All Forum Posts by: John Richardson

I'm graduating college with a Bachelors in Business Management in December.  The job scene still isn't great and I know a lot of people with similar degrees who can't find work.  I'm considering going to work in the ND oilfields for a year or two.  They are paying about 100k a year with no experience although you have to work like crazy and housing scene isn't good.  I would save up and invest every dime possible with the ultimate aim to use the money to buy rental properties when I return.  It would be nice to have some easy money (easier than working for it at least) coming in for the rest of my life.

Question is, if I take 2 years off, is it likely that I will still be able to use my degree to find a business job?  I have no work experience.

I would want to buy decent-good apartment buildings, nothing that will be a complete headache to manage.  In my area you can find buildings like this at a 1.4% or 1.5 % return on the total investment fairly regularly.  If you are patient and shop around, you reach 1.6% or 1.7%, sometimes higher if you are lucky.  Overall it is a good market to own rentals, not amazing but you can get a decent return.

I am working out of the area where I would want to buy properties and live so I'm not starting in real estate yet.  I'm just saving up as much as possible and will be for the next few years.  

I would be buying at 20% down with a 30 year mortgage on each property I buy.

Obviously there will be a million other factors to consider and at best a rough estimate is all that could be made.  With that being said, how much cold hard cash would I have to invest to reach the goal?  

Great advice, thank you everybody!

Say you own 10 duplexes, on average how much time would you have to put in if you self manage?

@Arlan Potter That is what I would like to do.  The problem is my job requires me to travel too often and for too long.  I can't manage myself at this point.

Hi, I'm looking into buying my first rental property in another 2-3 months.  I'm looking around in my market to see what is out there, even though the listings will likely look very different in a few months.  I'm getting more familiar with what to look for and how to run the numbers.  I was wondering if you guys could run the numbers and give me a realistic expectation for a return.

Here is an example property:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2...

Buying price: $80,000 (20% down - $16,000)

Total monthly rent: $1,475

Taxes: $3,800

Insurance: $800

The rest of the numbers you guys can add in as you see fit.  The listing says the utilities are all separate.  Also this would be a hands off investment so I would be using a property manager.  I'm interested to hear all of your estimates for an expected return! Thanks everybody  

Well I'm moving back to the USA soon and would like to buy a fourplex for around 200k with a 20% down payment.  However I have been living and working abroad for the past 5 years and have no proof of income in the USA.  I didn't have to file taxes because they were payed by the employer and I wasn't a resident in the USA anymore.  I have a Master's degree in the health field and should be able to find a job very quickly because shortage in my field so I am not very worried about lack of income.    

What can I do in my situation?  Other than working and waiting 2 years to get financing.