footprints on the driveway
• Tall grass
• Handicap ramp
• Window Unit Air Conditioners
• Hasn't been sold in the last year (I'll give you an app to be able to tell)

I'll assign specific neighborhoods for you to drive. I'll answer any questions about the 3 rentals I've purchased last year, or the full blowout rehab I'm working on currently, or the way I've set up my deal criteria, etc.

Feel free to ask any questions about the position here. Looking forward to it!

Guys, there’s some apps for this. Whether you have android or iPhone search driving for dollars and take a look at 3-4 apps that come up.

Hey Otis, I noticed that happens if I try to post directly after clicking a push notification to open the app. If I open the app from the app icon, then I can post without it crashing.

#1) What is the reason/goal that got you into real estate?

I wanted to quit my job and have more time to be creative in my craft (making software). My dad almost lost his job during corporate downsizing several times before his retirement, which stressed my parents out big time. I wanted to be able to help my family financially if they needed help, and I wanted stability before starting a family.

#2) How has your business/geography changed as we have advanced into this later stage of the economic cycle? (or not changed?)

I'm not totally sure yet. Some things I learn from are Ray Dalio's How the Economic Machine Works and I am excited to hear Bruce Norris talk about economic cycles next weekend.

Here's some pictures of a vacant house I bought in February this year. It was vacant for 8 years. I had to plant grass because the yard was totally gone. It allows me to live for free while I work on my business because I rent 3 of the 5 bedrooms to friends.

Hi @Roger Covin, I'm just exploring the cold calling scenario myself and I like your question. So FSBOs, Expireds, and For Rent all make sense to me - those phone numbers are available for free.

Where would you get phone numbers for absentee owners, and how much would you be paying per number?

I have looked at whitepages.com to get numbers for $.06 each lookup, however when I search for myself they are missing my personal cell number so that makes me think other numbers may be missing or outdated as well. I still have to pay for the lookup even though my correct number didn't come back. I wouldn't want to spend time cold calling a list of numbers unless I felt good about the data.

@Samuel Rogers tell me you're serious about that app!

Hey @Trevor T. check this out http://opunplanner.com/

@Adam Fleming your county likely has a website for searching property records. Actually I'm "pretty sure" this is it (assuming North Port is in fact in Sarasota county): http://www.sc-pa.com/propertysearch

Just search for the address in that website and you'll see who the owner is, and where the owner lives. Then you can send a postcard to the owner offering to buy their property. :)