All Forum Posts by: Jedd Braunwarth

@Katie Douglas I agree with every point you make. However, I believe these are just obstacles. There are obstacles in every aspect of life, industry or decision, as you know. If you want to do something there are many more opportunities than there are obstacles, you just need to find them. I am similar to you in that I am now 30 years old. I wasn't happy with how much I was making in my job, so I made some changes and now make triple what I used to. Still, I have obstacles with money to get started in certain things., probably always will! I have a professional job, married with a combined student loan debt of $100k and a 9 month old. I pay double my required monthly student loan payments to pay off faster. I own two duplexes, a small commercial, completed and sold my first flip and am set to close on a 6-unit and looking for the next flip. Networking is the biggest thing that has helped me overcome every obstacle. It made me more money, taught me real estate, found partnerships, friendships, etc.

My post is not trying to say that I've made it by any stretch but more that I have found the same obstacles as you've stated but put a plan together to get around them and live the life I want. You can do it too, I gaurantee it!

@Michael Miles how are you wanting to get into real estate? There are many things you can do such as buy and hold, flipping, wholesaling or even be an agent or appraiser, etc. Please provide additional information on what you'd like to do and why and then we can certainly help provide some advice.

@Adrian Hunt in my opinion you have 3 options:

1- keep studying and save up more money 

2- start wholesaling or something that is a lower cost of entry. You'll have to work hard to be successful at this and may lose money.

3- find a partner or two to pool your money and buy your first property. You may only own 25% in the partnership but it is better than the 0% you own now.

@Thomas Usher I love your swing for the fence mentality! That will help you go far. However, you will need other qualities to make this happen. I am assuming that you are hoping someone will come in, partner with you on the deal and provide the money? What value do you think you can bring that the money partner couldn't find elsewhere? Do you have property management experience, construction experience or what unique trait is it that would make someone want to partner with you? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts but these are also questions you are going to have to address to sell yourself. To me, seeking yourself is the biggest challenge you are facing right now?

@Hattie Dizmond your matrix concept is spot on with what I was grasping for. Love that idea! Why do you believe that this isn't as common or as takes about in investing? We hear all of the time about how much someone made on a flip or cash flow on their properties but never factor in time into the equation. To me this is a huge metric in determining the value of a property.

@Jane A. thank you for the response! I agree completely. I think my struggle is that my second duplex was a flip and rent in which is in an A neighborhood, purchased way below market and then doubled the rent from the fix. It has huge cash flow and it made me somewhat greedy in analyzing other deals as I cannot find any properties that meet this one. The more units will generate the cash flow I'm after but I worry about the additional time required for those additional units. I love duplexes so maybe I stick with that!

@Joel Owens Great input! Here is a thought, I know this may be hard to do, but is there any way to put a number on time management per unit. I know it would be different for A, B, C neighborhoods but we factor in a certain % for capx, repairs and vacancy, well what about a number for time management? For example:

A neighborhoods would be X number of hours/unit (say 2 hours/unit per month)

B neghborhoods would be X number of hours/unit (say 4 hours/unit per month)

I know this is a stretch but as a smaller investor myself trying to grow and get bigger having a metric of hours involved as I go bigger or some type of metric to use to analyze and compare different properties would be awesome. Such as analyzing a 20 unit property to a 50 unit property from a time value standpoint, not just our traditional financial metrics. Like you I do not want to create a job for myself but understand as I grow it will require more and more time.

@Joel Owens thank you for the response! Your input is appreciated. Obviously you have a lot of experience in this which helps you analyze the next deal and estimate time involvement. Do you you have a set hourly rate that you input into your analysis just like a property management fee? I do this as well but struggle the most as I am starting to buy more multi-units (bigger than my current duplexes) but without the experience of managing these do not know how to value my time or what to expect on how much time they will take. Does that make sense?

@Walker Seid completely agreed! How do YOU personally value this and determine this? I think this is what I struggle most with as I find many properties that could be profitable but do not have a time metric to analyze them. For example, my duplexes in good neighborhoods require very little time management from myself (great value all around) but if I am analyzing a 6 unit property (in a good area) how do how you determine if it is a good deal on your time involvement of the investment (not just money value). Especially if you do not know exactly how much time it is going to take relative to a 2 unit?

How do you analyze and factor in the time value of an investment. We analyze the CoC, ROI, IRR, etc.(the financials) of our investments but how about your time involvement (intangibles?)?

We throw around the saying "work on your business, not in your business", well how do you factor in how much your time is worth to analyze a property. This applies to flipping and buy and hold. Time value has to be analyzed in some way no matter what your investment strategy is. Some have more time and some less but how do you factor that in to your analysis to determine how much time it will take and if it is worth your time?

P.S. I posted a similar thread but realized I didn't title it or ask the question correctly!

@Hattie Dizmond thanks for the response. I guess I didn't word my question clearly as I am more looking for individual reasons on how you factor in potential time spent. I agree with all of your points and already have a handful of properties myself. I self manage and buy in A and B neighborhoods doing fix and rent strategies. This gives me great cash flow and equity in great areas. I'm in the Midwest so that helps with cash flow as well.

My question comes as I constantly want to value my own time commitments but find it difficult to be consistent with factoring that in. As mentioned how many hours will I spend managing 2 units vs. 10 unit property and at what ROI or CoC is that difference worthwhile.

I understand that everyone is different and there are many factors that go into this but that is primarily the reason for the question. All our spreadsheets have cut and dry financial numbers to base off but time value is not one of them.