All Forum Posts by: Glenn Gillen

Hi! I was wondering how does someone break into the multi-family investing when competition is high and the people you compete with are more experienced/more funded/more connected. In other words, how do you get good deals before more experienced investors?

I've been interested in trying out turnkey real estate investing, and Memphis Invest stood out as one of the top turnkey real estate companies back when I was researching different companies. However, I noticed that the company changed its name to REI Nation to "...more appropriately reflect the expanding reach and immense growth of the company".

Is that statement accurate? Or did they change their name to avoid lawsuits, bankruptcy, negative press, etc? Previous experience with other companies wants me to assume the latter, but I want give the benefit of the doubt.

How does someone find information regarding the company's performance and track record if the company changes its name? How can someone determine if the company's name change is a loophole versus legitimately "...reflecting the expanding reach and immense growth of the company"? 

So I've done some reading on turnkey property investing (i.e. biggerpockets, google, etc.) and for the most part, people are saying it's a bad investment. However, I really like the concept as I'm someone who doesn't want to make real estate investing a full-time job due to my other commitments. I'm also having analysis paralysis and can't trust my own calculations (fear that I'm missing some variable or not doing the calculations correctly) during the due diligence. I also live in the Bay Area and while there may be some deals here, I don't feel confident enough to fork up the capital here and think it would be better to look elsewhere. 

My question is this: can I develop a respectable portfolio of cash flowing properties through turnkey alone? Also, what is a good cash flow range for a turnkey property? 

I'm interested in doing some research on the US real estate market and I'm having trouble getting an action plan together. I'm thinking about using the following features for my data analysis:

1) US census ACS 5-year survey: Population growth, Unemployment, Vacancy Rates, Housing Starts/Building Permits @ the county level if possible 

2) Crime Information by county (taken from county websites)

The goal is to map out the real estate market by US counties to determine the areas that have the greatest growth potential and have relatively low crime rates. 

I'm not sure if this is the right course of action or if I'm missing any other information. I currently live in the Bay Area and I'm looking to invest in other places, but I'd like to do some research on other markets to make a more informed choice regarding which markets are better for investing than others w/o relying on real estate website suggestions alone. Looking for a second opinion on this topic, thanks! 

I was wondering if there's a catch to using the roofstock platform for buying investment properties? Is it safe to buy any property on that site? If not, what are some criteria to look out for? What are some potential downfalls to using roofstock? 

I've looked around for other opinions on this subject, and most of the advice boils down to "It depends". I'm a new investor so my criteria is still under works, and I would like to hear more specifics on how people use roofstock to find deals or property worth investing in. So far, it looks like every property on roofstock that is over 7% cap rate seems like a good deal, but that may be a naive way of looking at it. 

Would love to hear other peoples' ideas and comments related to this subject. Thanks in advance! 

Thanks @Brandon Sturgill! Very helpful, will keep your advice in mind! 

Interested in trying the FHA loan route to acquire first investment property. I understand that the property must be occupied for 1-year, and mixed reviews as to whether rooms can be rented out during that time period.

  The following is probably a dumb question, but I'm very interested in hearing expert advice or opinions on the subject! So here goes...

  Assuming that you can rent out other rooms while occupying one room in a multi-family property (i.e. duplex), would it be possible to live in the garage (not sure about the legal process of converting garage into actual living space) and still qualify the 1-year owner occupancy requirement for FHA? 

  I'm thinking about parking my camper in the garage, and if I could live in it while maxing out the other rooms, I could really maximize the house hack. I'm already thinking that the vehicle creates an issue, since it's technically not part of the house...willing to convert garage to living space in that case! 

Ok, cool. I'll look into other investing books. Thanks for the advice Kevin! 

I'm starting to get into real estate investing, but I'd like to do some research before I do anything. I took a class that used  Bruggeman & Fischer's 14th ed. Real Estate Finance and Investment textbook, and we were required to use a HP-12c financial calculator for the loan/mortgage calculations. I was not able to complete the course and I'm really rusty on the concepts. 

I found the textbook material to be very heavy and complicating, and I was wondering if it is worth the time and effort to get familiar with the calculations and problem sets used in this textbook? 

I also looked the textbook up on multiple sites, and the majority opinion is that the textbook contains many errors (i.e. incorrect calculations, formatting, and inconsistent examples). Not sure if these errors pose any issue with the efficacy and legitimacy of the book's contents and advice. 

Opinions and advice about whether it is worth pursuing this book would be greatly appreciated!