All Forum Posts by: Joey Hamaoui

Hi @Andres Rivero I'm in the Jacksonville market and would be happy to answer any specific questions you have about the market.

We're typically focused on Single Family Homes, Townhomes and Condos in Jacksonville and Orange Park.

Our acquisition costs are typically between $60-80K.

Our Renovation costs are typically between $7-12K.

After Repair Values are typically between $90-110K.

Our NET Returns for CASH Buyers are typically between 8-11%.

I've recently started working with more financed buyers and we've been projecting 10-15% Cash on Cash returns but we don't have enough proven data yet that I'd feel comfortable saying we're "seeing it".

I hope that helps. What other insights are you looking for?

Hi @Travis Ingle,

Congratulations on making the commitment and getting started!

If funding is your biggest issue I would say your first step should be to get crystal clear on what you need. For example, if you're going to borrow money you should know exactly what kind of lender you will work with. Will it be conventional 25% down 4.75 interest? Hard money? Borrowing from friends? etc. Know exactly how much down you're going to need for your deal plus where the renovation money will come from.

Until you're clear you will find it very difficult to get started. You won't really know how much you need to get started or where to turn to to get it.

I would advise reaching out to local flippers and finding out how they're funding their projects, mortgage brokers to determine your options, etc.

Good luck!

Hey @Billy Mclachlan I've been focused primarily on SFR and Condo Buy & Holds so I haven't looked too hard into the multifamily space but from the glimpse I've had into our multifamily market I haven't seen such great returns. What kind of returns are you looking for?

@Carolyn Morales I haven't gone to that "tour" yet but I've heard about it. It's the one where they take you around to different "real deals" and evaluate them together? I cannot imagine why you would need a screwdriver with you when evaluating a property. The only thing I can think of is to test if the siding is rotted but you should be able to tell just from looking in my humble opinion.

Hi @Attila M.

I've heard good things about David Heekin with Heekin Law.

Lee Osborne is also one of the big names locally.

I started using Chris Walker with Brennan, Manna & Diamond for my personal business and he's been amazing. A little difficult to lock down for a meeting but it was worth the wait.

Please let us know if you find someone else worth looking into. I still haven't found a good CPA if anyone knows of one also.

Hi @Kevin Martin I would like to learn more about your 2-4 unit construction projects. I have lots of buyers looking for those kind of properties and I've not found properties with the 10% returns you mentioned. I'm seeing more like 6% in general.

Hi @Billy Mclachlan I'm not sure if we're allowed to post the specific names of groups here on the forums but if you message me I'll be happy to share with you the groups that I found were helpful starting out locally. There are a lot of weirdos in some of these groups but I have made some great connections through them and you only need 1 good connection for a meetup to be worth it.

What brings you to Jacksonville?

Hey @Jeffrey Wardlow,

Do you have a particular property in mind? I would imagine the first step would be to confirm the zoning.

What are your concerns?

Hi @Ariel Goldenberg we're typically looking at rents between $900-1,100/month. Some of our cheaper properties have been around $800-900/month but always those minimum returns. Our lowest deal was an acquisition of $47,000 from a local wholesaler that's rented out for $750/month. That's the lowest rent on any property I've sold but you can see why we did it.

Have you already invested in other markets or are you just getting started?

Hi @Zach DiFilippo

First of all thank you for having the courage to share your situation with everyone. I'm sure there are plenty of other people in your situation that are just to shy to ask for advice and will gain a lot of value from this thread.

I haven't read the book yet but I recently purchased @Scott Trench's new book "Set For Life" and my understanding is he discusses how to get to that starting point. I would definitely check it out.

There are 2 approaches that I would present and depending on the rest of your personal life I would recommend one or the other.

In Duval and Clay county you can apply for the First Time Home Buyer's assistance. Basically it is a loan from the county for up to $15,000 to cover closing costs and downpayment. If you live in the property for 5 years, you never have to pay it back. If you sell (or leave) the property earlier you have to pay back 20% for every year left in the 5 years.

My recommendation is that you make the move up to Jacksonville, use an FHA loan with the first time home buyers program to purchase a quad and house hack until you can build up the capital to make your next move. You may have to speak with a mortgage broker first to find out what your loan-to-debt ratio needs to be so you can determine if you would qualify for this strategy yet or if you need to pay down more of your loan.

The other problem you may face is that you probably won't qualify for any institutional loan while you're in your first two years of being a 1099 Independent Contractor. My advice would be to speak with a mortgage broker and clarify these points for your particular situation. This way you'll have a clear path to follow and everything else will just be checking off the items from your list until you get there.

The second option would be to save up the cash until you can do a conventional loan. We're typically seeing about 25% down with 4.75 Interest. I would again advise you speak with a mortgage broker to determine what your debt ratio must be and how much you need to pay off from your student loans first.

As a real estate agent who is 26, married with two kids, and actively pursuing REI I would tell you that sadly the answer that I know you don't want to hear might be that you just need to wait and build up some cash while paying down some debts. We are in a similar situation and we are set up now to hopefully make our first purchase in the first quarter of 2018. It took us 2.5 years to get here and this last 6 months have been the toughest. Don't give up and good luck!

Hi @Richard Foster I don't do an MLS emailer as I've found them to be highly ineffective. It will just flood your email with a bunch of properties within a specific price range but it won't take into account the market rent, renovation costs, etc. so the majority won't be deals. Send me a message and I'll be happy to connect with you and let you know what my process is like.