All Forum Posts by: Phong Bui

I am continually developing my business plan and roadmap to set targets for myself. So far I have a portfolio for sfh/small mfh along with a portfolio for student/campus housing. However, I also have commercial real estate, larger apartments, and even short term/vacation rentals on my radar for the future.

How diverse are your real estate investments? How do you reign in your thoughts/wants? Do you try to cast a wide net, then evaluate which is most profitable/logical for yourself and then dive more into that? At what point is a portfolio considered too diverse and what are the risks?

I did a simple quit claim deed myself and sent the paperwork to my county. If you are confident in your ability to dig for info and willing go learn, it's not hard.

The deed must follow a very specific format for the recorder. The auditor required different forms such as an attestation regarding your relationship with the LLC, rental property registration, and tax exempt paperwork. All of this is specific to a county, so may not apply to yours, or may even include additional requirements.

A call to the auditor office was also very helpful and they answered a lot of questions and even pointed out some common mistakes for me to avoid.

The safest route is just to have a title company do it. I also cleared this with my loan officer as well, in advance, every time I did this. A quick call to yours should clear it up to be safe.

 Hi Carini, thank you for sharing! I've come to realize that there may be many opportunities available to carve out a niche service, but requires willingness to gain a bigger perspective and asking the right questions.

I took a look at your business site and services you provide. I'm amazed at the amount of work you do. Perhaps a starting point for me is finding someone like yourself close by to me and offer to help in order to learn to provide just that subset of work that they can't get around to.

 Thank you for your insight Ryan! I plan to have my PE soon (<1yr) and my state allows me to practice within my scope. I do not intend to practice outside of anything I'm absolutely comfortable being liable for, which in my case would be minor alterations as I do have academic exposure to it. I've been reviewing my city permitting requirements and building codes, but do plan to increase my knowledge much more before attempting to offer any services to anyone. Your answer helps me refine more thoughts and intentions. I'm also fully prepared to admit that it is outside of my capabilities if that is the case.

Your last comment is what has been on my mind. As a small, one person operation, I would not be able to offer the type of service a larger firm would as a one-stop shop. But you also mentioned how some won't bother with minor additions and alterations because it's not worth their time. I figured this might be the case as well and maybe an opportunity for me to fill in this gap.

My thought would be to offer services to investors and general contractors who are flipping or remodeling a home and could use some permitted alterations that require plans to be submitted to improve floor plan or usable space. Volume of work would not be critical either as this would only be a side job and one person operation.

I work in auto industry but want to do something else on the side that can generate some cashflow that also combines my engineering profession with my real estate investment space. I want to see what what kind of work is more valuable to investors and homeowners so I can start learning or join a firm that does that type of work.

So far it seems structural work is most common, but unfortunately that transition may not be feasible. Structural engineers have a wide range of expertise in different material types that would require me to entirely pivot my career field.

Currently my thought is to limit my service to providing stamped drawings for permitting of minor alterations of existing wood frame structure such as windows, doors, and load bearing walls. I have enough background and transferrable skills to begin refining myself to a point where I can potentially offer this service to general contractors looking to rehab a home but need stamped plans to submit.

I'm not sure if this is actually a needed service though.

I'm an engineer and investor. I want to see what kind of part time work/services I can provide as an engineer to intersect with real estate. Whether it be subconsultations to someone else or direct services, I'd like to hear everyone's experiences.