All Forum Posts by: Landon S.

Nick K.
Congrats on graduating, I will be doing so as well in 3 weeks from the University of Kentucky. Sorry you had to hear that from so many professors. I'm an econ major and I've had great advice from my professors, but outside of the business school there is zero financial education classes for other majors. I had a professor just today tell our class that we are a step ahead of the rest when it comes to financial goal setting.
Best of luck to you in this exciting time!

I am just gathering some local information from friends around UK's campus about their rental situations. I'm trying to collect as much data as possible to narrow down certain streets/neighborhoods rental rates.

I made this survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P7XQX3Z) and plan on emailing it through my fraternity's list-serve as well as post it on Facebook (giving out a $25 visa gift card to one person for responding as a small thank you)

This is not scientific or trying to be too official. Just seeing how it works.

If you would like to help, just read through the survey (only 8 questions) and see what you think I could do to make it better while keeping it short and sweet.

Thanks in advance,
-Landon-

Brandon, thanks for the input.
Couldn't agree with you more on learning how to build systems and not a job! One of the partners in the firm I work for currently is a serial entrepreneur (currently starting another company), so he has been and will hopefully continue to be a great mentor. He also just happens to be best friends with a local successful real estate investor who has built the second largest development firm in Lexington. There may be open doors there in the future as well. The thought of a 9-5 in a cubical gives me that much more motivation to succeed in real estate and my personal life in general.

Best,
-LS-

Jeb Jarrell Zac P. James Vermillion Since this thread seems to have a lot of the Lexington crowd in it... I can definitely see downtown moving up that way in the future Jeb. I am focusing on finding deals around campus as of now. I think streets off N Ashland could see some growth over the long run too. There are many new "Chevy Chase crowd" businesses popping up over there and there are some decent multi-families. I know the Polo Club Drive area in Hamburg is a pretty nice FTH neighborhood as well. Foreclosures are fairly common. (my brother and his wife live there.)
If any of you guys would like to get together in Lexington and talk about the market/investing let me know.

Hey, BP,

I am in no immediate hurry for a job after graduation. I already have a summer job with the consulting firm I intern for currently. They deal with mergers and acquisitions for businesses with 20 million+ in revenues. (very cool industry IMO) I also have a safety net coming out of college thanks to my rental I have had for 3 years!
I thought it would be interesting to see where older, wiser investors would want to work starting out in the industry in order to create the most contacts and have the opportunity to continually learn about Real Estate.

Lexington is a great city! Two established Universities and a very educated workforce. Downtown has been revived in the past 5-10 years. A great city to live, play and invest!
Good Luck!

Edita D. I live in Lexington. I have never heard that they are overwhelmingly more common. I may be wrong. It is normal for a house to slightly "shift" during season changes around here, but I don't think things like that are making our insurance rates dramatically more. I think any newer house with a block foundation compared to poured concrete may show more cracking anywhere in the country. I live in a 1932 expanded bungalow with a basement and it's foundation is limestone chiseled stones . We have no foundation issues.
Are you looking to buy in Louisville?

I started out in an area I was most familiar with and had the most knowledge about. For me, that was college campus rentals. For others it may be First-Time Home buyer neighborhoods, bank-owned properties, mobile homes or apartments.
If you are starting out with marketing I agree with Ned Carey, test and measure your results. That's the fun part about marketing, you are free to try whatever you think would reach potential sellers needs, be creative!

Good Luck

Here in Lexington around campus rentals are sky-high! UK doesn't even have enough dorm beds to fill the freshman class alone, so the demand for off campus housing is competitive.. For Rent signs are up and gone with-in a week or two for most of my neighbors. (Leasing for August 2013 started in January.)

I would suggest to ask students where the "nice" neighborhoods/streets are to live off campus and target research there. Higher rents are demanded and you get away from the "party streets"
I have had the same tenants for two years, and now they are all staying for Graduate school and re-signed their leases. Most campus houses around this area are 12 month leases, so I don't have a problem with long vacancies.

I think off campus housing has a lot to do with demand. Here in Lexington, if you want to walk to class, and find a nice place to live you have to start searching at least 4-6 months early. This makes it easier as a landlord because you have a variety of applicants to chose from.

Hope this helps from a college guys perspective. I like to give college students more credit than they get for rentals; you just have to put in your due diligence to find the right students. (I'd like to think I was!)

Thanks Simon. I agree that if I can make the numbers work for an additional property then I should go for it. I just wanted to see how other investors started out. (If they would spend 1/2 of their savings.)