All Forum Posts by: Jeff G.

Welcome, there are so many resources here at your disposal.

welcome!

My first duplex rental I paid 38K for in a good town. Fully rented with long term tenants at $995/month total. Has new roof, newer siding, new windows, new furnace and updated electric. I am meeting with my mentor next month for the first time. He is a multimillionaire real estate agent and REI. I cant wait to hear what he has to say about my current strategy, which is just my current strategy. I plan on buying larger multifamily investments once I have several smaller properties to leverage for larger projects.

Ben has been uncharacteristically quiet for how many times he is mentioned in this forum.  I certainly have nothing against Ben and I have found some of the insight he provides useful and I am thankful to him for that. That said, applying blanket rules across every market and every circumstance using broad assumptions is irresponsible in my opinion.

My sense is that Ben is extremely knowledgeable with many subjects. However he also makes very polarizing opinions on subjects he has no first hand experience with. My perception from his posts and personal website is that Ben only invested in large multi-families and apartment complexes. 

There are lots of people who time and time again prove Ben wrong by saying they have been doing exactly what he is preaching not to do for 20+ years and have been very successful at it.  

My only point is this. I am no expert at REI and am actually new at it. BUT Ben has a very narrow niche that he focuses on for his investments. That does not mean that there is only one way to make money in this business, or that every person who invests in other ways is a fool.

I would start with the water utility. They should be able to point you in the right direction.

utilities are $125/month per unit?

I threw this into my spread sheet and I show an ANNUAL cash flow of $1291

If utilities are 125 per month total you have an annual cash flow of around $5791.

I seek lower cost investments with the same return of 5-6K/year.  That's just my strategy though.

Its not your fault they decided to move to a bad part of town.... kidding, but its not your problem.

agreed Christian.  I believe in making as much money as possible while remaining ethical in doing so.

I sat down to make a business plan a few months ago when starting out buying.  It turned out to be pretty much goals to achieve.  That said its completely changed already because an unforeseen opportunity presented itself and I bought a duplex 6-8 months before I was intending to buy my first investment property.  That changed all my goals and increased the number of properties I plan on buying this year and every year thereafter.

I recommend setting initial goals then have a basic idea of where you want to be in 10-15 years.  It will change but at least you have a starting point.

hmm hyper link didnt work.

http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians...