All Forum Posts by: Jacob Pereira

I used to teach statistics to MBA students, and I would tell them that five opinions is way too small of a sample size to get anything valuable out of it, so let's make it six opinions: People have been telling me that it was a bad time to get into real estate since I started buying up duplexes in 2013, and that I should wait until the market cooled down before buying. The truth is, there's no such thing as a bad time to get into real estate, as long as you do your homework, add value, and tread carefully.

Keep it up. It might take a while, but it will eventually lead you to financial independence if you play your cards right.

My favorite line from the article, "

On the company’s website there are a number of positions posted for the Austin-area ranging from electrical engineers to mechanical engineers.

"

This is a great question; I don't actively market myself (I work too much as it is), but I am always looking for ways to better market my clients and their deals. I'll be following this thread.

I get this question from clients fairly regularly, and I've commented on it on this forum before: The truth is, the only reason anyone asks about Killeen is because it's cheap; it's just that simple. It's also true that you can make money in any market, given the right situation, but this is a tough one. 

You'll never get the appreciation that you can get once you get closer to Austin, and capital costs will eat up the small amount of cashflow you'll see in most rentals there. The people whom I see that thrive in Killeen literally live in the community and self-manage, or have built their business to a scale that seems to be able to work (seems to be around 15-20 units, but that's anecdotal). Even then, it they're self-managing, they're really just adopting a low-wage job by taking something on over there.

All that said, if you're just looking to buy an education, it's cheaper than tuition at many universities, so for certain investors it might be a cheap way to gain the knowledge they need to get into more lucrative markets.

@James Wise, I think you may have missed a key aspect of my comment. Since my tenant had paid the whole year in advance I had no right to remove his things without his say-so, which was the only reason I was there. Even if he had broken the lease I would've still had to have gone through the eviction process to remove his possessions without his permission. It was much quicker, easier, and cheaper to ask for his permission face to face than try to do it through the courts. Believe it or not, the respectful way of doing things is often also the best business practice, even when the individual you're working with isn't necessarily the best guy.

I actually did something very similar once. He was a former marine, just like me, and he just got a giant VA settlement. He literally paid for the full year of rent in advance, because I originally told him I couldn't rent to him because of the murder conviction. At that point I figured I didn't have much to lose (I also have a $2M umbrella policy, which I recommend to every mid-size landlord). I should also mention he was in his mid-sixties and walked with a cane

He ended up going back to jail about 8 months into his lease for some kind of drug issue while on parole. While I couldn't rent the property out to a new tenant because it was technically still his, I had the rent and it gave me plenty of time for a make ready and to show new tenants. I even visited him in prison and got his permission to have his sister take his stuff a few weeks early.

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Landlording is an interesting profession.

@Grant Patton, have you already found one? I've gotten a chance to see @Paul Sedillo's work recently, and he does a top-notch job. Not sure he takes such small jobs, but he certainly understands investor needs better than the average contractor, so it might be worth reaching out.

I love Austin, so I always recommend this town, but if you're already in Atlanta, why not continue there? I assume you already have a team and systems in place, and you can often find economies of scale when you get multiple properties in the same area.

@Nicole Petrey,

@Aaron Signer's advice is very good if you're looking at rehab, which I'm guessing you are.

Also, based on some of the details in your post, I'm gathering that you're planning on living in each property for a year and they will be conforming properties. In this situation they're all essentially "investor friendly". They just sell your loan on the secondary market as soon as it closes. If you end up buying non-conforming properties or are not planning on occupying them, expect to put down more like 25%, and obviously FHA would be off the table.

One thing I always like to recommend: talk to a place that doesn't pay commissions to their loan officers (most credit unions), and use their rate to shop around. They almost always offer the lowest rates, but I've found that the service is often a bit lacking, since they don't really care that much if your loan goes through. If you can find a commission-based loan officer to match their rates, you can get the best of both worlds. 

That said, I've worked with all kinds of lenders; PM me what you're actually looking for and I'll be happy to share contacts of some of the ones I've had the best experiences with.

Absolutely not. We as Realtors have control of a monopoly (the MLS) and hold that information hostage in order to get outsized returns. Will Realtors make less money as a result of this? yes, but it was inevitable that technology would disrupt this market. Trying to preserve our monopoly to the detriment of consumers borders on unethical, IMO.

That said, I'm a landlord for a living, I'm a Realtor because I love it. In other words, I'm not reliant on my Realtor income to put food on the table. That said, even if our earnings get cut in half, I'd still be making a comfortable upper-middle class income off of commissions, and I assume most other competent Realtors could make it work. Heck, it might even help weed out the part-time Realtors who give poor service in hope of a quick payday.