All Forum Posts by: Noah Gregory

@Jon Arenault very cool to see you investing there. I raft guided the French Broad all through college. I know Asheville definitely relies on tourism and the service industry. 

According to Grant Cardone you want to be in as much debt as possible, as long as that debt is doing something for you. New car, student loans, etc. isn't putting any money back in your pocket (aside from job hopefully). You can get into more "debt" with a mortgage. Owning this house can pay you more each month than what you owe the bank. Rinse and repeat and you are now making plenty of money each month! Just make sure you aren't in too much debt now meaning you can't get a loan or the terms would make the deal unprofitable. 

Agreed with @Kenneth Garrett make sure all space you plan to rent conforms with local laws. That being said you need to have a plan. Is this going to be a true split level such that both floors have full kitchen, laundry, entrances, etc. I currently rent in a basement like this and have all these separate from top level. It's also fine to have both floors share these but expect less rent as this is a more common house rental situation as opposed to two separate apartments. 

@Charles Carillo is totally right! The metrics thrown around here and other places should guide you but aren't hard rules. For example here in Denver, CO, my cash-on-cash will be lower than lots of places around the country but if I can cash flow positive around $100-200 per door per month, that's killing it! Also it sounds like if you have $130k to invest, you could use that spread over a few down payments to obtain more than one property. Please respond back so we can be more helpful to your current situation. 

@Cole Britting I have had the same questions on my search for a house hack. I have been playing with the idea of finding a 4 or 5 bedroom property that has either a garage or nice shed out back. Pay a couple thousand to insulate the shed and simply run drop cords from the house and live out there. Also depending on the laws/HOA in your area, a cheap RV or similar could work great in the driveway for your time there. I am currently investigating how to have a shed/tiny home conversion or built on the cheap and think this idea has some real potential!

I was planning on buying my first property to house hack in the upcoming fall 2020. Due to the COVID pandemic, some peers and I are unsure if we can count on quickly finding new tenants. What is your experience? I'm in Denver CO if anyone knows about this market specifically. 

TL;DR 

Are people moving to new rooms/houses during this pandemic or are most people planning on riding out another lease due to fear? 

Aaron,

Let me start by saying YOU'RE KILLING IT. The fact that you are driving for dollars and doing all the "extra" things already means you want a deal and your actions are proving it. I wouldn't transfer your license just for MLS access, but you should bug your agent a little bit and have them set up as many auto-emails as you think you need. Then you will get market updates regularly and it won't be any extra work for anyone.

Also something you might not want to hear, you're first deal doesn't need to be a homerun. If you hit a nice single/double, meaning you do a BRRRR or househack where you're rent is covered or you're making a few hundred dollars, you won. You are ahead. This will help you learn the steps through a deal and with you're construction background you should easily be able to add some sweat equity.

Shoot me a message or comment back if you'd like some more detail, otherwise I'd say you are on the right path in a tough time currently. 

Best, 

Noah Gregory 

Jonah, 

Right now you need a house hack my guy! This is FOR SURE the easiest way to ease your way into serious investing. Right now you have no job, money, etc (hate to remind you but I'm right there with you). In the near future, rent is going to eat most of your money every month. Also, the goal of investing is to make more by owning a property each month than it costs to maintain. Combine these two principles and you have house hacking. Buy a house, rent the extra rooms, have your rent (mostly or all the way) paid for by roommates. Check out the many posts on here for house hacking or my boy @Craig Curelop 's book about house hacking. Best of luck to you moving forward, feel free to message me or comment back if you need any more info. 

For the intro lingo 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides

Rich Dad Poor Dad also changed the way my brain works pertaining to cash flow, assets, etc. Could not recommend more strongly. If you pair this with The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, you might just quit your job tomorrow so be careful. Bigger Pockets does a great job with their beginner books so I would strongly recommend those, and you can pick them up on Amazon without all the bells and whistles offered on here. The "bare bones" approach you are looking for is to OWN a property that brings in more money per month than you are spending to own and maintain it. The intro books lay out what those maintenance costs are and how much they should be relative to your property. 

Hope this helps if you need any explanation feel free to comment or message me back. Best of luck and welcome to the investor community :) 

Hey Austin, welcome to BP. I'm a new real estate agent around Denver and currently shopping for my first investment. From my experience going to the meetups boosted my learning and connected me to the right people quickly. I have made solid connections (i.e. phone numbers and meetings) with at least ten local investors after only being in Denver for a couple months. I know COVID has put a stop to meetups for now, but you can still message people in the groups for your local meetups. 

1. Message local investors

2. Read as many books/forums as you can

3. Formulate a plan --> rentals, Air BnB, flips, etc.