All Forum Posts by: Eric Turner

Wondering if anyone else has done this? I am meeting with the people to do a walk through on a home in a couple weeks. I was really happy when they said it was a walk through. I figured worst case I waste a Saturday. Best case I learn some things, I meet some local investors and possibly find a mentor. 

I won't be buying any courses, if they are selling. I won't be giving them any money no matter what.

Thoughts?

@Justin Marshall 

Thanks! Did you invest locally or did you do it remotely? I have heard the quality of tenants is worse. I was considering buying in smaller towns instead of shadier areas to possibly get a better tenant. But I assume the downside would be having longer vacancies and also a harder time exiting. Appreciate your input.

I am going to buy a rental before buying a home for my family. We get a pretty good deal on our rent ($1275) and we like not being tied down to this area (Seattle). Plus the market is very hot here and we don't get to find a screaming deal because everything is flying off the shelf.

Do you have the option of buying a multi-family in your price range and living in one side while renting the other?

Do you have additional savings to cover repairs and problems that may arise in your rental?

Are you saving up money each month at your current rent rate? How long until you could save up enough to buy the $110k property if you did purchase?

Hi my name is Eric. I am just getting into REI. I am looking to make my first purchase, I am interested in buying and holding, but also flipping. I live in the greater Seattle area on the North end and don't have the capital to invest locally. So I am looking outside my area. Not much close to home would work for me from MLS listings. I haven't found any off market deals, though I haven't really tried much, besides driving for dollars.

I have been considering investing remotely. It doesn't bother me not being able to visit the property. Technology negates most of my concerns regarding this. I would of course prefer to kick the tires on a property, but in the end I would be using a qualified professional, whether local or a thousand miles away, to keep me informed on pertinent information. I plan to use a property management company whether local or remote.

I currently have $10,000 I am willing to invest and another $10,000 I plan to use for repairs, vacancy, etc... I am able to set aside an additional $2000-$4000 per month specifically for investing. So I am considering buying a $30k-$50k SFR rental and testing the waters. If I like it, by then I should have enough saved up for another. I plan to stay in the same area, and hopefully build a small team there and then branch out to multi families and more expensive rehabs. If this is terrible idea please let me know!

I own my own business and work from home. I have built it up so it only requires about 20 hours per week to run. I love what I do, and I am happy with my financial situation, but I have quite a bit of extra free time now. And real estate has always been something that I have enjoyed researching, studying, and talking about even though I have never invested. I have always rented.

My major weakness is going to be networking. I love helping others, but I have a hard time asking for help.

All advice is appreciated and I look forward to becoming an active member on these forums and helping any way I can. Thanks

@Joe Splitrock

You say you don't see real estate hitting a delusional period? Are you talking about the SF and Seattle markets? Or overall?

I am talking about the insanely over priced markets that are seemingly out of control. And everyone is bragging about how their house doubled or tripled in value over the last few years. They can't sell because there is nothing they could buy in their area. But somehow they think they have made profit, so they are all taking out 2nd mortgages. Getting roommates and renting AirBnB to make up for it.

It all seems really really delusional to me. But that is just my market. It is the only one I know.

Everyone is guessing when trying to predict where a market will go and when. But this chart explains it all pretty well.

I like to think the enthusiasm-delusional phase is when the cashier at walmart is giving me advice on bitcoin/real estate investing/stocks etc...

But I think it is really foolish to think any investment will just go up forever with only minor corrections.

Yes we can come up with $400 in an emergency. 

We (Myself, girlfriend, and a toddler) stick to a strict budget and pay only with cash for everything that isn't on autopay in order to stick to our budget. Any unused portion of the budget gets added to the next month. Any extra income goes to pay off debt, savings or investments. We live in the greater Seattle area.

Our personal monthly expenses are:

$1275 Rent (low for our area)

$150 Utilities

$140 Phone

$80 Internet

$275 Auto Loan

$250 Gas

$150 Insurance

$700 Child Care

$600 Food / Essentials

$400 Gifts, dates, vacations etc...

Thanks for this thread. As someone looking to do what you are doing, within the next 6 months, this was a great read.

@Quamal Burton

I say go for it. I left my job and started a business and it was possibly the best decision I ever made. I love what I do now, I work from home, I work my own hours. The difficulty getting loans is the main downside I have ran into so far.

Of course I have pretty good work ethic, had a plan in place and I ran my business part-time for about a year and a half before quitting my day job.

My advice is to get EVERYTHING in place that will help you with your real estate business, all the planning, all your goals etc... Also create a frugal budget to live on if you don't already, in order to extend your 1 year savings further if need be.

If you work hard, have a plan and budget in place, and are truly passionate about being a real estate agent, then you will be fine.