All Forum Posts by: Lee Syndergaard

@Mark K.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

I stumbled upon a BP networking group on MeetUp near my office in Edina, MN, and I put their next event (Jan 15) in my calendar. I'm excited to get out and network!

I've given myself homework to put 2-4 networking events in my calendar each month. Gotta get out there, and stay out there.

Being new to BP, please let me know if using the forums as a way to give general updates like this one (basically using BP as my business diary) is frowned upon. I'll get the hang of this site yet.

Happy holidays to all!

Lee

From one new member to another: welcome to BP! I currently have zero investments under my belt. I'm in a full-blown learning mode, increasing my real estate investment IQ (books, podcasts, local meetings, taking people to lunch to pick their brain); walking that fine line between "get educated, be prepared, don't do something stupid and costly" and "don't over-analyze, just go."

Best of luck and see you in the forums!

Lee

@Taylor L. this is fantastic feedback, thank you very much. Yes, it was hosted by a realty company and I had my grain of salt handy throughout. There were a handful of times the speaker gave conflicting advice; the slide show was build by his business partner who was out of town, so sometimes he'd say "Ryan thinks this, but I think that."

I'll take your advice on working with wholesalers and hiring a prop mgmt company seriously as I continue to build my financial and real estate investing IQ.

Also, I'll give your podcast a listen.

Thank you sincerely for your time, and have a great holiday season!

Lee

I recently rolled the dice and went to a free real estate seminar, defenses up. I was actually impressed: no guru, no hype, just good info on the local market. Of course they had their agents peppered throughout the room, but the ones I talked to seemed nice enough. The good news: the real estate agents are all investors, at least the ones I spoke with.

Below are the notes I took during the seminar. Perhaps you can pull some tips from it.

• A lot of the dirt cheap homes were scooped up in the 2008 - 2011 crash
• Fannie/Freddie: 15% down; 740 credit, 45% DTI, 2% maximum seller contributions
• Home prices have gone up, but not to the 2007 levels. Rents have also gone up
• Steps
  • Find a great buy
  • Choose the right mortgage product
  • Pay off the mortgage
• Fix and flips are hard to come by right now, all got scooped up
• Townhomes can be a good way to go, but look at HOA. See what it covers, ask what their cash reserves are to see if it's managed well. If their cash reserves are low and they haven't done any large projects recently, it's probably not managed well. Make sure they allow rentals.
• Landscaping: make sure all the tenant has to do is push a mower. No bushes or fancy gardens.
• Rentals are hot right now. Twin Cities isn’t building starter homes, just big expensive ones, so people are renting and demand is greater than supply.
• If a tenant applicant has a bad credit score, it can be okay if there’s a good explanation for it
• Have all leases expire at the same time. End of May was suggested
• Consider month-to-month rents for some tenants
• Twin Cities is a strong market, virtually no vacancies
• When screening a tenant, talk to 2 landlords ago
• Get cashier's check for 1st month’s rent and 1 month for deposit
• Don’t give their deposit back until the very last day of the month, or after I’ve inspected after move-out
• Set up EFT - Cosi? Cozy? Not sure how it’s spelled. Reliafund.
• Get an umbrella insurance plan, ~$500/year
• David (speaker) suggested not using a mgmt company. Be responsive and I’ll be fine
• Let calls go to voicemail. Don’t take maintenance call. Get the message, hand off to the handyman and have him handle it, then send me the invoice.
• $300 - $600/month cashflow per house is considered a good return in this market
• Real estate agent’s commission is always paid by the seller
• Lots of tax benefits. Save receipts for everything. Meals, etc.
• Set up separate checking account for the entire business
• Lower cash flow on a rehabbed property can be okay due to lower expenses (if I just fixed everything up)

@Alyssa Strom thank you for reaching out! I'm exploring the MeetUp thing, have joined a couple of groups. I'll see you out there!

Thank you, @Amber Gonion . I'm sure I'll come up with some questions!

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

A guy walks into a bar...

...to meet a friend for happy hour (fall 2019). He and his friend talk about life, kids and...finances. That sparks the guy's interest, he goes home and Googles "best books about money." Guy reads "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Guy gets excited about passive income and living in the cash flow quadrant. Guy goes back to his Google search and finds Brandon Turner's book on "...Rental Property Investing..." which leads the guy to...Bigger Pockets!

And here we are.

The best quote (so far) in Brandon's book is from Honest Abe: "Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I'll spend the first 4 sharpening the ax." I'm currently sharpening the ax: reading, listening to the podcasts, talking to my bank (and eventually other lenders), talking to a friend who's a long-time investor (and eventually others like them), figuring how on God's green earth I'm going to pay for my first property, thinking, and trying not to over-think. Sharpening the ax is good, but eventually it's time to start swinging. 

I've gone back through the original BP podcasts, started with show #1 and am on #18. I"m slowly getting through Brandon's book (day job and young kids  = not much time to sit with a book, but I'm doing my best).

The "About Me" Part:

I have a business degree from the University of Colorado at Denver. I live in the Minneapolis area (Minnetrista, to be exact). 

The real estate "thing" has always interested me, but it took until age 46 to have the epiphany in that bar.

My day job is in the senior industry, my night job is time with my wife and kids, and my other night job is studying up on real estate investing.

The "What Are Your Goals?" Part:

My goals are a bit hazy, but they're coming into more focus as I sharpen the ax. I likely want to phase out my day job, but I'm in no hurry, as I do enjoy it. I want to buy my first property within 6-12 months. I'm looking at the buy-and-hold strategy (no plans for flipping or wholesaling) for cash-flow into forever. I plan to accumulate properties, probably single-family at first. I may have some houses with tenants, have others serve as AirBNBs. How many? How fast? Not sure yet. But I'll figure it out, as I'm goal-driven. A concrete plan will happen, but I'm not quite there yet. 

I'm looking to connect with local, fellow RE investors; newbies, vets and everything in between. Anybody up for a game of Cash Flow? I love meeting like-minded people, problem solving, networking, connecting others, crunching numbers, talking business, and starting my day with a good workout (I have monthly and annual goals with that, too).

I look forward to engaging more and more on this site, to meeting and/or e-meeting many of you. And someday, to pass on what I have learned. I'm keeping a journal as a Google Doc, and will share it with anybody who wants to see it, learn from it, add to it, whatever.

Thank you, happy holidays. Let's do this.

Lee Syndergaard