All Forum Posts by: Noah Bacon

Hi Teresa,

I recommend using Agent Finder to match with a local, investor-friendly real estate agent who can help you find, analyze, and close your next deal. It's fast, free, and easy to use:

• Enter your market and investment criteria
• Instantly match with investor-friendly agents
• Select the agents you want to contact

Hi there!

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Thank you!

Hey Austin! Welcome to BiggerPockets and thanks for joining!

Here are some tips for networking and making the most of your account.

1) I'd fill out your profile fully before you do anything else! As that will at least help folks that you reach out to know that you are a real person, with a picture and professional bio. Particularly be sure to include your goals for real estate investing so that folks can help you.

2) Go to the Search bar, and look for some local members in your area! Reach out to a few of the folks, perhaps those with hundreds or thousands of posts in this forum, and connect. You can do that here.

3) Check out some of the local meetups that you can find in this forum! There are so many so be sure to filter by your location.

4) Review this comprehensive 64 page deck on the state of the 2023 housing market (in your resource page as a member of BiggerPockets!) for real estate investors put together by Dave Meyer and available for all BiggerPockets members.

5) Consider meeting with a few agents in your area even if you are just getting started! An investor friendly agent can do all sorts of helpful things, like setting you up with a search for properties or connecting you with folks who have recently done deals like the ones you want to do.

6) Consider analyzing a deal or two in your local market, just for practice, with a free use of our Rental Property Calculator (or other calculators).

Hope this helps! Please reach out with any questions you may have!

Hi Shane,

On both of my house hacks, I have split the utilities and have had found that my tenants have been pretty content paying their "fair share" of the bill. Since it is a variable cost, I do have to do some quick math every month which in my opinion is the only downside.

If you look to increase the rent and wrap in a flat fee this will likely be more attractive to a renter, but on the flip side you could be paying a higher share of the bill as the owner.
 

If you've read BiggerPockets books before, please discuss which books have been valuable to your investing career!

If you have not read a BiggerPockets book, go check out the bookstore!

This post is largely not staying on topic anymore and we feel like the majority of points made on this subject are already posted. Please reach out to [email protected] if you have questions or comments.

 Hi Rolando,

You can find local meetups here! You can filter to your location by selecting the "Any Location" drop down box.

A lot of times you hear "the first one is always the toughest one" and I find that to be very true!

My first rental property was a house hack that I purchased long distance in CO while I was in PA. I was able to find a realtor through BiggerPockets Agent Finder and close on the property remotely! There was so much fear as the process of being under contract was a completely new beast to me! Now that I have been under contract for other properties and been through the process a couple times, I have been able to overcome my initial fears and be better prepared. 

How did you acquire your first investment property? 

If you haven't acquired your first property, what are your biggest fears? 

Please discuss and let's see how we can help each other!!

 I could not agree with this more! Going full time in real estate will come naturally over time as you acquire properties and can replace your W-2. Even if you are not happy with your current job, seeking another W-2 AFTER CLOSING to supplement the growth of your real estate portfolio may be a very beneficial route!

Quitting your job while under contract could be a major issue. There is major risk to falling out of contract if you make a substantial financial change in your life. If you can wait until after closing, absolutely wait.