All Forum Posts by: O'brian R.

Welcome to BP! Awesome job saving up for those apartments. Sounds like you've got the right background to become very successful in the multifamily space. Are you self managing both, even the one out at Lake of the Ozarks? 

There's a lot to learn and thankfully, this site exists. See you around BP and good luck!

Lot of great recommendations here. Ultimately, you need to hop on a plane, rent a car and drive around to see things for yourself. I remember my first time in KC seeing a property with my own eyes after it was pitched as Class B in someone's marketing campaign.  Oh how loosely those property classes get thrown around! Maybe it was class B in someone else's eyes, but not mine. Not to mention the area described was far from where I felt comfortable investing. For me, I prefer to invest where the schools are good. Visiting in person was one of the greatest decisions I've made in my real estate experience. 

@Leah Fisch Sounds like you need a property manager. 6 hours one way is much too far away to manage yourself. 

Are you working with an agent or anyone over there? If not, it'd be helpful to work with one. Preferably one who works with investors and an even bigger plus if they have a bit of knowledge assessing the condition of the house for what repairs are really needed. 

A PM can also really be helpful here as you may get them to take a look at the property as well. At the very least, if you're going to be using a PM, it's always helpful to get their opinion on whether a property you're considering to purchase makes for a good rental. They can also give you rent comps and typical vacancy duration for you to better fine tune your numbers. This should take some of the guess work out. 

@Yusuf Mathai I'm in the same boat as you as far as living in an expensive city while also having a demanding day job. I made the jump to invest in KC in 2014 and have been very happy with my investments. I started out by doing my research on several markets and found several that had the potential to generate good, stable returns. The deciding factor for me was in finding the right team that I could trust. There are a lot of turnkey companies and PMs that you can work with, but for me it came down to working with someone that was not only an expert, but full of integrity, and one that you connect with personally. I'm in this to invest for the long haul, so I value finding the right team rather then letting higher % gains steer me in the wrong direction. 

If you get an opportunity, try to meet as many different teams as your schedule allows. You'll often get a sense of the different types of houses that one turnkey offers vs others. This will also give you a real understanding of how those class C to A properties differ more than just the returns you see on paper.  

If you're interested, shoot me a pm and I can share more about my experiences and who I work with down in KC. 

Good luck!

To echo what @Julia Dugger already said, it sounds like they just got an offer worth accepting so that's what they did. Fannie Mae isn't required to wait till the end of the First Look period to give every potential owner occupant a chance to offer. If they get a good offer on day 1 of First Look they can choose to accept. 

Some other perspective I'll share is that offers generally have an expiration date for the selling party to have to make a decision on. For instance, my agent and I usually submit our offers which are good for a couple days. So again, if it's day 2 or 3 of the First Look program and a strong offer is submitted, they may just go ahead and accept it rather than wait 20 or so days till the end of the First Look program. 

Welcome to BP @Wendy Payne. Lot of great resources here from the forums, BP articles, and the podcast. Packed full of awesome content and the best part is that it's all free! Much success to you as you start your real estate journey!

@Youssef Elmaraghy There's no best strategy to get started. In fact, you can read many folks' stories as to how they became financially independent and I can guarantee you that there was no one "best" way to do it. There are many roads that can get you to your goals. Wholesaling, partnering up with someone who's currently investing, starting with just 1 house at a time, etc. 

The more important next step I believe, is for you to just take action. Any action. Move forward. Pick a strategy and figure out what the very next step is and go out and do it. If it doesn't work, then adjust your strategy, but keep taking action. You will get there and you will learn much faster than continuing to consume more books, reading articles, and listening to podcasts. 

Don't just get stuck on more education. If you've already been reading a lot like you mention, that's enough to get started. There will always be more information that you can learn, but you can't let that prevent you from taking action. You will learn as you go. Good luck.

Brian, this is such an awesome thread! I'm hoping to reach my own stretch goals by 2020, so seeing all the action you're taking is extremely motivating and helpful to see. Keep it up!

I love this idea! I don't know how common it is for a lender to accept a borrower's report without pulling their own inquiry, though it doesn't hurt to ask. 

And I agree that until you have a rate lock, the initial rates that are quoted are no guarantee. But the initial rate quotes are helpful to as a placeholder when running some preliminary rental numbers. 

Haha, yeah when I bought my first property with excellent credit, I got the same comment that "score adversely impacted by too many credit inquiries". 

Thanks Chris for sharing, this is very helpful information!