All Forum Posts by: Jason G.

So, I read a book...and it got me interested in Real Estate Investing. My wife and I were at Chik-fil-A about three weeks ago and overheard two guys talking about Real Estate. She told me I should introduce myself before they walked out, and after lots of encouragement from her, I did. The gentleman I spoke with is a local investor and he instructed me to do two things. 1) Jump on Bigger Pockets, which I had not heard of, and start to self-educate, and 2) go to the local REI meeting, which happened to be the next day. I did both.

Since then I have been reading and listening to all things real estate and have had a second meeting with the investor I met (the other guy was a sub since the investor also GCs his own flips).

Originally, I am from Los Angeles and have lived all around the country. Not only did the Navy and Army move me all over the world, but since my wife and I both got out, we have lived in numerous places and will not be settling in Delaware for more than 2-3 more years due to employment.

During our second meeting with the investor, he stressed that "finding deals" is the most important step in the REI process. He has a 10-year background as a GC, so repair estimation is a no-brainer for him, and he is willing to teach me what he knows in that area. He also explained that finding financing is another secondary issue and again stressed that finding deals and being first in doing so is the step I should and will be focusing on.

Eventually, my wife and I plan to use the Buy and Hold strategy after we figure out where we plan to settle down so I can self-manage our properties. Until then we are grateful to the investor I met while eating nuggets at Chik-fil-A because he turned me on to BP, is willing to share his knowledge, and wants to train me to find deals so he can delegate that process to me while I also learn from experience.

The short-term goal is to engage in our first flip together during 3rd quarter this year. This gives me time to learn what I am doing through action and observation and gives me time to save for investing. The long-term goal is to do both Buy and Holds in the city my wife and I settle in and to continue to do flips.

PS…once my wife and I get to where we plan to settle, we plan to utilize our VA loan entitlement to house hack a quadplex or two before buying a home we plan to live in until empty nesting occurs.

Thanks to all for the knowledge that is so openly shared on this amazing site and I look forward to learning and growing with everyone.

Hey guys,

I just finished the Chad Doty BP podcast and it really got me thinking about choosing a job to bring in more income/build up my knowledge of real estate. 

I am 24 without a degree and have spent the past year reading books on REI/business while working average jobs, but I can't help but think if I had a job more closley alligned to where I want to go, I could have learned more.

My question is: How necessary would you guys say it is to work my day job in the real estate field while working towards being an investor?

@Heshel Mangel The portfolio section is for everyone. RoofstockOne is our accredited investor product. We have investors who are buying homes well below market value through both the marketplace and portfolio section. I will send you the details on BYOP.

@Jason G. this is a good thread.  I began reading it when I was looking into Roofstock. This provided some great information.  I currently have three rentals myself where two are, as I call them, accidental rentals.  My first one I bought so my sister could have a place to live while going to school in AZ.  It is now rented out (at a higher rent) by a non relative.  Second accidental was the house I bought in 2004 and lived in until 2015 where I moved to another property and kept the other one with intention of moving back at a later time.  Then came 2018 where I decided to buy a non accidental rental in Orlando.  Now looking for a 2019 rental which brings me to my finding if Roofstock.  1.  Do you ever visit your out of state rentals?  The one in AZ and FL I do once a year (travel expense on the P&L) plus good places to vacation.  2.  Your recent post you identified that clearing $100-$200 a month is a good amount and I agree.  My PM in AZ who has 15 rentals in her portfolio had informed me that it is a good goal.  3.  Another tip she told me was to save enough time for a few months of expenses (usually will take a year) then start putting some extra towards principle (if the house has a mortgage). 

Though now I’ll look at potential properties using Roofstock, because of the mostly positive reviews in this thread, I’ll still take any good potentials from the PM I use in FL when I go down in a few weeks.

Thanks again for your detailed thread.

I have $4k to cash on hand. And really want to start real estate investing. I have been wanting to for a while but have not had the courage to start. I have read books and been online youtube university. Any ideas or suggestions?

I am looking at buying a VA foreclosed home in Minot, ND. Its in a great location and the numbers are good. However the home flooded 7 years ago and I will have to put in 5k in repairs. Our flood insurance maps will be updated in the next 18 months with a rezoning which the house will be in. Flood insurance as of now would be $750 a year with the possibility of increasing all the way up to 18% per year. Does anyone gamble with flooded homes.

@Jason G.   Those are all great questions, Jason. I can certainly touch all of them in a long version of the story & analysis with ample details, but that would take me a while to write. No point to spend that much time if few people will read it. I'll answer your questions if more people are interested in learning the details. 

I notice that you comment on almost all Roofstock related posts usually to defend Roofstock. Are you affiliated with Roofstock in any way? Looks like there are investors that have established an advertising relationship with Roofstock, such as the ones who wrote Roofstock reviews on Listen Money Matters and The College Investor. 

I could use advice on which way to go here.  

I have approximately $180K to use for real estate purchases.

I am specifically going to purchase SFH - building up to 10 of them.

I am looking to buy in a growing area where the prices are still fairly inexpensive.  So this is more of a cash flow market I am looking at with some modest appreciation over the long term.

Houses range from $90 - $150 K.

I am thinking it might be better to outright pay cash on the first property.

Why ?    First:  I would save about $4K in fees if I don't have to borrow from a lender.      

              Second:  Rent Income from the first property would be high since there is no mortgage which would be favorable to financing on the subsequent properties as my income would be much higher in the eyes of a lender.

              Third: I could use the income from the first property to start making higher payments on the second property's mortgage.

               Fourth:  I can always refi the first property to some extent in the future if needed to buy additional properties as I go along.

For these properties I would have to put anywhere from $25 - $35K down per property.

The alternative would be to buy several properties within a couple years using all financing and the down payments would come from the $180K pot.

Let me qualify by saying I have $35K currently in a syndicated deal paying 20% interest.   I will probably get this money back in one to two years and could use this for one of these properties.

I also have $135K invested now in two properties with a realtor who is paying interest and proceeds as these properties are being converted from homes into businesses in suburbs. This money is tied up for 18 - 24 months. So this is another pot I can use in a few years to purchase more SFH.

Is my thinking correct on buying the first one for cash ?  

Hi Bigger Pockets Family, 

I had a few questions regarding the BRRR method in Real Estate Investing. Looking to have some dialogue with someone who is experienced with it.

Let's say your project is appraised at 200K and you're all in 150K (acquisition and rehab). What happens with that extra 50K?  Are you allowed to only take out the 150K that you are all in? Does the mortgager cut you a check for the 50K? How do you receive that additional 50K? 

I've listened to stories where investors say "I left my BRRR deal with 20K" etc etc. I want to know how does that work. I'm looking to do my first BRRR and want to figure everything out before I jump in. Please feel free to reply here of PM me.

Thanks, 

Garreton Smith

Looks like most of the reviews or case studies on Roofstock are about the closing process. I suppose since the vast majority of investors who’ve purchased properties from Roofstock use the properties as buy-and-hold rentals and Roofstock is a start-up that hasn’t been around for long, not a whole lot of investors have sold those properties. I got burnt on my way out when I tried to sell one acquired through Roofstock, which I’ve only kept for ~1.5 years. I wasted a lot of time and lost over 30K from this property. The only thing I gained is increased cancer risks from all that stress.

The short version of what happened:

A local flipper I befriended pointed out a serious undisclosed permitting issue he discovered from public record, which compelled me to sell the property at a discounted price to a local wholesaler instead of keeping it as a rental or selling on the MLS. The Roofstock inspection report made no mention of this issue. I have strong reasons to believe the seller chose not to disclose intentionally.

Due to the way the Roofstock purchase and sale agreement was drafted and certain provisions in Roofstock's Terms&Conditions that investors have to agree to but few actually read before using their website, the seller and Roofstock are well protected from liabilities, much better than a seller and brokers would in a typical MLS transaction scenario. As a result, I have very limited ways or no way of recourse.

Combined with some other things that have happened and my interactions with Roofstock, I feel that buying properties from Roofstock is like buying properties without a buyer’s agent, their “one stop for all” business model is inherently flawed, and the water is too deep for newbie buyers. The increased efficiency is achieved at the cost of buyers' best interests. 

Furthermore, despite Roofstock’s effort to find top providers to work with their investors, it looks like Roofstock struggles to bring all of them up to standards and keep them in check. The quality of service from different providers (title companies, PMs, inspectors) swing so widely that the good ones exceed my expectations, and the bad ones make me wonder how they stay in business or why hasn’t got taken out by the FTC. I’ve dealt with just as many bad ones as the good ones. In some cases, buyers have the options to pick the ones they prefer; in other cases just a hit or miss.

Last but not least, Roofstock advisors' excellent work ethics can’t compensate for their lack of knowledge of the local markets. On the other hand, lots of the sellers are institutional investors or local RE professionals, which inevitably shifts even more risks to newbie buyers.

This is a 1-star review for newbie buyers; 3-star review for seasoned buyers who know what to watch out for when evaluating deals; 5-star review for sellers, especially those who want to evade scrutinization from shrewd local brokers and failure-to-disclose-property-defects lawsuits.

Well, since I rate Roofstock 5 stars for sellers, why don't I just list it for sale on Roofstock? The simple answer is that the actual market rent ($900-965/mo) to list price ratio (ARV 120 -140K) would not be enticing to SFR buyers. The market rent Roofstock gave ($1025/mo) when I made the purchase was inflated btw.