All Forum Posts by: Kira Golden

James L. The numbers look right, but it seems like a lot of work for just an 8% cap rate. Have you thought about using your capital to co-invest on larger projects that benefit from economies of scale and generate 15caps? As you get into larger projects your risk is much more spread out and the returns are better.

Two main points: 1) hard money moves fast and so the biggest point of it is that you should be able to get the property at such as great price that the HM is worth the cost in interest and points ave with the high down payment. 2) hard money is much more acceptable of properties that agency lenders just won't ever touch. Some other benefits include the fact the hard money lenders can actually be helpful in the process. Many local leaders operate like experienced partners and will bring a lot of knowledge and resources to the table. As you build a relationship with your lender that down payment amount will likely reduce you are paying a premium for your lack of track record. Once you have one, you will have more negotiating room. I usually put down between 0-10% but I had to do some deals first with each lender plus have a good portfolio with a strong track record. as you are building your portfolio think to the future. Take good pics of before and after, track the funding and returns well and build a nice portfolio history document. You will find this helps you negotiate smaller down payments. Good luck.

Hi Everyone! I currently own 30 vacation rentals in Puerto Rico and lived there for some time. Please reach out to me, I would love to connect with anyone wanting to get started in the vacation rental business.

Looks great!

@Jordan Decuir Go Multi Family! I started single family and spent a long time doing it (7 years) before I figured out the power of economy of scale and the ease of financing MF v SF. I do suggest that if you go this route you need to connect with an experienced investor who can help you avoid pitfalls in the process. Look for deals that you can partner on that are large enough to be profitable for everyone and worth your efforts. In this game a one hour phone call can be worth 200/ month in passive come on 200,000. Its all about scale and systems. I now partner with new and experienced investors on deals no smaller than 250 units and my base level of IRR is 30%. When I was doing singe family I was happy to make 6-10% return on money each year. By way of a specific example, lets say you own a 300 unit complex and discover the water treatment is out. This 60k expense to replace comes to a cost of 200/ door. This expense will not hurt your profits for the year or put you out of business. Lets say your water treatment fails on a single family or smaller multi family that 10-15k replacement expense is 10-15k per door and could easily suck up all potential profits for the year.

For my commercial transactions I have my attorney as well as a title company with National Scope I work with. Since we have deals in multiple states (CO, IL, TX, OH, GA, and PR) I prefer working with one national company who can handle everything.  When I am doing a straight forward fee simple single family I just use a local title company. 

@Walker Hinshaw Thanks! Today was a much better day. Things can sure turn around quick. We had the seller of the property offer to reduce the price to cover the unexpected increase in repair costs, and my wonderful husband got the house cleaned and things are back on track. 

One of the things I LOVE about real estate investing is how optimistic, creative and cheery everyone is. Generally, you don't get a lot of excuse makers in this business. However, I know we all have really bad days and today I just had one.  I have a fairly high BS threshold. By way of example, I am 8 months pregnant, battling bronchitis and just had a fire and shooting at one of my rehabs, and had the budget come in 1mm over estimate (yes this is the last four days!) Today I hit my limit. Yesterday I booked to have cleaning laddies come clean my house as a treat since I had been sick and let it go, and also since we were having company. Today they were over an hour late. They also came without the documents on licensing and bonding I requested. When I called the office for the third time and someone finally answered I was needless to say... upset. However, I did not yell or say the thing I wanted to say such as, "this cleaning was costing me now thousands per hour in wasting my time". Instead, I tried to find out what they could do to handle the issue. The guy on the other end of the phone literally yelled at me. That was it! I hung up on him and sent his staff home. After I had a min to reflect, I called back asking to speak to an owner. As a business owner myself I would want someone to alert me to a customer service issue so I can handle it and train my staff. Turns out HE WAS THE OWNER!!! AGHHHH. First off, NEVER use DENVER MOUNTAIN MAIDS.  Second, I took this moment to stop and think about all the stuff we have to deal with as real estate investors, the daily stress can be a lot from time to time. However, the stressful moments like finding out the home across the street from my mortgaged 160K house was just bank foreclosed and on the market for 35k are also opportunities. In fact, I bought that 35k house! But only after a day passed and Ill admit I cried. I was scared. I didn't know what was happening to the US market. This was 2009. I not only made it out OK but I made it out thriving. Because where I first experienced fear, I ultimately found my opportunity. 

Real estate investing has BAD DAYS. But EVERYTHING is point of view. When your having a bad day don't pretend everything is fine. It is likely not and pretending it is will only hide the problem. But also, don't think it will be bad forever. Once you freak out, cry, accidentally overreact to your spouse because you are stressed (sorry honey!) take a moment and think. Put your emotions in check and let your brain storm!  You will find that there are solutions to every problem, and every bad day is an opportunity to quit or be forged into the investor you want to be. Yes the benefits are worth it, but make sure you are doing this for the right reasons and that you have balance in your life. For me, it's the occasional help with cleaning that is usually my treat. My husband loves to go hit the rockies with his new Rubicon Unlimited, and ALWAYS remember that if everyone could really do this they would. There are many things that make being a real estate investor great. I know this because even on the bad days I wouldn't do anything else. 

@Kimberly T. Congrats. I am 8 months expecting my 1st. I too love the flexibility that being a professional investor allows. 

This are great answers everyone! Thanks. I think it is so very important that we pause and remember why we do what we do. One of my investors is a billionaire next door type. You would never know he was self made and worth 8 figures. Last Christmas we were in the middle of working a deal and he and his partner took their 12 y/o sons out to hand out jackets to the homeless. These guys went to Burlington and bought 10,000 worth of NEW coats and took their boys to hand them out. That to me is what it is all about.  I just print this list and put it up in my office. Thank you all for being my inspiration.