All Forum Posts by: Joel Florek

@Brenda Whittaker Since I used commercial loans the banks care about the cash flow on the properties more then they care about your personal financial situation. Granted, mine isn't considered bad, just not great given my short credit history, high leverage, and short employment history.

@Rob Jones Unfortunately I cant say I have found the all elusive "mentor" to help give me the answers. What I have found are a lot of people who are doing different things in real estate and business who have been willing to speak with me, bounce ideas around, and talk through the deal. With that being said I have gotten varying opinions on all my actions but have ultimately had to decide what I believed to be the right choice. Needless to say I am still looking and likely always will be. For now I am just trying to network with those in the industry and continue to pick and choose what advice I will and wont apply to my business to fit my goals in life. 

@Constance Kang You will need to depend on other management teams so either you find a place within 1 or 2 hr of NYC so you can easily drive and check up on your investment or its a city you might plan on having as a second home base.

For me I plan to invest in 3 markets within 4 hours of each other. This way I can have many opportunities for expansion, diversify my market risk, yet get travel to on a regular basis if needed. Keep in mind I am focusing on investing in smaller towns right now (15k to 30k population).

@Constance Kang

Thanks for the kind words!

If you don't have a lot of money yourself owner financing coupled with bank financing on a commercial loan is a great way to get started. It sounds like you own a few rentals in foreign markets as I read your profile. Would love to know more about those! Definitely PM me on that topic!

I grew up helping my dad remodel houses we lived in and few SFRs they had. So knowing how to do pretty much any renovation or repair job has added a lot of confidence. I also went to school for finance and business so I combined my comfort level of remodeling with my business background to pass on SFR's to go straight to multi family. Even with that I started with a 4 unit as my first building before jumping to the 16 unit. You could go straight to 200 if you wanted/had the resources to do it, but there all risks get amplified as you add more units and increase the purchase prices.

@Jason Schneider Ill PM you but would love to get together and grab a beer or two. I own 20 units in Iron Mountain right now but looking to make a move back to Marquette somehow. Pretty much spend every weekend here(Marquette), absolutely love it and a big fan of a lot of the great things going on in the town right now. 

@Hubert Washington Go find properties that are for sale, or the ones you like, find out who the owners are and see if they are interested in selling. Then start doing the financial analysis. If you find a property that could work then you need to turn and focus on how to finance the thing. Is owner financing involved, do you get other private investors, do you bring in a partner, or are you only going to stick with something in your budget for a traditional 20% to 25% down on a commercial loan?

I have talked with you a bit about my 16 unit deal but I definitely didn't have all the answer prior to getting into that process. But I took the analysis and deal one step at a time and figured it out as I went along. I looked to others to review my numbers and see what I may be doing wrong.

Good luck and send me a PM with numbers when you find something you are considering.

@Nicole Curtis@Crystal Davis @Shane Hedeen Thanks for the comments! Its been a fun ride. Hard work is just starting but now I need to find the next deal which I am hoping will be bigger!

@Andrew NugentCongrats on your first purchase. That's how I got my original start into real estate. After graduation(had a purchase agreement 5 days after) I bought a 4 unit and 10 months later(on Tuesday) I bought a 16 unit. Both cases I used private and owner financing coupled with a commercial loan.

My biggest advice would be to determine what your long term goals are. For me its to travel and live on a comfortable income while I grow significant equity. To do that multi family was the ticket. With that being said I will  have a team who will need to manage all the units for me as I scale but that's just the nature of the beast.

On the flip side I have a buddy who started like you, then bought a few more and he has paid down some of the debt, but makes enough to run around the country snowmobiling and dirt biking(has been out west doing that for almost a month straight now). With his portfolio though he doesn't build much equity every month. For him he is ok with it as he puts tenants in once a year and then sits back and only deals with the occasional issue.

Anyways, good luck my friend! PM me if you ever have questions or if there is any way I can help. Ill actually be in Baltimore in the next week or two if you wanted to meet up for a drink or two.

@Chris SukalaA deal is a deal. If its getting you one step closer to your achieving what you set out to do then its a huge win regardless of its size.

@Ned CareyVery true. If it was as easy as signing the piece of paper and sitting back to watch checks roll in then there  would be no reason for people to want to get out of this game to allow others to move in. Its definitely going to be a challenging road ahead. But when I talk to people who think I am crazy for taking on a property like this, or any property for that matter, I step back and explain that I would rather have to take care of problems I own rather then problems that get handed down to me from my boss. Thanks for the post Ned!