All Forum Posts by: Jonathan R.

I'd stay in the corporate world and work as a real estate agent on the side for a few years. Selling 10 houses a year is not as easy as it sounds, unless your brokerage is giving you leads (they typically don't when you are a newbie). Buyers are also coming in in large part from overseas per what I am gleaning from watching real estate shows in the California area recently. So you'll want to concentrate on getting listings until you know where the buyers are coming from. Unless you have a connection with Bravo and can find yourself on television, I'd keep the 9-5 for a couple more years.

Buy an all in investment property for 30k in a low income neighborhood and rent it out through Section 8. Use the other 20k for more bar tabs and memories. Good luck!

My last deal was north of 20% CoC. I did some work though. I also know where to go to find wholesale deals in Wichita from people ready to unload properties. So does @Jared Viernes. Perhaps you should look at a couple SFR instead of multi. You got to go with what the market is giving you. I think you can get some of the best returns in the country as an investor here. Best of luck my friend.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but real estate income is income. I see people keep mentioning that student loan debt throws off the dti. It may take a year or two for the bank to qualify rent from an investment property as income, but it will lower your dti.

I disagree with Thomas S. Why would I pay off a 5 of 6% student loan when I can make a 20% return in real estate? I have a student loan payment of like $500 a month and the cashflow off my first owned in cash investment property pays for that loan amount. On to the next one. As long as the student loans are fixed, put your money where you get the best return. That is being disciplined.

I'd be interested to see your numbers if you are willing to share. What is the seller trying to get for the property and what is the county appraisal? If you think an investor can rehab the property and stay very close to the price of the country appraisal all in after the rehab, you may have deal.

Just make sure there is enough meat on the bone for an investor to buy your deal under market value also and for you to make a profit. If you are buying a rental property from a landlord, your end buyer will likely be an investor. This means a quick and easy sale if priced right, which is good. I would look at the country appraisal and think it is a good buy for a wholesaler if the price you are paying the owner is around 50% of the county appraisal, you can mentally factor in what is needed to bring the property to its after repair value. On the deal I bought from a wholesaler, my all in cost after my rehab reached just a few grand above the county appraisal, I still couldn't tell you what the after repair value is after my rehab because I ultimately don't care, I'm going to hold the property long term. I'm sure the arv is higher than my all in, or at worst, very close, because I used the country appraisal as a gage by staying within a few thousand of that number. I think buy and hold investors think similarly, arv is more important to flippers. Focus on the county appraisal and try and beat the seller down to as close to 50% as you can. I bought my deal at 66% of the county appraisal, the wholesaler likely was in the 50% range when he got it under contract. Perhaps you can make money even if the numbers aren't quite this sweet, but hopefully this serves as bit of guidance on what deals to investors are looking like here. If you think your end buyer can be a non investor, that could be a game changer. The deal I'm describing was done in Wichita within the last year. By all means, don't treat my post like the gold standard, I'm interested to see if you get other responses too for my own learning.

@James Klafehn this post has made me feel a bit better for sure. I was denied earlier this week for a heloc through my credit union that I have a couple loans with that I always pay on time, due to having too high dti. I went to private college and have some student loan debt, I also took out a Lowe's and Home Depot card on my last real estate deal. I have plenty of equity in my primary residence and own an investment property free and clear. I was actually shocked to get denied. I have money coming in in Feb and can pay down some debt and get approved I'm guessing, but I sure did want to get my money now and keep it moving. Best of luck my friend.

Cool, the windows can be old, they just need to go up and down and lock. Best wishes moving forward.

I have experience with Section 8 in Kansas but not in Olathe. I have had a good experience. Section 8 pays $629 and the tenant pays only $46. Section 8's portion of the rent is direct deposited into my account each month, it is nice to not have to worry about being paid on time. To get started with Section 8 just Google Section 8 Olathe, KS and it will take you to your local page. You will see a list of their requirements. In short, every screen door needs a screen and they can't be torn, every window needs to go up and down and lock, your stove needs to work, you need a GFI in the kitchen, one smoke detector on every floor etc. You will have an initial inspection once you accept a tenant's voucher and fill it out. I don't care how good you are, you will probably fail the first one. They will come out again to re-inspect in a week. I suggest you make friends with everyone you meet with the Section 8 staff, they will help move you along/tell you what they need from you and what is coming up next. Sometimes the staff in my area was tough to reach by phone, even after leaving a polite message, so I followed up with an email several hours later in the day, also be prepared to drive to the Section 8 office if you need to move something along quicker. This all sounds like a hassle I'm sure, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I know my money is coming in. Section 8 tenants I think will stay longer because there is such a competition for housing. I get an above market rent in my area, I suggest pricing your unit higher than you think it is worth and seeing if you can get it, you should have no problem finding an interested tenant. I suggest including the trash bill with the rent, because that is a bill you do not want the tenant to skip out on. My listing was posted for 48 hours and we had 254 views and a huge pool to pick from. You post your listing right on their website and start taking phone calls/emails. We went with a 50 year old disabled man on SSD, we wanted to take a shot at a long term tenant. People think Section 8 people will trash your house, I think there is a better chance they won't because they want to stay in the program. Good luck. I certainly say go for it.