All Forum Posts by: Bryant T.

@Wayne Brooks thank you Wayne! I’m clearly an out of state investor. Your explanation is what I had hoped my agent would have told me. Even if it was the policy of hey it’s less than $150k, I ask clients to pay for it.

I’d be less shocked and more accepting. Instead I had to catch it on the last line of a contract and ask. :/

I was about to sign a contract for my first ever offer on a Florida rental when I read the last line of the offer contract saying "Buyer to pay ____ (brokerage name)___ $345 fee at Close"

When asked, agent said it was for storage/document fees, and very standard across all firms. I've never had to pay an "admin" fee to my agent's brokerage as the buyer. Appraisal, inspections, sure...but this seems odd. Is this a Florida thing? Or ...?

I’m also interested in Fort Pierce area. Heard mixed reviews. Any insight in the area would be great.

Thanks!

Thanks @Rhonda Blue! I'll definitely take a peek in the area!

Thanks everyone for the kind words and warm welcome. I definitely feel good about joining this great community!

HI Everyone! 

Been waiting on the sidelines for quite some time and wanted to get started on the BP forums and introduce myself. While I live in the Bay Area, since I'm starting out, there won't be many purchases where I live =)

Rather, my wife and I are looking for rental properties in the Las Vegas, Phoenix, and maybe even some pockets in SoCal (my hometown). We're looking for our first property and look forward to learning and meeting more like-minded investors!

Best,

Bryant

Hi BP world!

I'm a new investor. I've bought and sold a few primary residences, so I'm familiar with the process of buying/selling a home, and I've read some books and lurked around the forums a bit. I am looking for my first property with a focus on cash flow positive buy/hold. I've started the process in Las Vegas because I have family nearby who can help manage the property and while I live in the Bay Area, I go out to LV for work often as well. I've been to Henderson/LV quite a bit throughout the years and have a good sense of the different areas. I'm looking in/around UNLV.  

I've started trying to assemble my "team" and evaluate properties that come in from my agent's MLS feed. I've looked for a few lenders that are willing to work within my budget and provide a conventional loan.

Here are some information about my situation

Price point: < $80k

Loan: 20% down (to avoid PMI)

Goal: Be cashflow positive after expenses, hoa's, taxes/insurance.

So far, I've noticed that the condo properties I have analyzed, there is one that will squeak out $125-$175/month in cash flow. I have a few questions:

1) Is a $175 a decent cash flow amount at this price point The cap rate on this property I found ($75k) turned out to be about 5.5%, again, not sure if that's a good amount.

2) Lender I found that would lend me such a low mortgage amount is a credit union, and is quoting me closing costs around $4500 of which is a $795(!!) appraisal. The total closing cost amount seems high to me as does the appraisal. I'm not one to split hairs over a couple of hundred of dollars, but this amount seems high, but I also don't know if this is the cost of doing business for a loan amount as low as mine as not all lenders can/will lend at my mortgage amount (or so I'm told). 

Any (unbiased) help/advice is much appreciated! Any recommended newbie books/blogs are appreciated too. I just finished Long Distance Real Estate Investing (published by BP and written by David Greene) and want to read/learn more!

Thanks in advance!