All Forum Posts by: Reed Rickenbach

Depends on your means of acquiring the property. The main difference comes with financing. Do you plan on living in the property? Do you plan on putting 20-25% down? I think you know the difference already, but not enough info for us to determine if it is "pointless." 

Generally speaking, deals on the MLS are very tight and wholesalers take most of the meat out of the deals they send you. That would leave me to source off-market deals directly, and I am currently working 70+ hours for active income. I'm sure there's a way to get it all done. I'm working on it!

1. What is the hardest thing about buying a property? Why is it hard? This differs based on each investor's situation, however some of the largest hurdles are typically: Capital, Deal Flow & Property Management. All have their challenges. I struggle with deal flow, capital & property management in that order. 

2. What are your sentiments towards renting either as a renter or as a landlord? I'm glad it is not in the government's hands directly. 

3. If you had $1,000 to invest in anything today, what would you invest in and why? As a blanket statement I would invest in something that allowed me to make more money (self-help, RE license, etc.). 

POV from a contractor: In general, walk-throughs should not be charged for. However, I would not expect a contractor to drop everything and walk multiple properties per week without giving them work. Just be mindful of the relationship and how much of their time you are using without compensation. I have charged for detailed scopes before as I felt I should be compensated for the amount of time I was spending without guaranteed work. It is most definitely allowed to have them with you while viewing a property on the MLS.

Seems like there is a fine line between being creative to get deals funded and bank fraud. On a much smaller scale this probably goes unnoticed, but once you are raising millions of dollars you open yourself to investigation. I am glad that the headline does not read similar to FTX headlines in that he was not misappropriating investor funds. Seems like the idea was more to trick the bank, not investors.  

This is a tough story! I'm sure others will provide their opinion, but since you now know the area and the numbers, it should be a personal decision to keep or sell. I think you have all of the info needed. Are you willing to roll the dice again? If so I'd get a different PM.  

This is usually the case with this argument. One side is arguing with logic and one with emotion/personal anecdote. The all-cash buyer is aware of the lower returns but has a personal reason for doing so... and that should be the end of the argument. 

Memphis local here (although this wasn't a location question). I'm sure you are capable of running return calculations with cash vs. leverage. I know a lot of people here will tell you to leverage because the overall return is higher, but if you're curious about having a paid off property, do it. From what I can tell from your picture you have decades of investing ahead of you. Most investors I know who have decided to go the "all cash" route have later leveraged their properties because they couldn't sit still. So, just because you buy with cash doesn't mean it is a forever decision. Sounds like a good time for you to itch your curiosity so you can know if it works for you moving forward. It's a one-way bet purchasing a property with cash. 

If this is the end goal within a few years, and you don't plan on actively investing for 5+ years to build out a team/structure, you may be better off as a passive investor from the start. Although total returns are higher in real estate, cash on cash returns are very similar to publicly traded REITs or dividend ETFs. 

@Jasmine Wilkes I did a renovation for an investor that was using STOA. Was very involved in construction draw requests etc. They are legitimate and everyone had a good experience.