All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Joe Schwartzbauer  That is great to hear you will also be there on the 13th! It would be great to connect then! I am looking forward to making some connections within the local investment community. Since I was told about BP I've been spending some time every day reading the forums, blog posts and listening to podcasts. I am really excited to continue to educate myself and put together a plan for the future surrounding real estate and a first purchase. Thanks for offering to assist, would greatly useful!

@Bruce Runn @Account Closed I am attending 2 different upcoming meetings with the Minnesota Real Estate Investors Association (www.mnreia.com). They have a calender of events posted here. Some are free to attend for a first time member and then cost a fee to join the club and other events are just free. I am attending in Tuesday, Feb 3rd and that meeting is 'Buy Low, Rent Smart and Sell High" and then I am going to a meetup with the Twin Cities Real Estate Investors (TCREI) on Tuesday, Janurary 13th. This is a roundtable type event and on this date they are bringing in the #1 real estate agent in MN to speak about the local market (http://www.meetup.com/Twin-cities-REI/events/207099792/). These will be the first events I've attended but I am looking forward to meeting others and networking!

Thank you all for your suggestions! @Dave Savage I am signed up to go to 2 different upcoming meetings with the local REIA group. One is kind of the kick off for the year and the are bringing in the top selling real estate agent for our state who is going to discuss the market and trends which will help immensely. Plus the ability to connect with other realtors who also invest is a plus. We did meet with an acquaintance yesterday who is a realtor but doesn't invest so looking for that perspective as well. I can certainly see that as being useful!

@Scott StevensonThanks for the tip on loopnet. I knew that existed for commercial but never thought to even check it out for residential stuff. I will be looking at that for sure to get an idea of what may be on there and to look at our local market. Some day I'd hope to own a larger commercial property so this tool will be valuable. Thanks for your insight. 

@Bruce Runn The area you invest in is definitely a highly desired area for and is one I would love to find a duplex or triplex in. Sounds like what you're doing is exactly what I a hoping to achieve. I may need to pick your brain some more!

Thanks again for all your suggestions!

My fiance and I are in the early stages of creating our plan for our strategy regarding REI. We are interested in purchasing multifamily buy and hold properties near us. I am curious if anybody has any tips or suggestions as to what to look for in a realtor- is there anything you know now about your realtor that would make you decide to work with them again or not? Any specific questions to ask in regards to selecting a realtor for REI? Any red flags to look for?

@Elizabeth Colegrove  Thank you so much for your insight and for posting the link to your blog! I am new to investing and my fiance and I are developing our plan and strategy to acquire homes in the future and we were wondering how short sales would work. We kind of thought for rental properties the time doesn't matter so much because we already have a place to live, but I didn't realize some of the other benefits as well. Your tips will come in handy in the future and make us a bit more brave when we see short sales!

Thanks for the suggestion @Joe Fairless That is certainly an avenue I didn't think of, but one that I do see as beneficial. I was just discussing with someone I know today who is involved in a very large commercial building purchase and they found out about it before it hit the market in a similar way. I will definitely make some connections and see what I can find. Thanks!

I live in the Minneapolis area and am looking at purchasing a multifamily home to both live in and rent and ultimately acquire many multifamily rentals. In my area duplexes, and the rarer triplex, are not the norm- single family homes reign here. While duplexes are available on the market it seems to be a challenge to find ones that don't need a ton of work in close proximity to each other. I've only been looking online with Zillow, and am wondering what other websites, tips, or techniques people have or use when searching for properties to ensure they are finding everything that's out there, or hearing about new properties that come on the market quickly. 

Any other advice regarding the acquisition and holding of duplexes that you wish you'd known when starting out investing would be awesome as well!

Thanks for posting this question @Jeremy Carl. I ended a lease within the past year and have moved into my finances house that he purchased years before we met. As we are starting on this journey, FHA loan was something I was considering a possibility to obtain a first multifamily propety that we would live in half of but didn't even think about how the LLC would would impact the ability to obtain that loan.  

Thanks @Albert Bui and @Jordan Redar for the information on the LLC. I have another question about the FHA....I have never purchased or owned a home (our house is solely in my fiancés name). Would us getting married in the next year affect my ability to obtain an FHA since my future husband is a homeowner?