All Forum Posts by: Joshua Randall

Hi BP family! 

I'm in the process of taking my course requirement for a real estate sales associate license in Florida! I'm so excited to get started soon. I've been wholesaling the past year and have been able to close on a few properties to get some experience under my belt. I know there's a lot more to being an agent but all the experience definitely helps! I'll be in Polk County, FL since I reside now in that county. I'm looking to connect with people in the market, find investors, learn any tips you might like to share! Thanks for the support!

Hello Bigger Pockets family!

I'm curious for those that have invested in short term/vacation rentals, what the best properties you all have found work the best. I can see that there are obvious pros and cons to all of them. But I want to hear from people that are doing it and what you have experienced is the best route and why! 

With Single Family I can see the benefit of equity and appreciation, multi-family a larger cashflow, condos and apartments are more likely to have better location and a higher earning potential. Let me know what you all have seen and are doing!

This is amazing! And thank you for sharing you story about how you got started! I've been wholesaling and trying to hard to get that first rental and I know I'm so close, just have to stick with it!

Biggest learned mistake is paying/researching for quality cleaners. We had started out doing the cleaning ourselves because we didn't mind and the little extra cash from doing the cleaning ourselves made it fun. But when we got to 3 units it wasn't really worth the constant working at the point. So we hired a cleaning company that said they would meet all of our needs and we went through the whole process of telling them what we wanted and how we wanted it done. They promised us the world but delivered very sad services. We ended up having to walk through to double check their work every time and almost got to the point we were doing half the work ourselves it seemed like. So we researched another company, interviewed them and walked them through the properties. Surprisingly the owner came and walked his entire crew through each one of the properties with us. The owner came to the properties almost every time the first few weeks they started to make sure they were doing everything like we asked! It was incredible! We eventually grew a personal relationship with them and we absolutely love their services and are talking with the owners on how they can get their first short term rental. My advice is spend the extra dollar, do the extra research, because in the end you're going to anyway. 

Not much tax benefits if this is your first rental property. I could see this being valuable if you had 10 properties and the appreciation was going to be worth it over the next few years, but I would say lose the agent. If your goal is cash flow and they are trying to fight for you to get a negative cash flowing property for the tax benefits, doesn't really sound like they want you to win starting out. 

Okay interesting! So with my triplex, the rents in the 3 units over a period of a year has to exceed my PITI with a vacancy rate of 25% of the year. Let me know if I'm saying that right. So would they try to calculate the income then of the unit I was going to live in as a rental unit also or just the other 2 units?

If I were to purchase a Trip-Plex with the expectation of living in one of the units. Would I be able to use the 203k loan to rehab the property? I know it works for your basic single family home but will it work for a multi unit property? I feel like this would be an incredible way to use a financing tool for a value add property!

Hello All! 

I'm wanting to invest long distance in the Midwest while I live in Florida while I start out. I've been contemplating on wether to do a flip initially so I can build some capital. Or should I just jump straight into buying my first long term rental property? I guess there is always the obvious option where I BRRRR and essentially am doing the same thing. Looking to see if an experienced investor can give some insight on how they started out and if it propelled them forward at a faster rate than others. I've been wholesaling but feel anxious because I'm not earning passive income.

Let me know!

Indiana is a great midwest, landlord friendly state! You could easily get a 3/2 for under 200k or even a nice duplex if you don't want any repairs for under 200k! Best thing is to jump in feet first! It's scary and you might genuinely fail, but really the worst that could happen is you have a bad tenant or unexpected repairs. You sound like a very smart person though so I imagine you're going to do just fine and take all the necessary steps to avoid those kind of mistakes! Just make sure you network with plenty of realtors and property managers in the area you choose so you meet the best people and make the best decision!

Hi James! 

1. To limit your liability I would highly recommend you hire a property manager. Make sure you ask for 5 references and that they have a good reputation amongst the real estate investing local community! Maybe even asks some local realtors about them. 

2. The time of the season doesn't matter, yes people are more likely to be looking for homes in spring and fall but somebody (even good tenants) are looking for housing in the winter months!

3. I would highly suggest you not let them know you are the owners. It's really up to your preference, but if you do this then you are going to be getting door knocks at 3am in the morning to fix toilet clogs. Better just let your property management company deal with it in their system and spend $100 on labor while you sleep peacefully. There's a good chance if they know you are the owner they could take advantage of that in some way shape or form. Best to just be a tenant with them and nobody is the wiser!

Hope this helps!