All Forum Posts by: John Barrett

@Daniel G Blais There are a lot of brokers who specialize in selling lots and could likely give you good insight on comps in the area. By looking at what other raw land has sold for and compare that with the cost of removing the structure from the property should help inform your decision. Best of luck.

@Roston Tatum I’m not a wholesaler but I see post like this every week. You are asking someone to take on additional work to help you learn. This a really hard request for the best wholesalers, landlords, property managers etc. as it’s basically another job. I would suggest you start attending local real estate meet ups and make connections with folks who are doing what you would like to do. Build relationships with these people and your network and it will naturally lead to opportunities to learn the business. Making specific offers of assistance will greatly improve your chances of someone saying yes. Best of luck as you start your real estate journey.

@Tim Foster if lenders are not willing to allow you to utilize a HELOC for the down payment, you could look at doing a cashout refinance. Doing this will result in higher fixed expenses on the borrowed money until you find a deal to invest in though. Critical element is to ensure you are not getting over leveraged. Everyone has different risk tolerance when investing but given that you are taking equity out of your primary residence extra caution is warranted. Hard money lenders are also an option but in that case the deal would need to be good enough to warrant the very high cost of capital. Best of luck.

Hi @Greg Cobb, I would not suggest jumping into a commercial property as you first investment.  This is simply based on the terms of the financing that will be available to you.  Specifically the option of getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is very beneficial.  You will also have options for putting less money down on the property.  All of these choices will affect your monthly cash flow so need to be taken into account.  Long term stable financing will help reduce your risk and give you time to learn the business.

Hope this helps.

@Kent McDaniel your personal residence is a liability in the sense that it takes money out of your pocket monthly to run. That said, I look at a little different than others as not having a mortgage does provide you benefits (peace of mind and stability). You need to determine if what you are buying every month with not having a mortgage on your home provides you more value than the return you can get if you investing the money elsewhere. As someone a lot smarter than me said, “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”.

Hi @Greg Cobb, multifamily properties are an extremely hot commodity at the moment. We attend a meetup up in Marysville which has multifamily investors who attend regularly. I don’t know a lot about the Tacoma market specifically but there are many ways to get the information you are looking for. Sounds like you just need some general Information to get comfortable moving forward with a purchase. Feel free reach out if I can answer some questions for you. Best of luck.

@Ian D. I would recommend hiring an eviction attorney. It will cost you some money but it it‘s the simplest and cleanest way to ensure you get possession of your property. Having a lease / rental agreement would make things easier but my understanding is that in the absence of a written lease tenancy is month to month. Best of luck.

Hi @Dee Bullock, I would suggest picking on specific area to focus on learning that area first. This way you can give all your attention to mastering that aspect of investIng prior to moving onto the next. My personal opinion is that it’s easy to get bored or distracted and jump from one form of investing to another without makIng much real progress. As a property manager, your network should provide you a lot of opportunities to solve other investors problems. This can be you source of leads for off market properties, owner financed deals or possibly as a “bird dog” for other wholesalers. Any of these will give you a means to get into investing. Best of luck.

@Shane H. This is a business and you need to act in a professional manner. Absolutely nothing to be gained by going down this route. Landlording is a people business and public shaming would only serve to hurt your business. Use this as a lesson to make you a better landlord going forward. Best of luck.

@James McKay We have done 2 1031 exchanges over the last two years. While there are rules that need to be followed we didn’t find them prohibitively difficult to navigate. My best advice is to find your replacement property first and then get your property listed. Technically you are risking your earnest money should you fail to close but if you have things lined up right this is a low risk item. Price the property you are going to sell for the exchange correctly for your market and you have a great shot of completing the transaction without issue. As for your original question, yes we are planning or doing 1031 exchanges forever. My wife and I love real estate and we are building a family business to last beyond our lives.