All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Commercial is a big animal to take on for your first deal, especially if you plan on trying to manage it yourself.  You might to better to try to connect with a property manager first, THEN start the search/loan process.  Some managers are also brokers and as such will have contacts w/ banks to help as your go-between to help get the financing you are looking for.  

As for on-site management - If you run numbers to have a full time on site manager you really need at least 50 units to have it make sense.  From there, the larger the better.  For smaller properties, you may be able to give someone a break on their rent to watch the place, clean up, do MINOR handyman type stuff, but it would be different to have them do much more.  Worst case scenario is that the whole small complex gets buddy-buddy and then the environment starts slipping.    

That's a neat little story, thanks for sharing it.  Congrats on a tidy little profit too!

Others have said it better about feelings and numbers, but I'll add my two cents.  Most multifamily deals are not done for cash.  This makes interest rates a key factor in looking at pricing because cheaper loans = higher prices.  To Jonathan's point, as interest rates rise, some deals will just become less attractive.  The Federal Reserve is being very careful as they raise interest rates so far, expect more of that to continue.  A sudden spike in rates is highly unlikely - the more likely scenario is that rates increase slowly and over longer periods of time.  

@Thea Linkfield Kudos to you on doing a flip with some decent looking numbers!  Do you know Max?  He came to a meetup I did back in February and he and his wife have been doing flips over in Murray Hill.  

You have alot of moving parts in your question, but basically the part about other people's money in play says it all.  No matter how good the cashflow might be if you held on and rented it, renting the place comes with its own headaches, and opens you up to anything unplanned that may go wrong over the course of the year.  Plus if you took the rental idea to your investors they may question how strong the deal was to begin with.  THEY  invested with the idea you were going to flip a house and they were going to make money over a short amount of time.  Respect that relationship first.  

I can't directly answer the question on taxes, hopefully another flipper will chime in.  

@Bernard H. @Patti Robertson

Thanks for both of your responses.  Bernard - what was the conversation with HRUBS like to get it fixed?  

My property manager in Norfolk seems to have a sporadic issue with HRUBS where they won't get bills for a month or so, then all of a sudden all the bills come in at once, some with small late fees attached.  (Late fees are always less than $5.00).  This has been going on for the entire holding period of the property so far, I'm just curious if anyone else is running into  this or understands it better.  

Side question to yours @Patti Robertson.  I have had a bad application cross my manager's table too - not just one, but two judgments against them! 

That said, it seems that activity overall has been slow, not many tenants to choose from.  

If you are looking for someone that handles houses with rents that will command $1000/mo or more I have a great guy I use.  Message me for more information.  

I currently live in Jacksonville too.  First things first - bills must be paid, so I'd recommend finding a W-2 job first to meet short term needs while you work on becoming an agent.  Becoming an agent is a good bit of advice too by the way, but it may take time to ramp up your knowledge and sales pipeline, let alone actually taking the class and passing the test.  If you are wiling to hustle enough to work a day job and still focus on the real estate classes and networking you should be in good shape.  

Religion aside, if you are polite and honest, I don't see a problem.  With the amount of risk real estate carries, you cannot let your feelings get between you and the proper amount of rent your property should command.  If you let sob stories soften you, there is a high risk of getting burned and losing money or ending up bankrupt.  If feelings are that big of an issue proceed with caution.  If you got into the real estate business to save the world, then you might be in the wrong business.