All Forum Posts by: Kat He

Congrats on your graduation!

For house hacking, I found The Book on Managing Rental Properties by Brandon Turner very useful. It has a ton of information and templates for managing properties. This of course translates well to a general understanding of how rentals work too. 

Long Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene was a good blueprint for getting my OOS business set up, if you're going the OOS route I definitely recommend that.

I started off similarly--graduated with an engineering degree, decided to invest in real estate, and started house hacking. Happy to connect and share my experience starting off.

I started investing in Indy from CA (and now WA) about a year ago, happy to connect!

+1 for Aaron Chapman with SNMC, I've done a handful for my Indy properties. He's still doing refis on investment properties (75% LTV on SFH, 70% on 2-4 units I believe). Appraisals and loans are taking much longer in general, but he's got a great team and do all they can to move the process forward.

@Jim Ray building off of what Kenneth said, inspect the heck out of that property. I try to get as many eyes on it during inspection as we can: inspector, agent, contractor, and our SEWER SCOPE GUY. I invest in Indianapolis and have found cracks, blockages, and bad connections in the sewer lines in 50% of the properties I do scopes on (built < 1970s). Newer properties may be better, but scopes only cost $150-$300 compared to $1000 spot fixes or sewer line replacements in the $3000-$5000 range. 

I've had rehab budgets go from 6K during acquisition to 16K post close because I cut corners and tried to rush through the inspection without getting everyone inside. Make sure you're doing everything you can to find out everything you can. The other benefit of having multiple people inspecting is that we have more input when determining the severity of problems and the most cost effective solutions. 

Hi @John P., feel free to PM me about property managers in Indy. If you have some criteria or specific questions, that helps too. As they usually say, the communication style and processes that work for one person may not work for another. 

Hi Phil, I used to be able to offer all cash, under asking, and at least be considered for a counter. Now I find I'm often losing to all cash, full ask within days of listing (investing in Indy btw). I don't aim for perfect BRRRRs to begin with, but do plan to adjust the returns I'm looking for if this trend continues. Some things to consider for a stronger offer: all cash, higher EMD, get offer in asap, have agent verbally let listing agent know an offer is coming in (esp if in different time zones or won't be able to sign the docs immediately).

Hi @Simony Antunes, your first question will depend on a few things. Are you looking to be more active or passive? Would you rather learn by doing or research all your processes upfront? Where do you plan to buy and how much would it cost? 

For example, I got started house-hacking which was more active but allowed me quicker hands on experience as it was mostly about acquisition and property management. My market was also expensive and I needed a place to live anyways so a house-hack worked well. Some folks will go all out and start with OOS BRRRRs which is a lot more research upfront, but is eventually (hopefully) more passive as you build systems for every step of the process. It also frees you to buy anywhere and at a price point that works with you.

When I first got started doing BRRRRs out of state, it really felt like a second job. I didn't have too many other commitments and really wanted to figure it out so it was still an enjoyable process. I would evaluate the different investing and financing strategies to see what suits your situation. If an approach sounds too overwhelming, you can consider starting with something more simple and then building up from there (e.g. 25% down on a mostly rent-ready property instead of a full BRRRR).

I do vinyl plank in the common areas and carpet in the bedrooms for my properties in the Midwest because it gets very cold in the winter. Ideally vinyl plank and tiled kitchen/bathroom would be a good combo since carpet isn't very durable at all. Hardwoods are generally more expensive and the one time we refinished existing hardwoods it was just as expensive as putting down vinyl plank so it's not a trivial cost. 

Vinyl plank is generally advertised as being water resistant, wonder if anyone can chime in on how hardwoods fare? 

Hi @Danny Kitzinger, happy to connect! I do out of state BRRRRs in the Midwest and started with a similar goal. I broke down David Greene's long distance book and tackled each step at a time. Would recommend reading that and/or his BRRRR book so you have an overview of the end-to-end process. It also helps in identifying gaps in your knowledge that you might want to do more research on.

Hi @Curt Mason, I've been doing BRRRRs in Indy while out of state for about a year now and have done a good amount of vetting real estate professionals. Feel free to connect! There's a great FB group for Indianapolis Out Of State Investors (literally the name!) as well, highly recommend checking that out.