All Forum Posts by: Gavin Welch

Hey Christina, welcome to the "nearly 40 and not trusting social security" club. Ok, here is my two cents. Right now, its getting now difficult to flip. The better margin (profit) is on the higher range properties which require more money and experience. It can be done, but the margins are not as high as they used to be.

I personally, like single family houses. Condo values can really change depending on the building and that is out of your control. Also, condos have association fee and weird rules that could make renting the property difficult. Finally, condos typically have 'special assessments' that is additional fees for maintenance or repairs that they did not predict and your stuck with.

With that being said, I prefer single family because its much easier to predict the holding costs, maintenance costs and the overall value of the property.

My personal strategy is this. Buy and rent 3/2 concrete block houses in decent neighborhoods for 40 to 60k and rent for 700 to 900 per month. Build up cash pay off and buy more.. Easy and proven strategy..

Just my two cents.. Tenants are easy.. Message me if you want some advice there also.

Gavin

@Gary Sullivan

I've never heard of him..

Good Luck

Gavin

@Jason Abbott I've always been told to look at the tax returns.. Too many people 'cook' their books to raise the price of the multifamily properties.

I live in Lakeland and if you need some advice, message me.

Gavin

Yes, I used a birddog system that placed an add on CL then lead them to a website where they could enter leads.. And if they submitted a usable lead, I would pay them. I have 300 people signed up in 2 weeks. Had weekly webinars to train them what too look for. It was a ton of work...

All of the leads were bogus. Mostly there were vacant foreclosure houses the banks were sitting on. Then i had people just cut and paste from CL adds. I also had a realtor send me a ton of MLS listings... I'm a realtor myself...

After six months of training and going through about a million "bogus" leads.. I stopped doing it.. Was not worth the time and energy I spent on it..

@Account Closed , that is a common strategy to purchase then establish cash flow and then refinance to pull your cash out. If I understand you are purchasing $30k properties. Which provides great cash flow, but can have a ton of deferred maintenance from the previous owner or need a ton of rehab.

Be careful with the super cheap houses they can have a ton of problems. My advise is to carefully monitor your maintenance costs on each property. After a year or so then evaluate each individually. If one is a maintenance nightmare then sell it and get a little better place elsewhere.

Good Luck

@Adam Gray Hey Adam, at least in my state Bill is correct. You can't raise the rent until the lease term is up. Rent-o-meter.com can give you a rough idea of rents in the neighborhood. Also, if you call on another property for rent in the area that will give you an idea also.

Nothing will kill your cash flow faster than tenant turnover. In my opinion, its better to lower the rent $25 per month and have someone stay another year or two, then, just having a tenant there one year.

I have a lease agreement I use that my brother (an attorney and investor) wrote. In my state the owner can write his own lease. I think you can get good lease agreements for free.. I got a 9 page one from a rental expert online. Try mikebutler.com I think he has some free forms.. Or message me and I'll send it to you.

Good Luck

Gavin

@Therese V. You don't need a realtor to talk to the seller. However, if you do want to involve your realtor, you need to ask the seller "Are you open to working through a realtor?"

Typically, people try to sell their own homes because of a couple of basic reasons. 1. They hate realtors or had a bad experience. 2. They are tying to get top dollar for their house. 3. They are not serious about selling. (just seeing what they can get for it).

However, they end up with two types of people looking at their house. 1. "some day" buyers who can't afford it or just wanted to see the house. 2. FSBO hunters and investors who are going to 'low ball' them.

So if they are opposed of working with your realtor remind them of that (gently) and on average sellers working with a realtor get more money for their properties.

Good Luck

@Darren Nichols Hey Darren, I'm not sure about there, but you can get absentee lists from title companies and it free..

But don't tell anyone.. Ha ha ..

I'm with Justin.. A lot of it is WHO YOU KNOW..

Good luck

negitive cash flow? You'd probably need to raise the rent and keep the property management in house.

I have not used the property analysis yet. I have 4 rentals.. But they are free and clear.

I use as a rule of thumb if the rent is $800 then I'm going to have about $200 in expenses.. (taxes, ins and repairs)

I'd keep using the program till you can get a solid idea of how it works.

I like the John Straub rule.. If you cant generate $500 of cash flow or put down 50% of the purchase price, then you should not. But I am very conservative..

Hope this helps...

You can start an Llc at www.sunbiz.com

I think melbourne is a great place. Lots of out of town owners and probates. Lots of retired people. I'd start with the absentee owner list then hot the probates.. Also plenty of REiA's especially a bit south of there..

Good luck.

I handle orlando to tampa but go to Sebastian Inlet alot.. Let me know if I can help.