All Forum Posts by: Jay Patel

@John Beck I would not personally hold onto a property like this for too long. It wasn't bought/evaluated as an investment and shouldn't be held as one because frankly, the numbers may seem like they are working now, but once you run into issues with vacancy, cap-ex (roofs, HVAC, Water Heater, flooring, plumbing etc.), regular maintenance, property taxes (no more homestead exemption) and things of that nature it will hurt. Tenants don't prioritize keeping your property in good "health".

I would evaluate where you stand in regards to large cap-ex expenditures and then you hold 1-3 years if you think the roof, AC etc will hold up. This will allow the tenant to pay-off some of your mortgage. I would throw extra cash into it for those 1-3 years every month to help pay it down. That way you aren't having to come up with a big chunk of money. Pray for some market appreciation (there is risk here of the market going south but it may be worth the risk) and get out.

On a side note, make sure you are charging market rent for this place. This is huge for you. Raise rents if they are low. Are you near a tourist area? Maybe short term rentals could pull in more for you. Just a thought from the income side.

Hey BP members,

So I have always been a big picture person and always prioritize maximizing earnings over savings. I find myself fearing getting caught up in extreme couponing, and spending on items just because they are on sale. 

Recently a friend turned me onto the app called Ibotta. It's an app where you scan in your receipts to earn cash back on items that you purchase. This includes in-store and online purchases. They even have offers for any brand items. You can even more when you get your friends to sign up. (Here is my referral link if anyone wants to try it: lvxiytc). That will put you on my team and give you a jump start. Every month depending on what the goals are we would earn rewards together :)

Anyway here is the point in me posing. In a week or so with the app, I have earned about $25.  I have used this for groceries mainly, In terms of my spending, this is a pretty significant percentage and makes me wonder if I really need to focus on saving as much as maximizing my earnings. I always go back to feeling that there is a ceiling to savings and that you always have to be a consumer to benefit. The sky is the limit when it comes to focusing on maximizing your earnings potential. Thoughts? 

Sounds good. I'll be out of town in Miami next weekend so maybe the last weekend in July.

@Lane Register @Russell Holmes I apologize for the late response. 

Lane - How did you visit of Leesburg go? Did you find any areas that you are interested in?

Russell - I agree with you, its hard to compete with wholesalers. They have their preferred buyers like you said and I have never seen anything worth buying from their mass emails. I would be interested to hear what happened with the seller that you met with? Sounds like a good potential lead.

Unfortunately, I can only meet on the weekends due to my schedule. Let me know if you guys are available this Saturday. Friday afternoon or evening works too. @Brandon Reed

@Russell Holmes My Eustis rental is right off of SR 19 close to downtown. I purchased for 50K and put in about 5K, ARV was 80K when I refinanced last year and currently rents for $1,000. One Leesburg property is in the Sunny Side area, purchased for 125K, put in about 5K, ARV is probably 160K-170K, rents for $1,400 and my other Leesburg property is off of Radio road behind the Mall. That one was purchased for $130K with about 3K worth of re-hab, ARV is $140K-150K and also rents for $1400.

I'm struggling to keep the momentum going and have not found anything to purchase this year. I have been actively looking all year.

I not a very experienced rehabber. I'm targetting homes that are about 15-20 years old and basically re-painting and re-flooring as needed. I feel like in this area, that level of re-hab can achieve good rents. No need to get too fancy with it. Since I do target the 15-20 year old homes, they normally have the original roof, AC, plumbing etc. so I pay attention to that and set aside cap-ex funds accordingly. 

I do like that area Mt. Dora area and would love to get ahold of some properties there. Once the Wekiva Parkway gets built I think that area will blow up. I think that is a good area to target. 

Russell - How much off-market hunting are you currently doing? If you are, whats your strategy? I think that's going to be the key moving forward for all of us. Its tough to find anything on the MLS right now that makes sense. Real estate is not a full-time gig for me so its hard for me to get fully into off-market deal searching. I don't currently have a realtor so I would be willing to send offers through you for sure, but if you are able to bring off-market deals that would be such a big plus.

Welcome back, @Lane Register. Biggerpockets has members from all over the nation. It's nice to see that there are some local people in the game. 

I started in the RE game a few years ago. I focus on buy and hold rentals. I completed my first deal in 2016 in Eustis and then in 2017, I bought two more in Leesburg. I believe in steady & stable growth and so my goal is acquiring one new property every year.

That being said, it seems that inventory in our area like others is low and prices are getting up there. It's a little harder to land a deal these days but I'm sure we can get something if we keep at it.

Would love to join you guys for a meetup @Russell Holmes, @Brandon Reed

@Tookie Nemchak I would talk to a smaller local bank. They are more willing to be flexible and might allow a re-finance now without the "seasoning" period of 1 year.

@Shiloh Lundahl I really don't get the point of this thread. I am not one of those people and don't take offense to your post what so ever, but at the same time, I don't see the point of it. Like others have mentioned, these forums and website are full of new investors that are looking for answers. They probably don't even know the effort that you went through to get to where you are, or that you even paid hundreds of dollars for a few pieces of paper. You think they "suck" and are "cheap" but maybe they are just ignorant to the efforts behind what they are asking for.

Are there some new investor bad apples out there? Sure, but I'm sure there are some more experienced people out there trying to take advantage of the newer folks too. 

If you expect something in return for what they are asking, why not just tell them that? Educate them on the effort it took to get what they are asking, or ignore it if you really can't stand it and think they are leaching.

I would hope that threads like this never discourage people from reaching out for help or posting questions.

@Brian Adams You could also conduct a survey with your residents to see what they really want once you narrow it down to some ideas that would be feasible for you. This not only would help you ensure you build out something they really want, but also help build a relationship with your current residents.