All Forum Posts by: Marvin Meng

Hi,

I'm interested in creating a website that I can direct potential sellers to with a marketing  campaign. My intentions are to purchase single-family homes from motivated sellers and hold them as rentals in a relatively small geographic area (Edwardsville, IL). 

Can anyone recommend a good source for developing and optimizing such a website? Or if you would not go the route of using a lead-capture website what method(s) would you recommend?

Thank you!

Thank you. This is a small kitchen so I don't think granite would be prohibitively expensive and the visual appeal will help attract renters. I was kind of leaning that way but was worried I was being influenced by what I'd want instead of taking a business perspective.

Hi,

I've done accident BRRRRs before (before I knew it was a tactic) but now I'm getting ready to do my first intentional one. 

It needs numerous updates, mostly cosmetic but some substantial, including new countertops. My question: what is the most durable (tenant-proof) yet cost effective material? I'm looking at approximately 170 sq. ft. of counter area. Granite would be just under 1K or I could go corian (durable but it burns) or laminate and just plan on replacing every few years. Thanks for any ideas!

This is not necessarily a blog idea but it would be an interesting podcast idea to interview real estate investors who are struggling with one or more aspects of real estate investing. Instead of a fire round listeners could send in ideas that might help these investors. Joshua and Brandon have got to be running out of wildly successful investors to interview anyway... right? ;-)

I'm not being too altruistic here: I might be one of those struggling. But I imagine there's a silent majority of investors out there listening to the podcasts who could really benefit from hearing something like that. And maybe some of the advice that's shared might benefit some of the more successful listeners as well. 

Thoughts?

Do you need a lawyer in Peoria or Edwardsville?

Yes, I'll ask an attorney friend for a referral if that will help. Back with you shortly.

Thank you both for looking at this. I'm ciphering on an offer and I'm going to call some lenders tomorrow to see what to expect as far as seasoning goes. The BRRRR method sounds great but it would be slow going if every purchase had to be seasoned before the 4th R.

I'll keep posting as this progresses - even if it's embarrassing!

OK, so here are the numbers I have. The house is a single-family 3 BR/2 Bath with a 2-car detached garage. The location's great (on Main St., near shopping and a college) and it would probably rent pretty easily (once fixed up) for $1100.00/month. Right now I have a 3/1/1 about a half mile away I'm getting $1000.00 a month for.

The house is a short sale; asking price $84,400. Seller owes in the mid 90s. To be a decent rental the house needs about (conservative estimate) 11K of work (vinyl floors, paint, minor repairs, some code compliance issues, new counter tops appliances, etc. I also considered it as a flip (ARV for a quick sale would probably be $125ish) but to do that would take around 30K of repairs (refinishing wood floors instead of vinyl, better appliances/fixtures etc.) but I thought that might be biting off a little much for a first flip.

Numbers:

I'm thinking of offering $65000. Mortgage payment would be $330.00. Out of pocket would be 13K (20% down) + $11K (repairs)= 24K. 

Problem is this would leave me pretty tapped out for cash reserves for our other rentals and unexpected expenses so I'm considering looking for private money for that. Even with an interest only loan around 10% or so it would still cash flow safely (total debt service %530.00/month). But I'd be counting on refinancing asap to pay that off, cash out and continue with the BRRRR approach. So i'm being careful not to count any eggs before they're hatched.

If the ARV is $125, 75% of that is $93. Total cost would be $88. Holding costs hopefully wouldn't be a big issue since we'd be renting it instead of selling. But if nobody will refi it...

Thoughts?

Thank you for the advice. You're confirming what I've suspected but mostly you're giving me a good basis for an offering price (keeping purchase, repairs, costs) less than 75% LTV. I think my agent might be more optimistic than I am regarding ARV. I'm traveling right now but I'll post number asap. Thanks for putting extra eyes on this!

Hi all,

I've owned rental properties for a little over 10 years but have actually been an investor for a little over one. (By that I mean that previous nine I did pretty much everything wrong; lack of focus, directed effort, working in my business vice on it, etc). Now I'm ready to get serious but I'm still having trouble getting out of the gate.

Last December I purchased a fourplex and a duplex together. Shortly after that I discovered BP. Aside from the value of the information here, if nothing else it's a great source of inspiration for me to come back to.

I'm mostly focusing on single family (if multi comes up I'll happily look at it but it tends to go high - feeding frenzy - in my market). Everything I hear on BP says if you find a good deal the money will take care of itself. I'm having trouble believing that. I've found one good deal and have barely enough for the standard 20% down. After that it needs what I estimate conservatively $11K of repairs/renovations. Asking price is $84,4 and it would probably rent for $1000 to $1100. I'm thinking of offering $61K which would leave me with enough money to handle the repairs.

Conversely if I flipped it it would need more like $30K in repairs and probably sell for $125. (My realtor thinks it would sell for $135-150 but I'd rather not be optimistic).

So... Any suggestions regarding this deal or how I should proceed in general would be greatly welcome! Have any of you had the experience that once you find a good deal the money takes care of itself (ie. investors are open to working with you on viable terms)? Would you make an offer (just to control the property) before you knew exactly where every penny was coming from?

Thank you!