All Forum Posts by: Albert Hasson

Take into consideration the fact that college kids are likely to beat up the property leading to costly fixes (new carpet, paint, etc.) each time you have turnover. You can be sure your ROI will be less than 8.2%.

Here I Phoenix I have about given up on finding decent single families in good neighborhoods. Not enough inventory and too much competition. The horse has left the barn! If I were in areas where this was not the case I would say buy, buy, buy because these opportunities are going to be gone faster than people think. 2 million jobs created since last summer(per marketwatch) means that many more people thinking about housing again.

Bought 3 rental houses at the peak of the market here in Phoenix in 2005-2006. Still have them! I am in the process of refinancing them via HARP 2.0 so they will finally break even in terms of monthly cash flow.

Steve, I think bottom line is that it's hard to leave a full time job and do REI full time. The full time job provides health insurance, retirement benefits, disability insurance, etc. You would need a tremendous amount of capital to acquire enough properties to get enough rental cash flow to replace a 100k/yr job. You could try the fix and flip route but depending on where you live the opportunities may or may not be there. Plus, not all those deals go well even with great due diligence. I think the more realistic approach is to set a goal for yourself and acquire income producing property over time that would gradually replace your income.

I use state farm here in AZ

Welcome John, lived in Seneca, SC for 6 years. Beautiful part of the country. Good luck.

Jason S thanks for the link to the FHFA spreadsheet. I will say that the Phoenix market is much different today versus July, 2011. On 1/25/2011 there were 8416 REO's on the greater Phoenix MLS compared to only 1911 today. It is very hard to find a non-trashed out REO in a decent neighborhood here in Phoenix. I cant speak for the rest of the country but while a bulk REO sale would have an impact on rents here I doubt it will be as much as people think. Even if rents went down 10%, if you bought in the last few years you are going to be just fine r.e. cash flow.
In addition if suddenly there were no more govt. REO's, property values, which already are increasing here, would really take off.

James, all my loans are 30 year fixed with rates between 4.375 and 5.5%.

This is a great thread, I work more than full time and my wife and I manage our rentals. My kids are not thrilled with me as they say I have"real estate on the brain". I am hoping in the long run they will realize the benefits of REI and I would encourage them to become investors themselves.

James, I currently have 8 loans in my name. As an investor I had to put 20% down on first 4 then 25% on last 4. As far as I know no bank in my area offers a program with less than 20% down for an investor conforming loan.