All Forum Posts by: Lee Ripma

@Ali Burke

Accounting, such an incredible skill! KC is a great market for RE investing and there is a ton of growth between Lawrence and KC - the Tesla battery plant is a huge growth driver. Never did the SFH thing but love small multi!

@Jeff G.

If you only look at one meteric, look at Median household income. Checkout DISCERN reports on VestMap.com, this is exactly what you are looking for! 

@Jeannie G

UGH! All of the inventory I have seen that these TK companies have is in C- or worse areas! Vet the location first and the property second! 

@Andrea Lauritzen

I start off investing out of state in KC and I'm a huge fan. I talk about it on my podcast. I do think that the B or better zip codes area a great place to start. Feel free to checkout the listings and resources we have on our website. 

@David Matthew

Great thread you have going here! 

I'll jump in with my two cents. I had a place in Mammoth Lakes, CA. I am guessing your rentals are probably in Big Bear. I sold out of Mammoth because I had already captured a lot of appreciation (equity) and I saw the writing on the wall with the fires an insurance premium increases. After I sold the insurance premium went up 5x. I did a 1031 exchange and purchased a 19 unit in Overland Park, KS. 

It sounds like you really want to sell the mountain houses and with each of them you could easily pickup a 4-8 unit in the KC metro. I would personally do that because I actually did do that. Maybe sell the mountain houses and keep the other two that way you are keeping your foot in the door with appreciation but getting rid of the hassle of the mountain houses. 

Regardless of what you do you're in a great position with equity. I am fond of saying when you have equity you have options. You have options! 

@Yippi Jim

This area can be sold to either owner-occupants or to investors seeking cash flowing rentals. I don't know the exact location of your rental. A quick look at comps shows that tenant-occupied properties are selling at 65-110k while some sold to owner occupants are selling at up to 200k in this zip code. There is actually great demand in this area so I wouldn't write it off as a bad area at all! The nice thing about selling it as a rental is you can cash flow until close and you won't need to do updates that owner occupants are expecting. I am putting a link to actual comps below so you can see how your property stacks up. With your current rent I'd guess your exit is probably limited to 110k if sold with a tenant in place. If you could get significantly more than that selling it to an owner occupant consider that. 

https://portal.onehome.com/en-US/share/1009945E65373

I hope this helps! 

@Yu Jin Song

I do not specifically know the market but I use Vestmap's zipfinder to look for areas I would invest in nationwide. See the map below for what zip codes I would initially be interested in. Then I run reports on exact locations, these can be for any location, on or off market. I would for sure checkout the zip codes 45439 and 45409 based on my preliminary look if you want to be in the heart of the city but don't discount the suburbs especially if you are looking to invest in SFH.

As others have mentioned a house/apartment built in 1900, 1950, and after 1980 are very different in terms of capital expenses required. If I go into any market I'm ideally buying 1980 or newer. If I'm buying old then that it becomes very important to understand capital expenses for upgrading plumbing, electrical, fixing foundations, etc and understanding the properties current condition. 

I love out of state investing, just be careful with the location and the asset you buy! 

@Colby Wartman This is not tax or legal advice but my opinion as a person who qualifies as a real estate tax professional. 

1. I use DIY cost segregation algorithm-based studies. Feel free to contact me for my friends and family discount code. 

2. YES! I figure I'll get losses of 20-30% of the purchase price as a general rule. I use 25% of the purchase price for my own tax planning. 

3. I do #1 using DIY cost seg. 

I love cost segs! 

Quote from @Matt C.:

@Lee Ripma - What are your thoughts on the new housing ordinances in KC?

I moved to KC from LA so I’m used to tenant’s rights including rent control. The new ordinance only applies in the city of Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO). There at lots of great suburban markets where the ordinance doesn’t apply such as  Independence, Raytown, Blue Springs, and Overland Park. Even though an investor could easily avoid KCMO the tenant’s rights are not onerous at all and I don’t think they should dissuade anyone from investing in KCMO! Kansas and Missouri are still incredibly landlord friendly. 

Quote from @Matt C.:

Quote from @Nicholas L.:

@Matt C.

just to be direct, cash flow has really been compressed everywhere. unless you have some kind of advantage, or creative strategy, or both (boots on the ground, sourcing quality off market deals, MTR or STR, house hacking, etc.) there is really no market where you can get a few hundred plus in cash flow with current off the shelf rates.

you should 10000000000000000000% not buy a random property in Memphis because an Excel sheet tells you you will make $212 a month on it.

if you want to go to Memphis and spend a few weeks there, drive around, meet PMs and other investors, and really lean in - go for it.  it's just a really tough time to Internet your way to success.

@Jonathan Greene

you need to link to your other post about how to pick a market.  or put that in your signature block =)

 Totally get that. We aren't making moves solely because something looks good on paper. In Memphis, we are looking in very, very specific areas. Same as in Detroit. 

KC is looking halfway decent for a househack but seems to be getting some fairly consistent numbers without it. These last two weeks have been non-stop calls with PMs in all of these markets, but right now, leaning in on KC a bit more because we love that city. 

@Matt C.
solve this problem with vestmap, location data for any location in the US. 

I was an out of state investor in KC for years before covid. Once covid hit KC looked so much more livable and I made the move. 373 is my BP podcast episode before the move!