All Forum Posts by: Joshua Maestas

Welcome to BiggerPockets! You will find a vast amount of information on just about any RE topic you can think of. My suggestion is that you initially focus on finding what niche you want to get into and then building your education from there. There are many discussions on buying properties for low or no money down. That would be a great place to start in terms of what you can do with the money you have. 

Its definitely easy to get tied up and spend the majority of your time taking in all the information about real estate investing however during my free time I enjoy doing many other activities. Being a huge car enthusiast myself I enjoy networking with people who own high end exotics and discussing just about everything about cars. A nice drive on the open road is as good as it gets! Aside from that I enjoy reading up on the financial markets and graphics design.

Welcome to BiggerPockets! Albuquerque has seen a high demand in rentals lately and it has been steadily increasing. As Jeffrey mentioned there are tons of opportunities in the Metro Area. My advise is to learn as much as you can before jumping in to anything (Just being on this site is a great start!). Definitely make sure to do your research on the areas you are investing in. There are a lot of multi family units along the central area however as these may seem like deals, these areas have began to steadily decline which has left a lot of owners struggling to sell their properties. 

Thomas welcome to BiggerPockets! I am an investor from Albuquerque NM. My family owns a large community of rentals in Santa Fe and it is a very interesting market. Id have to agree with Ian, Demand is high and supply is low! This has led to deals being a bit scarce however there are still many opportunities. Santa Fe definitely has a higher entry point in terms of investing but its still a great place to start. Best of luck to you and your endeavors.

The above is assuming its renting for around $1100 FYI 

You stated that cash flow would be $400-$800 a month? That is a huge range. Cash flow is dependent on your Debt service. Assuming interest is around 3.8% the mortgage payment on $110,000 on a 30 year amortization rate would come to roughly $525 a month. You would never assume 100% vacancy so even at a modest 10% for vacancy, once you throw in $700 in property taxes, $300 in insurance, $1200 in yearly HOA and assuming 10% in variable cost PM you would be lucky to pull a net operating income of $630 however cash flow once debt service is accounted for you'd be more around the $100-$150 range a month. And that's assuming that tenant pays all utilities, no advertising fees or additional maintenance not covered by HOA.

 Where do you get this assumption from? 

My suggestion would be to look at average market rents for the area. To get a rough estimate you can use something like rentometer.com to see if there is indeed any rental properties near by. Is this a new community that you are moving into? In my area new communities generally tend to appreciate at a faster rate for the first couple of years. If this is the case you may be better off selling the property and finding something that the numbers make sense for renting from the start. 

Thanks David, reading is a part of my daily routine. Such a great way to learn a vast amount of knowledge

Hello Everyone, 

My name is Joshua Maestas, I am from Albuquerque, NM. Ive been exploring BiggerPockets for several months now and became very interested in real estate investing. Ive been a natural investor at heart, starting with stocks at the age of 16. I like the concept of real estate being able to control a tangible asset that can have multiple sources of profit where as stocks is slightly above gambling. 

I began my fasination with real estate when my father acquired a large community of rental properties in the Santa Fe, NM area. I learned the day to day functions of an active landlord. Ive been involved with everything from working with contractors to evicting tenants. Currently I am 22 and have made the decision to continue to grow my passion for real estate into something long term.

My goal this year is to acquire my first rental property. Once I have efficient capital I would like to branch out into the fix and flip/hold strategy. I will began to build my team of professionals and learn from the REI community. Eventually I plan to open my own real estate holdings and investment firm. I look forward to interacting and learning from many of you at BiggerPockets!