All Forum Posts by: Lee Ripma

@Sid Sriram

I would move to SD for 6 months before making a purchase. Instead of doing FHA on a duplex I would consider doing a conventional 5 or 10 down loan on a SFH and renting out the rooms. SD is a wonderful place to live and it's expensive.

@Kasey Blow

Make sure you’re not overpaying for the house and you actually take ownership on title. This is not legal advice, but make sure you get legal advice. Because these wishy washy terms from the seller sound sort of like a sale and sort of like a lease. Not all deals are worth doing. So make sure this one is! 

There was some votes in here for house hacking and investing locally. I’ll be the voice for buying out of state rentals. I started 4.5 years ago with very limited capital in a way lower-priced market (that still has growth). Being able to cut my teeth out of state was amazing and took way less capital than investing in CA. I’m very happy with my rental portfolio. 

DO NOT BUY MF rentals in LA unless you understand rent control! 

@Peter Kozlowski

As other have said, if you really know what you are doing, you don’t need one. I had an agent on my first four deals. My fifth and sixth I didn’t. Now I am agent and have closed a lot of deals, I sometimes have an agent, sometimes not. When I’m buying in a new state it’s nice to have one, since state by state things can be very different. If an agent is the one bringing the deal, I use them. I also often hire a listing agent for my own deals. So even agents use agents. I’m always looking for ways to leverage the efforts of others who are awesome and/or can deliver great deals. 

@Abiy Tedla

There are B class areas and B class properties. You’re not going to find a B class property at 40-50k a door. You maybe can find a C class property in a B class area that needs substantial rehab. Maybe. As others have said look for quality assets in quality locations. The highest cash flow is in the worst areas. You need a balance between cash flow and quality. 

@Monty McLamb

I’ll PM you some ideas. I personally find zip codes that meet my criteria then vet individual deals. Expect to pay for quality resources around these data you’re looking for. 

Price to rent are very granular data while job growth is MSA level. I have a resource for this data that I’ll DM you with. 

You gave info on the general area but what about the specific area? I like to look at the DISCERN factors for that exact location. 

@Alicia Marks

Feel free to DM for additional info on how I use the DISCERN method to look at granular locations. 

@Allen Tracy - KC is an awesome market for small MF.