All Forum Posts by: Manesh Hardeo

I work with many beginner level investors and we typically wouldn't want our investors to work with anyone other than a trusted licensed GC. If you go to your local REIA I'm sure you can find out who's been doing work for some investors and work it out that way yourself. This isn't always a foolproof method as I'm sure anyone that's been in the business a while will tell you.

This helps for peace of mind and more often than not gets the job done smoother in many cases as most GCs hate having to work around another laborer for small jobs....it tends to cause more of a problem in the long run in many instances.

As for buying right to limit the risk of purchasing a bad deal -- make sure you have a good agent or someone with experience that can show supporting comps to you from the MLS, get multiple bids, and also look at the competition in the area. I know in our market unless you're in one of our Intown neighborhoods, then school districts will be the biggest driver of how quickly and where the deals will sell. The formula for what you should buy at based on ARV and rehab will vary from market to market and even submarket of markets.

I'm sure many others will have some good input for you.

Best of luck!

Welcome back to ATL. It's been a very active market over the past year and seems to constantly change. Check with the local REIAs to network and meet more people.

Regardless of how hard inventory is to find -- it's out there, maybe just not by the conventional means you're used to.

Good luck!

Welcome Mohhamed. I grew up in Houston and worked there for 7 years in real estate. Great place to learn.

Good luck in your real estate career!

I agree with you J, the institutional game has changed everything, but there are still great deals to be had for rental purposes depending on criteria and the investors situation. We sold one the other day for 52.9k that rents for $850/month in a good working class neighborhood in Stone Mountain. -- definitely not a war zone.

If you're looking for positive cash flow in a good suburb like east cobb, then
yes...cash flow would be an issue as price points are much higher. There are rehabs we find, just not as often that can be rehabbed, and if you have the ability to refi, then be closer to break even, and have higher appreciation potential. It really just depends what the investor wants.

Some of our investors have rehabbed houses and the end user buyer ended up being institutional, like J scott. Others buy and sell, then pickup a buy and hold to diversify when the opportunity arises.

There is opportunity-- it just depends on what you're looking for. Don't be discouraged in a city this large.

Jessy,

We can definitely help you out as we work with nothing but investors. We have a few buy and holds available now if you'd like to shoot me a message.

Good luck,
Manesh

Sam -- have you checked with anyone at Lifestyles Unlimited? When I was in Houston their organization did a lot in the multifamily sector.

I agree with both J and Will, but again it depends on your relationship with the others. Considering your situation and with it being family you may just want to bring up the potential down the road to want to split off at some point now.

Dealing with many new investors myself daily I've found that many partnerships are "fieldwork" people versus the "money." They're usually split 50/50 as one cannot succeed without the other. If the money wants more than that, then they'd do it themselves, but don't want the day-to-day involvement, hence the partnership.

In the past, I had a partner to flip houses with, but we had a pre-defined goal of how many deals we wanted to do with the time limited. We knew about when we had to end the partnership and it worked out very well.

Talking about it upfront to get a good idea of everyone's goal would help out I'd imagine.

Good luck,

Purchasing for a buy and hold with hard money is perfectly fine -- that's if you're in the right market. I've been in both the Texas and now Georgia markets. I'll give you examples here.

In Texas, you can purchase deals from reputable wholesalers, get in using an up to 70% LTV loan and then refinance (hard money lenders there still base your ability to purchase on credit). The comps there generally are much easier to come by.

In Georgia, unless you plan on purchasing more of an A-type (homes in better school districts) property, the price point for rental deals don't have very good supporting comps to justify a purchase, then refinance and hold. Most lenders here don't even care about credit more as they do a liquid ability to purchase, experience level, and the type of home your purchasing considering exit strategy. Unless, they know right upfront your goal is to buy and hold. The problem is finding those type of deals you'll be okay with holding as most lenders here do require 20% down and only lend up to 65% with most LTVs in the end being less. This market is getting snatched up cash by larger institutional clientele.

As far as getting on wholesaler lists -- that's great, but just be prepared to do your own homework or have the ability to. This is coming from someone that owns and runs this very type of business. There are a ton of wholesalers, but reputable ones are who you want to deal with and even if they are -- always double check yourself. As long as you check the numbers yourself and ask questions you should be fine. I don't know your market very well, but consider that they are ever-changing and depending where you are, then being all in at 65% sometimes still isn't realistic.

Hope that helps a bit.

With some of the subject-to appraisals with hard money lenders I've noticed they will only go back 6 months, but will go out as far as they need for sufficient comps. Sometimes even 2 miles, but then again this is the Metro Atlanta area where comps can be hard to come by.

I haven't been in the Houston market for over 2 years, so I'm not sure what it's been like there. You can call our Houston office if you have any questions or contact 212 Funding that does a lot of hard money. They're actually located in Friendswood not too far from you.

@Mike G -- you're right. Maybe I'm just too dang nice then.