All Forum Posts by: Michael K Gallagher

@Jonah B. it would be customary and appropriate to do a move in/move out condition inspection, and to have any specifics like house rules, quite hours, parking arrangements etc all down in writing and they can be exhibits to the lease or have it in a lease addendum.  I think there are both in the BP downloadable packet if You are going that way.

@Desiny Smith welcome to the forums! I love the "what would you go back and change" question becuase of course everything we go through has purpose to who we are now, but in general when i reflect back on what I could change or tweak it would be that I woudl trust less in the "system" of getting a good engineering job, and relying on promotions etc to make income jumps,  I did a lot of free work as a salaried engineer, and made the companies I worked for huges sums of money on an annual basis from cost savings, and I never saw a lick of that. That's fine that's how it goes, but had i realized what was happening sooner, I'd have spent those earlier years like some of my peers in a tech sales roll with scaleable income.  

Don't get me wrong there a ton's of other little things, but being able to go back to 2012-2013 and start pulling in $150K + a year as a fresh grad with little expenses would have substantially altered the trajectory of my life, but then again, who knows if I every would have found these forums...

other than that most of my regrets are centered around not figuring out "myself" and how I work and interact with people sooner.  that's what has really unlocked the next level of things for me in recent years.  Time spent working on you is most often the most valuable time you can spend.

Huge Congrats!  To have followed even a little of your journey and the companies journey has been a huge privilege and joy to be a part of.  

@Sabir Foux are you looking for acquisition guides? if so its not really a guide per say but its a hell of a book and its the classic...."crushing it" its got everything you need to understand what it really takes to invest and manage those assets.  after that brian helped write another couple books through BP wtih Brandon on apartment investing that are decent reads, but candidly crushing it is just about all you need to know to get an idea of where you want to start.

If you just want the functionality of a garage then what you are describing will likely work.  My questions would be if you would be permitted to do the work and legally get the credit for it to be called a garage after you were done.  If you've seen these conversions already happening in the areas then thats a good chance its something "doable" from a permitting perspective.  but obviously that's a question you'll need to dig into the local codes to understand ifyou're doing it yourself.

I would think it is really strategy, use case and goal dependent.  Likely has much to do with the specific market you are in also.  Generally most investors I work with tend to end up somewhere in the middle or on the spectrum of price, schools, class, and market rents.  taxes also play a pretty big roll in general for those A class areas so there are certainly trade offs and its goals specific.

@Alan Asriants thanks for putting this together, I totally agree with the messaging.  putting a down payment on a credit card does seem boarderline predatory, can't imagine the person giving that advise in these adds is licensed to give advice like that regardless.

the longer I hang in this industry the more I prove to myself that its the consistent actions that win out and stack on each other and it never gets proven wrong.  

Thanks for Sharing @Jonathan Styer I don't do too many deals in the MTR space so this is valuable perspective, I appreciate you sharing.

Any particular areas or anchor points seem to be performing better than others for you? 

Yeah would 1 up what everyone here is saying, the number 1 best way to get going especially in your position in my mind is the house hack, even if you move to a different market to do it, its the way to go.  pays dividends for years.

@Ryan Spath have not used this before and don't have anything specifically against this company specifically but I have had negative experiences with similar "self showing" type models.  More specifically Open Door.  long story but basically it is fairly easy for these homes to get hijacked, locks changed, and "rented out" as a scam to get deposits.  So my number 1 question or DD item if considering them as a service would be security and what intervals do they get eyes on the property?