All Forum Posts by: Axel Meierhoefer

Thank you Johnson

Thanks Greg, I will check that out

Dan let me know when you are ready and if you have other resources you want me to look at, I am happy to do so

Alice, I know there are many skeptics and rightfully so. I guess I have to learn my lessons.

Michael, I am familiar with Marco's Norada podcast.

Thanks guys, and please keep them coming

I have decided to focus on SFR turnkey investments as I will not be able to afford anything in my backyard. After reading David Greene's book, I decided that creating the core four teams he suggests is only possible when dedicating lots of time which I don't have. That leaves turnkey. I know its more expensive but I am sure people can be successful with it and hope podcasts describe trends, best places to look into, what to analyze and what to avoid. I suspect there are a few episodes on BP podcasts. In addition I would love to spread out and learn from other people. I hope you can help me find the best in that niche

Great points Ross

You and the considerations of others make it hard to decide. I hope I am not getting analysis paralysis

Thanks Kashyap. The community here at BP has given me a lot of input to my questions and plenty of possible markets. Now it will be up to me to decide where the strongest economic development potential meets price levels I can afford. Figuring that our will be my task in February with the aim to have a property lined up before the end of April.

Thanks Mike

Those have shown up on my radar as well

Hi Joshua

I agree with your summary. What I am finding as I am pursuing this strategy myself is that it all starts with the banks you know and the people you know in those banks. Though that sounds good in theory, because I have been dealing with the largest banks in the past, I have found that they are the least flexible. So if banks, then small and local and flexible ones.

One trend , to use David Greene's quote, I am detecting, is the question of you doing work versus others doing work for you. There are mortgage brokers out there who love to find a deal for you and they get money on commission. I use a number of them to search their connections in the lender community and present offers to me. Yes, they might be a little more expensive on first glance, but when you actually get to negotiating, you will deal with the lender and can see how much commission you find the broker deserves, and how much you can/want to afford.

I have not done it yet, but for my upcoming deals out of state, I am planning to use the BP community to help me find brokers and banks in the markets I am interested in and begin working with them.

I always emphasize building relationships first and then be fair and dependable and trustworthy in those relationships. That has always served me well.

So when I suggest to create a path outside of the typical convention, I encourage you to keep learning all the time. Just here on BP I have learned and keep learning a ton about things I never considered. I listen to podcasts of other organizations as well. What attracts me are titles of blog posts, podcasts, books, etc., that describe an unconventional approach. In my experience I could sum it up like that:

"Most people are like lemmings. They follow what they are being told and blindly walk with the crowd - off the cliff - into their demise. Don't be a lemming - be an innovator and leader."

If you apply this approach you would not have had a problem with the real estate bubble, or the financial bubble, or any of the recent crisis. Actually those who are innovators and leaders benefited from all the other people's misery and misfortune, and multiplied their portfolios for pennies on the Dollar.

Putting it another way: You can eat at McDonald's everyday and receive a very predictable but also unhealthy and lame meal. Or you can seek out the innovative chefs who cook the cool meals that make your mouth water for more. You might say finding these chefs is more work but if you ever tasted the rewards of that work, you will never go back to McDonald's - except maybe to punish yourself :).

Hi Myrna, welcome to BP

I would be interested to learn more about your intentions and ideas. Maybe you like to connect and we can talk about your plans and maybe they align with mine and we can work together

Welcome to BP Alain. I think you have the right intentions but it appears you got some of the information partially right and partially wrong. The LLC is a good idea but you would not want it to be in CA. Having the LLC is protecting you personally from anybody trying to sue you. When getting financing, you can still use your own credit and then transfer the property into the LLC later. In most cases the lender will not mind and sign a letter of transfer as you are still the one paying and you are the owner of the LLC. I would open it in NV as that gives you the best protection in the country.

With the new tax laws you will also have some other benefits as the owner of an LLC that a tax expert can explain to you. Ask them about "pass through". you could also benefit if you do you iT work as a consultant/contractor. I am in that same position and there is a ton of stuff to consider. I call it "the dance". Something that needs to be discussed - too complex for typing.

On your statement about cash flow on properties, I suggest you do the math for a number of different scenarios. I am happy to explain my view on it, but in a nutshell:

If you have $100K to invest (just as an example) and you get 1x $500K property (20% down payment) in CA you have to get $850 cash flow after all expenses to be around 10% return on your investment.

If you take your $100K and buy 5 properties at $100K each (20% down) and each of them only gets you $200/month after all expenses, you make more return on your investment, and the icing on the cake is that you spread the risk of having your property empty/vacant across 5 options. With one expensive CA property your return is toast as soon as you have some vacancy. You might argue that the numbers for ABNB rentals are better but to have a property that is constantly rented it will be more expensive to purchase and you need to manage much more when you have 100 - 150 tenants/year versus 1.

Bottom line, and that's what's great in BP, you need to define your goals and then execute. Your strategy needs to work for you, nobody else. I recommend you read David Green's book on "out of state investing" . Lot's of really good advice in it and as a software/IT guy you will love the tools he is describing to make the  system work for you and not the other way around.

Good luck and feel free to connect.

@Brend Thanks. I realize it and agree with the avoidance of that fee. I had posted that notion as well :)