All Forum Posts by: Stone Jin

Continue the same strategy, buy fixer uppers in the midwest that cashflow and provide instant equity.  Transition portfolio from Phoenix to Midwest and from condo to sfh.  It's worked so far.

@Kelly Ikpeama I'd be wary of that 5%, I know that my conventional lender is lending at 5.5%+ and I have a high credit score.  You should probably look at the fine print in the terms of that deal.

I guess it depends if you have cash or not.  The easiest is probably the 25% down conventional loan.  If you don't have cash then you have to get creative with private money/hard money etc.

@Steve Holly What I've learned in my own journey investing out of state regarding finding a realtor.

I'll take hustle over knowledge any time.  I can run the numbers myself and search the portal they provide, but I need them to be prompt in showing and writing offers.   Though finding a realtor who also invests in the type of neighborhoods you want to invest in will help.

I need them to be honest about they knowledge of the neighborhood and sub market.  I need them to run comps promptly as needed.   I need them at minimum to have some experience with construction/rehab to point out the areas that are high cost to fix or what's desirable configuration etc.

In every market there are varying degrees of risk and reward.  You want to be in the hood with high cashflow or in the nice suburbs with potential appreciation in minimal cashflow.  You can do your market research just by going on zillow and looking at what's currently for rent vs what's currently for sale.  That should give you a good picture on each sub market.  You will need to decide what type of investor you want to be, cashflow or appreciation

If you are going into a market cold, find out what the top 3 high schools in an area and focus your search there.  Do the homework and see if the market is a winner.  

@Michael Schaper a lot of the SFR investors in Phoenix bought during the downturn and are either just holding or 1031 exchanging so the cashflow is awesome for them. For people just starting out, the Phoenix market will be hard to cashflow. The lease option people will tell you differently but that's a whole different business model.

We made a transition this year to start buying in the Midwest (OHIO) and so far it's been okay.  There is definitely a change in expectations when building a new team.  My systems and processes in Phoenix are very different than what I get out of state, mostly because I'm not on site.  So viewing houses, rehab, management all of it is done through other people.  I can only tell you that I'm still making offers and moving forward.  I still see decent returns and hopefully I can capitalize on that for the next 2 years.

Winter is usually slower in colder climates, but if you are not priced right then it will be hard to sell.  Sounds like the house is not retail ready so most likely only investors will be interested.

Aren't dividend bearing stocks essentially buying into a business?  The business does well they can pay a healthy dividend, business struggles they pay none.  

Statistically businesses have a 90% chance of failing in the first 5 years.  I was at one point employee number 1 at a start up, one of the worst experiences of my life.  I had equity and a healthy salary, however the ship sank and I became the number 1 employee to quit.

I think a lot of us go into real estate because it allows us to grow with out a large human footprint.  Not sure what businesses won't suffer when the generally economy suffers, maybe liquor stores and pay day cash loan places?  A lot of people believe we are in the everything bubble so what businesses do you have in mind that will succeed in good times and bad?

@Shiloh Lundahl 

@Mary Jay

What is your path of money? Rent goes into Management LLC and then Management LLC keeps a portion and sends the rest to Asset LLC and then you want to pull money from asset LLC?

1) You can get a business credit card to pay when you are short on funds. You can add money to the LLC, I'm assuming it is a single member LLC.

2) It depends on how you are buying the property, if it is in your name I believe the check needs to come from you and not another entity. 

3) You can just pull money out of any account that you own.  Not sure what you mean by co mingling here.

4)We have 1 management LLC and all of our mortgages are paid out of there. None of our assets are in Managment LLC, the banks don't care where the check comes from as long as it comes.

Don't forget that each city has their own transaction tax which you will need to add to your rent.  

Real estate is a very localized business.  I think relying on property managers may be better than zestimate or rentometer both of which i've used.  I frequently check my target market for active rentals, that's the real indicator or what the market can bear.  For example Sylvania OH, there is always a limited supply so I can quickly tell how fast things are moving and for roughly what price for what type of product.  I probably check every 2-3 weeks to have my finger on the pulse.  I also use management so whenever I have a house to bring online I solicit their opinion.