All Forum Posts by: Greg Moore

@Patrick Britton My. Sentiments. Exaaaactly! It’s only a matter of time.

@Drew Sygit- thank you for the advice. It’s a new area to me so I’ll remain eyes wide open and proceed cautiously. 

@Nathan Fisher - the VAs are people. They are just not living in the US. When I first heard Virtual Assistant I had also assumed maybe the VAs were chatbots. But that is not the case. These are trained assistants living overseas. 

@Karl B. Love this response! Please search “Join me roasting Appraisers” for an equally entertaining thread on crap Appraisers!

@Bob Lachance - would you mind sharing what company you contract with for your VA? Thanks!

@Soh Tanaka - thank you for your thoughtful reply.  Technology is giving us new options, and is disrupting some of the old ways things have always been done.

@Nick Gerli BPInsights is the best source for answering these questions with a data-driven approach. You can even download the data yourself. @Dave Meyer is a genius approaching godlike status in my book!

What is your experience with a Virtual Property Manager (e.g. oversees Virtual Assistant specializing in Property Management)?

I'm a big believer in Property Management.  A good one is worth giving up cashflow for! I've always used local property managers who are experts on the local market where the property is located.  However, I have a new rental in my portfolio with lean margins, and my choices are: 

1. 1) self manage and keep the $250 cashflow
2. 2) use a local Property Manager and make basically $50 cashflow; or 
3. 3) go with a low-cost, overseas Virtual Property Manager (VA) wherein I get property management and approx $150 cashflow per month.

I've never tried option 3, but my research tells me it's ok, since Property Management can be distilled down to a set of tasks that can be done remotely, online, over the phone, etc. (No offense Property Managers! I know you work hard!). Even a phone call to the Sheriff to go post an eviction notice can be done remotely.  So if this was my only choice to keep some cashflow, shall I give it a try?

Please let me know your experiences!

Please let me know your recommended Tampa-based Property Management, and why you recommend them.  Thanks!

@Paul Berard - what @Greg Scott said is spot on. You lose so many of the benefits of real estate investing (leverage!) when you pay cash. And that equity becomes an easy target for a pretend accident on your property in a law suit. Why not buy $1M of properties using your $200k (20%) and letting $1M of properties grow 3-5% YoY?! In this scenario your paper equity grows $30k-50k per year. When you burn your whole cash wad on $200k of properties paid for in cash your paper equity on that same money grows just $6k-$10k per year. #LeverageBaby!

PS You may need to come to grips with your level of risk aversion. It sounds to me like you’re HIGHLY risk adverse based on the small amount of insight from your post.

Wishing you a wonderful investing experience!!!

@Brian Gerlach thanks for your reply. Any advice for a new investor getting into this segment of REI?