All Forum Posts by: Matt Jones

@Joe Bardinelli It sounds like househacking might be an excellent option for you as you knock out your student loan debt.  Pensacola has an excellent community of investors at all levels that typically are very willing to share so be sure and plug into our local investor community!

@Kevin Jones if you are in Pensacola tonight go to the Professional Investors Guild Meeting and talk to some investors and wholesalers.  You could probably even partner with one of the better wholesalers to get your deal out there if you don't have a local network.  If thats not an option or its just not something you want to do, send me an email with the numbers and whatever other info you can share.   I sell a lot of income producing property locally and I'm sure that I can help you put a value on it and probably introduce you to some potential buyers.  Congrats on getting a package deal together!

I agree with @Dylan H. even though you are living there leases for your roommates are a good idea.  I rented rooms to friends for most of my 20’s and never did leases but there were a few instances where I wish that I did. 

@Anthony Trumbull Pensacola is a great market for house hacking.  Rental demand is high and rents have been increasing steadily.  As @Tom Gillotti said it's a pretty hot market. The most important thing you can do is to start learning the market so that you can act quickly when a good property comes available. I have helped lots of VA and non-VA buyers house hack here and I've done it myself. Because there aren't as many properties available right now it is a little more challenging but it is still absolutely possible and it can still be very profitable.

@Brandon Brown  Coming from a Realtor that invests & works with a lot of investors here are a few tips for finding and having a good relationship with a quality Realtor that can help you:

1) Be specific about your goals and buying criteria.  Don't just say "Send me a deal"  I get 5 of those messages a week and generally can't help those people.  If I don't know what makes a deal for you how can I send you one?  If I did come across a smoking good deal what have you shown me to make me send it to you instead of one of the other investors that I work with that has already shown they ability to close?

2) Be respectful of their time.  When someone wants me to analyze potential properties for them, go tour them, tell them what to offer, give them a game plan for rent, renovations and everything else under the sun I probably can't help them.  You are the investor, you need to do your initial homework instead of asking an agent to do all of it.  You need to be the one that sets your buying criteria.  Agents are great resources but the good ones don't have time to be the investor for you and do all of the legwork.. because they are writing offers, taking listings and taking care of their own rental property.  I am happy to draw investors a road map and help them along the way but I can't be the investor for them.  I'm surprised by how many people expect the agent to do all of the things above, why would you buy a property soley on your agents research and advice.. that's not investing.  It's speculating and if you speculate based on the wrong persons opinion it could be disastrous.  

3.  Listen to their advice.  If you have found an agent you like that knows investments and understands your goals and has agreed to help you achieve them you should listen to their advice.  If they tell you to analyze a property per day and get pre-approved it's because those things will help you reach your goals.  I have some awesome success stories of investors that took my advice and then when the right property came along they jumped on it and they are doing really well.  I could also tell you about plenty who didn't listen and still haven't bought a property and can't seem to figure out why.

4.  Be committed to your agent.. until it's time not to be.  If you find a good agent you should work exclusively with them.  Not just any agent is a good agent.  80% of Realtors sell very little and know very little about investing.  Don't marry one that isn't meeting your needs.  Keep looking until you find a great Realtor and then build the relationship through steps 1-3 above.

Good luck & happy investment hunting!

@Brandon Brown Unless it's brand new to market and likely to get multiple offers 10% low doesn't sound ridiculous.  Even if it is - if your Realtor rolled their eyes instead of explaining why that was a bad idea you should find a new Realtor.  

I totally agree!  Learning to let the other party break the silence has saved me so much money over the years and uncovered critical details that helped me close deals.

@Stephen Jones

Definitely write something up and present it in person.  I have bought quite a few for sale by owners and even had several owner finance deals for me and the key for me has always been the relationship.  I emphasized making them comfortable, making it low hassle for them and built a relationship over the phone and in person to get a good deal and make it work.  As a real estate agent I have sold for sale by owner homes to the buyers I was working with on multiple occasions and building the relationship with the seller was key then too!

@Mike Wimmer

Welcome to Pensacola! It's a really solid BRRRR market and a great place to live! Let me know if I can ever help you with anything.

@Dustin Sanders start getting to know the market and identifying areas you might want to live.  Narrowing down your search before you are ready to buy will help you tremendously.  Start running numbers in the BP calculators on houses in the areas you like so you will know which houses and price ranges work and which don’t.  The area Dylan is talking about is great but well above the median price you mentioned of $145k(our mls says the median is closer to $200k btw).  Be sure to get a rough idea of what you can afford now and then 90 days before you are ready to buy go ahead and get pre-approved by a local lender.