All Forum Posts by: Marc Rice

I am selling one property and planning to do a 1031 exchange. I will have about 200k-250k cash from it. Any good area so you recommend for buying a rental property ?

For the past 6 months I’ve been looking for houses (both SF and MF) that can produce at least a little bit of cashflow with around 20% - 30% down.

However, I’ve started to realize that this is pretty much impossible these days.

I currently have $110k sitting in my bank ready to be invested but I just can't find anything that will at least produce a 3% COC return. I've been looking for properties in and around Tampa, Orlando, and St Pete but I can't find anything that's worth it.

I’m starting to realize that I need a new strategy. I can’t keep looking for properties that will cashflow because I feel like I’m wasting my time at this point. I really want to invest in RE but I just don’t know what to do. Any recommendations? What other ways can I invest in RE in the current market.

Hi Everyone- I’m extremely excited to join this community. I know the internet is absolutely full of misinformation or sometimes confusing intel. I am just starting out on my real estate investing journey and am looking for some initial guidance. I am almost overwhelmed when it comes to mapping out that first step and more importantly, the best strategy that fits my long term plan and current bandwidth. P.s I am a residential MLO so I have a scratch of knowledge in the real estate space.

I would love to schedule a chat with someone to talk about their experiences in multi family and/or section 8 investing. Virtual coffee on me.

Hey all! First time poster here so let me try and lay down the situation.

My wife and I are just beginning our real estate investing journey. We live in California so I think the opportunities are better when it's OOS. Some areas I've been looking at are Provo/Vineyard, Colorado Springs, Indianapolis and Raleigh/Durham. Current timeline to purchase is probably 6-12 months as I start narrowing down and visiting some of the places to get a better idea over the next few months. Our downpayment budget is probably $60-$100k.

Questions:

1. Does focusing on macro trends (Population growth, rental and appreciation growth, good jobs) offset the 1% rule?

2. My friend is a big investor in Provo and has connections there. Would it make sense to reduce risk and use his connections first and invest it that area? Curious what experience others have had done.

3. Should I expand my target metros? These areas are relatively easy as a direct flight from SFO and one of the BP videos mentioned how it's a good idea to be able to fly direct if you have a OOS investment. For example, Columbus or Huntsville, AL has come up a bunch of times but I’d have to transfer.

4. Do you definitely need a property manager for OOS investing, especially as a first time investor? It seems like that would eat into the returns and you can't get positive cash flow for a while

5. Is it just a bad rule of thumb for an investment if you can't get positive cash flow for the first year or two? Or is this normal?

Hello!

I am trying to get a second property via house hacking and have some questions for anyone who's willing to answer. I am a resident physician in dermatology, during medical school I bought a property in Denver with an Interest rate of 2.75% (COVID rates lol) with the goals of renting it out when I moved onto the residency. Now that house has been rented out for the past two years, and I want to buy another possible duplex or triplex to house hack. However, my debt to income ratio with that home loan, and student loan doesn't look that great currently and I don't have much for a down payment. In the next 4 years my income will drastically increase, but I don't want to wait 4 years to buy another property that will be an investment. I do know of the physician loans, I am also a veteran so I have the VA loan, and I was also looking at the FHA loans, but can anyone give me any insight that will help me get into a multi family with the salary situation I'm in?

Thanks!

Nate

Certainly! Here’s a more polished version of your message:

Hello BiggerPockets community,

A close friend has been encouraging me to get into real estate investing for years. My wife and I recently met with them to seek advice and guidance, which ultimately led us to BiggerPockets. Since then, we have been dedicating our time to learning as much as possible—reading extensively, analyzing potential deals, and listening to BiggerPockets podcasts.

After careful consideration, we decided to sell our current home and rent instead, allowing us greater flexibility as we begin our real estate investment journey. The sale of our home will provide us with approximately $150,000 to allocate toward investments.

At this stage, we feel most comfortable focusing on long-term rentals. However, due to high property costs in our local market, we have been exploring opportunities in more affordable states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio. Since we will be investing remotely, we plan to work with a property management company to oversee day-to-day operations.

Does this sound like a solid strategy for a first investment property? We would appreciate any insights or advice from those with experience in long-distance investing.

Thank you!

Hi, I'm Jade and I'm looking to get started with real estate investing. We have one property already as our primary home with a plan to buy another house and rent out this one. Then I plan to become a travel nurse and we will live in the RV while the two are being rented out and go from there buying more properties. Is this a bad goal? Can anyone give me advice? I'm scared to purchase a second home but we have the funds to do so

Hi everyone,

My name is Joe. I'm new to real estate investing, and I am eager to learn and jump in quickly. I'm open to different strategies, but at the moment, I am looking for single family homes in Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. I live in NY, and I am looking to invest out of state in short term rentals. I work in tech, so any strategies for streamlining or automating the research and investing process is music to my ears. Looking forward to meeting and speaking with everyone.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $90,000
Cash invested: $55,000

Triplex in SE Cleveland (D+ neighborhood)

Purchased for 90 and saw 105 for valuation. 25% down plus closing costs and unit repairs has led to about 50-60k going into the deal. First year was very rough with poor property management and tenants. Stabilized in late 2024 and will be seeing about 900 in monthly cash flow.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted to start with a cheaper property I could reasonably afford and also learn from. Multifamily always made sense to me as initially I was very impatient and wanted to see a decent cashflow.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found on Zillow during a competitive time in the market. Slightly increased the offer to quickly go under contract, but still had inspections and everything done before completing the deal.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan, 25% down at ~7% interest rate

How did you add value to the deal?

Offered 3k in holding and moved quickly

What was the outcome?

Deal closed, higher valuation than purchase price. Enough immediate cashflow to balance out the mortgage, taxes and insurance.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Try to see the property yourself if you can (was out of state initially). Take the effort to solicit contractor recommendations from multiple people. Begin a maintenance schedule ASAP. Think about lead certification for Cleveland if you are purchasing in the current market.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Investor focused real estate agent was Journey Toole. Lender was Amko lending.

Hi all,

I think my question above is pretty direct.

I'm interested to buy my first rental property, and after doing a brief search I see that there are quite a number of places out-of-state (I live in NY state)  that offer affordable homes that deem to be in hot market areas right now (according to many different articles online). 

However, because I am unable to make trips to scout locations or look at homes in person. I know that finding a team is crucial, and not sure where to begin on this. Have you guys ever purchased a property without physically seeing it? I just want to know if this is a good idea ? And if you guys know any hot market places that will appreciate greatly, I would love to know!