All Forum Posts by: Franky Davis

@Account Closed definitely understand what you mean. This has been a way for my wife and I to make connections and undergo the process initially. The market in our area supports this price range as a B to B+ asset and I don't consider them low income. Plus the cap ex coverage really made them a nice package. The goal is to move to value add multifamily (5-50 units) for sure in the future! Thanks for the comments.

@Gil Segev I hope so too! And the rehab for the 5 single family homes was included as a 21k escrowed amount by the seller for 3 roofs, 3 HVACs, 4 Hotwater heaters and some cosmetic/electrical work. Really helped clean the deal for me. For the others, they were rented at purchase and clean. So, the only "improvements" were improvements at the turnovers. This wasn't too bad. And you're right for sure. I wouldn't consider them "low income". The gross prices are low compared to metropolitan areas. In my market, they are in a pretty decent sweet spot.

@Jay Marz Awesome man I'd love to hear from you. I also have some great audible recommendations. Shoot me a message. Happy easter to you and I look forward to hearing from you.

@Ed Zeid Thanks for the kind words! I think you're right about that although I'm a little anxious. We have some rainy day money saved in the business account too so we'll see what happens. I am preparing my financial documents to look into a refinance that would save me 1.5-2 points and possibly allow for an additional 600 or so of monthly cash flow. It's a crazy situation we've all been thrown into. I'm hoping to come out the other side ok. 

@Account Closed Very very true. Signing on that dotted line isn't hard if you're careless. Sure...rough breakdown:

Duplex 1: Appraised 217k, Price 210k, Rent 2100/mo

Duplex 2: Appraised 135k, Price 126.5k, Rent 1550/mo (total but under market)

House 1: Appraised 76.5k, Price 61.5k, Rent 825/mo

House 2: Appraised 76.5k, Price 61.5k, Rent 825/mo

House 3: Appraised 77k, Price 61.5k, Rent 795/mo

House 4: Appraised 77.5k, Price 61.5k, Rent 750/mo

House 5: Appraised 82.5k, Price 72.5k, Rent 750/mo

@Gil Segev Great questions and appropriate concern for risk. At this point, I think I would be considered over leveraged perhaps in the traditional sense simply because I have no money down financing. However, a few things helped me mitigate that risk, none of which completely eliminate it. First, I purchased at 100% occupancy with at least half of the year lease remaining. Second, I was able to step into a decent equity position, purchasing at an approximately 20% discount for some and 10-15% discount on others. Third, I knew that the properties were under market significantly, they were in a good price range in a market that has a shortage of properties in that range. Upping rent on the ones I've purchased have allowed me to come out around a 9.5-10 cap on everything. Some better, some worse. And lastly, I simply had to last until next summer. At that point, my W2 salary could easily float the note on all 9. That being said, I felt as if I was fairly safe with the current status of the market. So, my wife and I dove in, sort of playing with "house money" to learn the ropes and break through the analysis paralysis. Down the road, our significantly greater cash position will allow me to pursue larger assets. This experience is prepping for that. Sorry for the long response....but those were/are our thoughts.

Man I’ve been very satisfied with them. I think you can get that sort of relationship experience with local banking. But, CBC has been exceptional. Thanks for the post.

Happy pandemic everyone... I wanted to take some time to share the wild and exciting ride that my wife and I have been on over the last 12 months. We have posted several times on BiggerPockets regarding our interest in real estate investing. I am currently in orthopedic surgery residency and my wife is a full-time special ed teacher. We have two small children and are very busy. However, I wanted to tell our story here with hopes to give back to this community due to the positive impact this community has had on us.

First, I would like to specifically thank @brandonturner, @davidgreene, @joshdorkin and the bigger pockets podcast community for their impact on our learning and journey thus far.

I’ll start a year ago. My wife and I initially began discussing our retirement plan midway through my third year of residency. At this point, I had mountains of medical school debt and had not saved a dime to my retirement. Therefore, I investigated a way to utilize calculated risk to develop cash flow options that we could utilize in retirement in addition to our traditional investment portfolio. This led me to BiggerPockets. Fast forward several months, where we purchased our first duplex in Valdosta Georgia. We did this fairly non-traditionally. Due to my debt to income ratio and my lack of initial capital, we were unable to secure traditional financing with most institutions. Therefore, I began by contacting as many smaller community banks as possible. This brought us to the institution that we eventually used. This was Commercial Banking Company of Valdosta Georgia, specifically Taylor Biddle. They allowed me to utilize my future orthopedic surgery contract as collateral to obtain no money down financing. We purchased the duplex, established stable renters and then moved on. As the months progressed, I continued my orthopedic training and we utilized our first direct mail campaign. Mailing approximately 130 letters, we closed on our second property, another duplex. After stabilizing this, we utilized our contact with a local broker to close on five additional three bedroom/2 bathroom single-family rental homes. Subsequently, We have placed renters in these homes and stabilized them, allowing me to pursue refinance options to potentially save two points on our debt. I say all of this to initiate discussion regarding how we got started, how we utilize non-traditional financing as well as the value associated with the BiggerPockets forum and the bigger pockets podcast.

Specifically, I’d like to briefly talk about time management and how you can gain knowledge in your daily life utilizing these resources. The way I did this is by utilizing headphones and listening to the BiggerPockets podcast throughout my daily commute to and from work as well as between responsibilities in the hospital. Push to learn all the time! Additionally, I’ve listen to multiple audiobooks which I can recommend if people would like this information. I know this is a very long post but I wanted to initiate some discussion and express my gratitude to this community of people. We are off to a great start and I as well as my wife have big dreams moving forward. Thanks again!

Valdosta, Georgia

@Anthony Liguori Great question. We started by looking at population size between 50 Dash 200,000 people. We then looked to see if there were any macro economical drivers for success in the market such as a college or large industry. Then, we superficially looked at home prices on the MLS and cross-reference them with rental properties prices. If the ratio was good (1%, 2% or whatever you like). We then began contacting people in different markets and settled on a smaller town in the Southeast.

@Jasraj Singh I agree with the recommendations for the long distance investing book by David Greene. My wife and I purchased nine units in a city 9 hours away from us. We picked our market, then I decided to establish a strong network first. I picked up the phone and called brokers, wholesalers, agents, attorneys, contractors and, most importantly, property managers. After I shifted through them and formulated my team, we proceeded cautiously. It is a trial and error but, if your numbers work in that market, you can do well. I definitely recommend chasing the numbers and not being isolated to your local competitive market. It’s definitely doable!

That sounds great! I’m more than familiar with student loans so kudos for taking necessary steps to address them. Feel free to shoot me a message to discuss things. We’d love to implement your local presence there to make things happen as you start to delve in. I’d also be more than willing to discuss your individual goals for real estate and financial security. I look forward to hearing back. 

Hello everyone!

First off...thanks for reading my post. As the title says, my wife and I are buy and hold investors in the Valdosta area. We purchased a duplex at the beginning of this year and have learned quite a lot with regards to tenant management, property manager management, etc, etc. 

We are currently looking to make more acquisitions in the area as well and would love to network with people to help make that happen. Or, we would just love to hear your stories/opinions. If you are a local flipper/wholesaler/etc...please reach out. If the deal makes our numbers work, we would love to make you as much money as possible. 

Our finances are arranged and our very basic goals are as follows. 

Type: single family or small multifamily (<50 units)

Acquisition amount: <$1M

Location: we love the Remerton area and would love to purchase some SFH near there and close to campus. However, the student housing is tough to compete with in the mfh arena. Therefore, mfh will be targeted to families and out towards the base. Let me know what you have!

Numbers: numbers numbers numbers...we are attempting to purchase properties in the 9-9.5 cap range. This is a lofty goal so are more than happy to settle on the 8-8.5 range if there is some upside for rent boost and expense management, etc. I’ll look at any deal. We also pull in all of the “rules” when evaluating properties. No single criteria make or break the deal. I would also love to be another set of eyes for your deals if interested. We’re all in this together!

Thanks guys and I’d love to hear from you!