All Forum Posts by: Joshua Martin

Hey gang,

I was hoping somebody who holds in Saint Francis could give me an idea about rents on SFRs over there? There's a HUD house I'm going to bid on, but already debating exit strategies should they take my bid.

  It's a 3 BD, 1 BA, no garage, 1600 sq. ft. single family. I'm hoping for $1200 a month, but feel that might be unrealistic. Kitchen will be just average with not an idea layout. Also might build a garage.

  Any one have experience over there? Thanks.

Best,

  JTM

Are you sure no one is mailing probates? It's normally a pretty worked market from investors.

The fact that you have to go to the courthouse actually sounds like an advantage as not as many people will be doing that, but there may be vendors that source the data.

Do some bigger pockets searches with respect to probate data and letters, the questions you're certain to run up against in the next few weeks as you try and put it together.

As for filing those leads, good luck, lol, it's a bear any way you do it (as I recently discovered).

Best of luck,

  JTM

Hey Josh, what kind of areas?

Welcome to BP @RaeAnna Ebel!

And why wait till June of 2018? Why not bump that up a year?

Best, and best of luck,

  JTM

@Scott Schultz "I'm just a guy that doesn't know much," lol, great line. 

As for that correction, I have no idea, and I haven't been in this game long enough to see, but the rapid appreciation I see in certain areas of my market is a little bit scary - great for flippers, but kind of scary for some of the buyers I'm working with a the moment. But, like you, I'm just a guy who doesn't know much.

Best,

  JTM

@Scott Schultz I would move slowly but persistently. My two to four year plan is moving into the multifamily game (I need to buy some cheap houses and stash some cash first), but I'm reading and preparing now. I ordered several amazon books, the most helpful in getting general concepts of multi family analysis so far has been The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings by Steve Berges.

You have more cash, so you could likely make a play well before me, however...

My point is not that you should get lost in analysis, but that you should analyze dozens and dozens of properties before you actually make a play and are confident in your numbers and particular strategy. 

If some of those numbers are coming from the seller, I wouldn't trust them at all. As previous poster mentioned, some of those seem strikingly low. 9.75 cap is really impressive, but probably too good to be true depending on the area in which you're investing and the type of property.

You can do it, I'm sure of that, but just don't hop into something with pro forma data trusting a cap rate you may never come close to achieving. Invest your hard earned cash very wisely.

Best,

  JTM

Jake Colstad Don't be discouraged by lack of experience, lack of knowledge, or lack of hands on skill. These can all be learned, and are not that difficult. You can do that part no problem. BP is a great resource for your questions, and you can probably find a few local contacts as well. A few questions, when you say your mortgage do you mean PITI or just the debt service? (I have no idea what taxes are up your way). How old is your house? What big ticket maintenance items can you foresee in the next 5-10 years? While we all run numbers with our ideal allocation, 8% for repairs, etc., these numbers can have more flex for a period of time. So the fact that it isn't a cash cow may not necessarily be a deal breaker. People that buy in good areas don't often expect a whole lot of cash flow. Do talk to the PM and find out about market rents. Also try rentometer and watch craigslist for SFRs. Also call a broker to get a CMA (or BPO) as previous poster mentioned. Ask same broker about appreciation in your market and what you could expect given the longer hold. If you like that broker you could perhaps ask the same one about two families, but make sure they know how to accurately run rental numbers. I.e. The difference between the PITI and total rent is not your cash flow, as many seem to think. All good comments on this thread. Stay the course. Best of luck, JTM

That response rate seems about right from the previous mailings. I am hopeful, however, that with offering multiple seller options (retail, as-is, or cash), I can capture a few more and also build some atty relationships because they know I'll be doing the best thing for the seller and the estate. 

Good input Patrick, I appreciate it. It sounds cumbersome anyway one goes about it. I think I'll stick with my separate google docs for sorting purposes, and keep a calendar handy planning out future mailings, same idea though.

And give someone $100 for a day watching TV and stuffing envelopes. After I've made the system effective I'll outsource that straight away. Licking envelopes stinks...

Best,

  JTM

And a quick follow up: have you found pursuing the attorneys worthwhile?

Thanks @Sharon Vornholt! Valuable input. 

To clarify a few things, I was talking about calling and emailing the attorneys to try and build a referral base. Just letters for probates, I agree with you, though I have seen people on here that call. 

I have the mail merge thing all set up from the last round but I was intimidated by the numbers given the suggested consistency.  Month 12 would be 75 x 12 or 900 letters!

I guess there is. I best practice. I log everything in a google doc and merge that. Pen and paper it is ;)

And Cali looks like a much more difficult probate process for sure. 

Best,

  JTM