All Forum Posts by: Ika Sargeant

@Karen Alegi Thanks for sharing and great job on your investment. I see you are in my area and would like to pick your brain regrading STR in that area of WV and highway 81- Shenandoah. I am also curious what is the percentage of costs(mortgage, taxes, insurance, cleaning) So what is your net income?

@Travis Timmons I have been working towards breaking into this space. Your advice gets a five star. Best advice in that it goes beyond the traditional stuff that we learn about.

@Andrew L. Our area is difficult on the cash flow side because of all the reasons  mentioned above. Many HOAs have low fees though. Condo fees tend to have fees that are high and likely to get higher over time and not to mention their appreciation is less than single homes. I will suggest Herndon as one of the area that might have legs over time. Although it has seen price appreciation, I think you can find older homes that you might cash flow a few years from now. The growth around Herndon is very impressive too. 

@Jacob Mitchell I think a baseline for an agent should be able to do an analysis for a property whether is a single home, multi unit or condo and then help determine what might be of the value to you the investor. To be able to explain simply how the property will make or not make money for you using data, understanding market or market trends. But determine what you want to buy or your business model so you can get an agent who can serve you well. Sometimes people want agents to be all things to them but we are not. Certainly many agents have a wealth of information at their tips, whether is giving you off market deal, vendors to work with. I think its helpful to be an investor but I certainly do not think an agent have to be an investor to be valuable. I work with agents because of their expertise in their markets, and yes a little help in analysis but you must establishes your habitat as an investor. 

@Eric Ly Welcome, this is certainly of better platforms with investors and people who work in real estates in varying degrees.

We certainly are in an expensive market here in NOVA but there  is now a shift and some

opportunities will open. While I agree that being an agent allows you to learn a lot, I am not sure been a part time agent is the best thing. The demands of the job especially when you start can be a lot, and not to mention the money you spend to keep your license active. If you do decide to do it, think of what your goal is. If you plan to help others buy, then you might want to keep an eye for brokerages that provide a lot of training. But if this is just for you, then may be consider virtual ones, if the costs are minimal.

I can honestly say reading the response from some people simply proves your point. Besides getting together as women only group does not make it mutually exclusive. I can belong to women only, men and women, one legged group. I will mostly likely learn very different valuable lessons from the three groups. And by the way Jackie Robison mostly likely excelled because he played with blacks only in the beginning. He started  with an environment that nurtured him and not butchered him. All the reason later in life he could stand there and take all the abuse he did. My 0.5 cent and please keep in mind English is not my mother. Sign me up!

After years of resisting taking in section 8 tenants I have one this year for the first time. My resistance was primarily their inspection and had gone through one and everything fell apart. I will still tell you their inspection is still very stressful over so many useless items. To make the story short, I did a background check on the applicant and they pay a portion of the rent. So far it has been nothing but positive. The tenant has taken to sending me pictures of the inside home to show me how well she keeps the home. Of course this does not mean you will get the same experience but it tells you things are always a little bit more layered. Do not dismiss it just because you assume the tenant will be terrible. And yes states are making it that you can not discriminate against the source of income. In Virginia, this rule has been adopted recently.

@Adriana Khdair send your email directly to me. I have someone who specializes in real estate.

@Sterling Stroud I use Tenant Cloud along side with excel. But I find excel to be the best things because I can see everything.

I recommend Tenant cloud but I maintain my excel spreadsheet because even at tax preparation time, I can simply do the calculation and then copy and paste.

@Michael H. Cook thanks. Covid19 made this area popular. I imagine it was with hikers and others before Covid19.