All Forum Posts by: Drea Na

Hi Barbara,

Have you tried to use Quickbooks at all? There is also appfolio or Buildium. Quickbooks online has a robust reporting platform, and although not made for real estate investors directly, if you classify each property correctly and set up a system from the start, you will be able to reconcile per property using the amortization schedule and provide a clean monthly report for the investors.

A good bookkeeper will be worth their fee when scaling a portfolio. My guess is this is taking between 8-10 hours per month to keep everything straight?

Hi Christopher,

Oh the stories I could share lol! But the main points I want to get across are the below:

1) Run the deal through the BP calculators and make your decision based on the numbers, not your gut, or the fact that you're tired of looking and just want to pull the trigger.

2) Track your numbers from the start - either spreadsheet/quickbooks or some other platform where you are tracking down payment/pricipal and interest - as well as repairs and cap ex expenses, and ensure that you are not co-mingling the funds

3) Have your platforms for checking backgrounds, collecting rents, fixing issues, property management stuff set up and ready to go - it's just helpful to know the platforms you want to use before you need them. Creating systems early is key.

4) As for building your team, I can't say enough about word of mouth referrals from this platform but also from locals in the area - I made friends with 2 or 3 of the neighbors (once I identified the property I was considering) and they were more than happy to share handyman contacts, and even contacts with the city!

5) Finally, check out David Greene's book on Long Distance Investing

Hope this helps :)

Hi Aaron,

I didn't see your initial post, but when I bought my first property out of state a few years ago, in a market and state that I had no idea about, the first place I went was with a realtor. I found the two that I worked with through word of mouth referrals. 

In my opinion that's the way to go because what I quickly found is that most realtors have relationships with the lender, appraiser, title company etc which often makes the process go smoothly. This isn't always the case, so due diligence is definitely required. 

Some questions I asked the realtor was - are you an investor yourself, how has it been for you, do you have lender recommendations, how many investment properties have you sold, do you have references, how long have you been in business, how well do you know the market, do you have any property management recommendations?

Hope this helps!

Hi Keis,

Welcome to the community!  Maybe edit the title of this post to attract local agents.

And maybe try out the deal calculators on this platform, I believe you can analyze 3 deals for free -you didn't provide any numbers here for us to really chime in.

It doesn't sound like this is your first cruise so I'm assuming you have a team assembled and cash reserves in place to cover vacancy/cap x, and repairs etc..

I wouldn't kill myself to find a cash flowing deal at the moment - those are challenging right now, but I would more so strive for something that allows you to break even.

Hi Tracy,

A cash out refi can make sense depending on the circumstances. I'm surprised you're seeing a lot of those at the moment - in my area, interest rates haven't come down enough for the refi to make sense. 

Nevertheless, with the right circumstances it is absolutely a vehicle one could use to scale without too much risk - for example if a property was a rental and paid off but had a lot of equity, it could make sense to do the refi.

Ultimately every situation is different, but it is definitely a strategy that works for scaling. David Greene writes about this in his book BRRRR.

Hi Efrain,

Welcome to the community. There's a few things you can do right now to be set up for success:

First, set your goal, and understand that real estate is the long game (not get rich quick) despite what you might see on Youtube. 

Second, if you don't have it already, develop an aggressive savings plan, you will need 10-20k on the low end (down payment/closing costs/maintenance/reserves/etc..). You will also want to get your credit score as high as you can to secure the best interest rate.

Third, educate yourself in your markets - attend local meet up's of real estate investors, stay reading and asking questions on this platform, read the books, listen to podcasts, watch the videos - I always like to recommend David Greene, he serves it up straight, informative and easy to understand.

Finally, if you're looking to house hack a 3-4plex - I strongly recommend setting up systems to screen renters, collect rents, and be able to fix stuff (like a lot of stuff lol), And set up a system to manage your own books (you may want to connect with a loal bookkeeper), this is a business and if you treat as one from the gate, you'll put yourself in a good position.

Hope this helps!

Drea

@Rebekah Noriega I agree with Sultan that each funding route has it's issues - for 401K, if you're tapping it before you or your husband are 59 1/2 you'll incur a 10% penalty unless you meet some very specific criteria. In this market I don't know that I'd want a Heloc to fund an investment property - lots of risks, and kin some cases could effect your current interest rate (if you have anything under 6% this will be a problem).

Additionally, if you've never managed a property before, I'm not sure that I would start with something that I intend to be my home away from home. There's a lot that goes into managing an STR and you're going to want systems in place from the beginning including keeping the books straight with a seperate bank account.

I recommend educating yourself on the topic, this platform has a number of books that can shine a better light on key items that you may not have thought about.

Hope this helps!

@Denver McClure can you elaborate more on what you mean by "protest your taxes?" I have an LTR outside of Fortworth for the past few years and I've never heard that term. Is that just for the property taxes? 

Hi Rebecca,

Welcome to the forum! Cash flow on a small residential property is nearly non-existent in today's market unless you bought a decade ago...ok maybe not that long ago, but you get the idea.

There are several strategies that can be used to make money in real-estate and now is the time to educate yourself on what they are. Check out the books on this platform - I recommend books written by David Greene, he breaks down all the strategies very clearly.

You might be in a great position to house hack, and you might have to get creative with how you do it. Are you able to put an ADU in your current backyard? Can you rent out a room in your house? If you're dead set on buying a different property have you considered out of state? You still may not get great cash flow, but your down and closing could be significantly cheaper.

We haven't even touched on short or mid-term rentals, REIT's or wholesaling. Bottom line - start with your why, figure out your ultimate goal, research strategies that are currently working (and the ones that aren't) and dig in.

Hope this helps!

Hi George,

I'm sure you could find a deal that you could get into with no capital at all - however I can't see how getting into a 3/4 unit place with no capital is a smart move. You will absolutely need a reserve for vacancy and repairs at minimum. 

In your shoes I highly recommend saving and educating yourself on the market, attend meet ups with local real estate investors, get the pro account on this platform so you can use and get good at analyzing deals on the calculators.

There's several books on this platform that you could educate yourself with.

Hope this helps :)