All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Swyers

Hello Gerardo, my wife @Christina Swyers is a real estate agent that works in the REI business at STL Real Estate LLC in Kirkwood. PM me if you have any questions or would like her contact info.

Hello @Daymeond Hord, if this is a long term hold property I've always read its best to rent to the upper end of lower class and the lower end of middle class.   This is the sweet spot that will keep you in business no matter what the economy does.  If you buy high end rental properties and the economy crashes in 5 years the white collar workers are usually the first to lose their jobs and typically takes them a few months to find another opportunity (if they're lucky).  Blue collar workers usually bounce back faster as the jobs are almost always in demand which means you'll have a steady stream of income from your tenants.  Make sure your numbers work and if  you plan on doing the property management yourself there's a lot of good resources here, on Youtube, and I've taken a couple of the free courses on udemy.com. 

Hello @Brett Willette, if you want to talk to a real estate agent my wife was born and raised in St Louis, (34 years) and we currently live in Creve Coeur off 270/Olive.  She'd be more than happy to answer any questions.  We're planning on buying our first rental property early next year.  Send me an email if you want her contact information.

I know an investor who uses Herman London and is pleased with their services.  Give Tom Potter a call 314-920-0781.  He doesn't deal with properties under $750 a month though.

Thanks for the advice everyone, this is exactly what I was looking for.  

@Brie Schmidt - Thanks, I wasn't aware there were free courses on BP.  

@Adam Bartomeo -  do you typically try to find properties that need little to no work?  I'm just assuming here but the more work that needs to be done to a property the more negotiating power you have to lower the purchase price right?  I've been looking at houses that are complete guts.  It's quite possible I'm being a little too ambitious starting out.  The first and only property I bought was a complete gut.  

@Pat G. I'm definitely interested in rentals and "subject to" sounds like a great way to get started.  Has any of your previous deals wanted money up front for some of the equity they had in the properties before they signed over the deed?  I'm guessing these deals are hard to come by.  How do you find them?

@Ingrid J. I've heard this from several different sources myself.  I had already planned on having a legal contract drawn up just in case.  I'm sure she will want that as well.  Thanks for the advice!

I've been interested in real estate investment for quite some time now. I've been doing a lot of research lately on how to start with little to no money and everything seems to point to wholesaling but I'm not really interested in that. I don't have a lot of experience however I did just purchase a house that my wife and I bought with a FHA 203k loan. It was a complete renovation probate property that had been abandoned for 5 years. Throughout the renovation process I have learned a lot. I came out of the deal with 15k in equity but in the process I ran into a lot of unforseen issues that resulted in me maxing out my credit cards just to obtain the occupancy permit and to start prepping the house for resale. We're currently living in the house and plan to stay at least a few years. I recently went to a 3 day Fortune Builders seminar and learned a tremendous amount that I wish I could have applied before I bought the house. Knowing what I know now I feel very comfortable buying another property to flip. I've reached out to friends and family to see if anyone is interested in putting up the capital to split a 50/50 profit while I do all the work. My mother is interested however she can only put up about 50k which would probably cover the cost of a renovation but not the property itself. I'm curious what more seasoned investors would do in this situation? My ultimate goal here is to replace my current income so I can quit my job and do investing full time. Thoughts?

My name is Jeremy Swyers and I’m new to real estate investing.I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit but never had the drive to actually become one. Straight out of high school I served in the military and then spent the past 10 years working in IT.I have finally reached a point where I’m tired of working for the corporate industry on a limited salary while doing nothing for my retirement.For the past year I’ve been watching house flipping shows and decided I wanted to give it a try.

Six months ago I bought my first house with a 203k loan that I’m currently living in so I could get some experience.I paid $167,500 for the house and took out $35,000 with the 203k.The house was a probate that had been abandoned for 5 years.Half the house was on a concrete slab that had sunk about 4” in the middle and it was completely outdated.We removed 2 load bearing walls to open up the kitchen, knocked out the back wall, built a new subfloor, and put up a 4 panel sliding glass door to let in some sun light.We installed porcelain tile in the kitchen, stainless steel appliances, new cabinets and quartz counters as well as recessed lighting.We fixed the foundation problems by mudjacking to raise the floors and carpeted the back 3 rooms that sat on top of the slab.As you can imagine we ran through the $35,000 quickly.The 2 bathrooms are still outdated and the house needs new siding.After the renovation we had it reappraised (per the 203k loan agreement) and they said it was worth $215,000.

About 3 months after the renovation I attended a 3 day Fortune Builders seminar and come to a realization I probably could have saved about $20,000 if I had systems and processes to follow before I purchased the house.After listening to BP podcasts and hear other people’s experiences I’m quite fortunate I didn’t lose money.This sums up my real estate investing experience. I’m joined Bigger Pockets to learn and network to build relationships.I just started looking for another property to flip to try it again, this time with a little more structure and organization.