All Forum Posts by: Jason Burton

BP,

I have been feeling a lot of indecisiveness lately. I almost closed on a deal in St. Louis on a SFR but had it fall through. I'm also in the process of getting a multifamily in Alabama only to be having second thoughts about it. I think I need to go back to the drawing board to determine what path I really want to take in REI but I'm not sure what to do. So here is my question to all the veteran investors. If you had $55K cash, excellent credit, no debt (except my mortgage on the condo I live in), lots of ambition, but didn't have a clue where or how to invest in today's market, what would you do? I have limited mobility due to my 9-5 (military) and am stationed in Hawaii. Any ideas or help or motivation?? I don't want to delay my entry into real estate much longer as I'm convinced I need to buy real estate and wait, not the other way around. Thanks guys!

I don't know hardly anything about foreclosures and I haven't found the answer in the forums yet. I have found a property that would be a great deal (#s look great, due diligence still needed). But I was told by the listing agent that in the state of Alabama (and it might be this way in a lot of places, I'm not familiar though) there is a law that lets the previous owner of a property reclaim the property for up to one year if they can afford to get current on their mortgage. This is called a redemption period. This just makes me uncomfortable thinking about what could happen if someone tried to reclaim a property after I purchase it and do any upgrades or rehab. Anyone have any insight about this? Are there any methods to protect yourself if you purchase the property while it's still in the "redemption period"? Has anyone purchased a property while it was still redeemable? If anyone knows of any threads deep in the BP archives related to this please post the link.

I agree with Glenn Espinoza. I'm new to the whole real estate game but if you can get someone to rent it with very little work of your own then everybody wins. I'd probably lose the big shrub (or trim it down a bit), and give the house some color. It looks bland.

I appreciate all the comments from everyone. BP is the best thing I could have stumbled upon.

Cooper B. this is a lofty goal for sure. Please be sure to keep us updated!

John McCombs that is a very interesting timeline. Thank you for sharing. It makes me wonder how I could pull something like that off.

Welcome to BP! I'm pretty new to the community as well but the feedback I've received in my short time has been amazing. Ultimate Beginners's Guide to REI is the place to start for sure.

Jon Holdman sorry about the confusion. I am actually stationed in Hawaii and I was off, it's about 3000 miles to Colorado. I'm from Utah originally. :)

Thank you for the feedback. I'll make some calls to research the insurance just for future reference. This seems like a great deal and even at $10K for the rehab the numbers look good since I would do a buy and hold for the long term. Now I just need to decide if I want to try to pull off a long distance rehab. Probably not though. I'll keep learning and looking.

Ben Leybovich I look forward to your blog post!

Karen Margrave Thank you for the link! This is very motivating.

Ben, you're welcome and I feel honored to serve. Thank you for your comment. I will remember that moving forward.

Jon, here are the numbers on the property:

Quadruplex
List price: $121K
Rehab costs: $5K
Monthly gross rents: $2000

I'm looking to buy and hold for the long haul. I was told by a bank that they will give me 30 year fixed @4.5% with 20% down. So if I were to buy it at list price the monthly mortgage would be $490/month.

$2000 less expenses (10% for management, maintenance, vacancy, $75/month taxes, and mortgage) is ~$800/month. The only variable not included is the insurance. That is the only thing I am unsure of. How much does it actually cost to insure a quadruplex? If it costs $300/month or less than the property will cash flow.

It seems like a pretty good deal to me, but I'm obviously new to this whole thing and need the wisdom of others. The only part I don't like about this deal (besides being 2000 miles away) is the money out of pocket. But even with the 50% rule I'd still get a 20% COC return. Is this a decent deal or am I crazy?

I am not sure if this is the best place for this forum but I think it would be awesome for the new investors to hear from the people who have been doing real estate for many years and hear about their brightest moments to their all time lows. I think it will provide some cool inspiration for the new folks as well as give us a reality check before we jump in without doing our due diligence, etc. I'm just curious to see the exciting moments to the difficult times. I look forward to hearing some great stories.