All Forum Posts by: Richard Weinberg

@Adam Batcheller

Every time I allowed or asked a tenant to do something that was my responsibility as the landlord I burned myself with additional damages and expense. Thankfully after 3 such experiences, I learned better and now handle landlord duties without the tenants carrying the burden or concern. To my pleasant surprise, it’s just like my father said... doing it the right way the first time is cheaper!

I ask tenants to replace their own light bulbs and cut their own lawn but real repairs we ask for notification and we handle them professionally and most often, quickly.

Good luck.

@Daniela Skrein

Ok. Lets assume your sincere and you really inherited $1 million. I am a buy and hold landlord, parent and grandparent so forgive my parental commentary. (Do not invest these funds in real estate at this time.)

Go see your local banker and ask for guidance on 100% government guaranteed investments and put $950k or $975k in a cant lose secured interest earning certificate for one year.

Take a small amount of money and treat yourself to one prize. Just one. Put the rest aside so you sleep better at night.

Back to real estate. The market is near its top and its easy to make a bad investment for an experienced investor. Take the year to read BiggerPockets daily, talk to friends about their real estate investments, do your research on you tube where there is a ton of great and free tools and learnings shared by successful real estate investors, like David Green of Bigger pockets, Michael Zuber of One rental at a time and others. Meet Kevin's got a lot to share as well. Treat yourself to a $99 or $199 learning program and have fun and learn. Then, after the next recession and real estate pull back, you won't have to wait long, you will be ready to pull the trigger and invest carefully with a small piece of that money that you can recycle over and over again with the BRRR method you will learn about.

Congrats on your good fortune and wisdom to slow down and save it. Good luck.

@Lee Haenschen

I just looked at a map and reminded my self where Midland, NC is. I do most of my business less than an hour from you. I am not sure what your looking for but might I suggest, in baseball terms, try to take your first steps into this business by hitting a single or double, don’t swing for the fences.

You could look at High Point, Salisbury, or Concord and find a 3/2 with just under $90k to $100k ARV, preferably under 30 years old or younger, offer up to $65k put in $15k max rehab and lock in $8k to $16k in appreciation then if the market drops up to 20% your principal is safe.

Flippers can’t live on these margins but, if your careful, you can and you should find a couple hundred in cash flow monthly.

You already said you are self employed and working full time and that you are married with a few kids. Do yourself a favor and set a reasonable goal of doing one or two successful deals maybe very successful deals between now and the end of the year.

Last suggestion, manage this house as the property manager yourself. The learnings will be priceless...not easy, but priceless.

Don’t lose sleep if the loan is 5% or 5 1/2... You shouldn’t say yes to a deal that tight anyway. Knowledge is power. I believe this can be done. Good luck. (PS...Don’t tell anybody deals like this are available in North Carolina! LOL!)

@Jay Hinrichs

Thank you!

@Linda Smith

I have purchased several homes from auction.com.

I have also bid unsuccessfully for a house on auction.com. Auction.com will be against you if the reserve is not met. Once the reserve is met they will not be against you or counter bid.

Auction.com knows who is on your side and your contact info. They know if you’re bidding or just watching. They have gone as far as to call me when I failed to bid again when they were at the last few moments of an auction in an effort to asked me to make one more bid.

Almost every aspect of the process with auction.com is leveraged to put auction.com and the seller in the driver seat. I have found you have to do your due diligence from every other possible resource as you can to learn as much about the property as you can without ever having been in the property. That means visiting all the public real estate sites, tax records, gathering all the comps you can but understand that if you bid on the house it’s likely you won’t get the winning bid unless your bid exceeds the reserve.

I won the bid on a current property and they failed to clear all of the liens and asked for an extension. I reluctantly granted the extension and now they’re asking for another extension at which time I’m saying that’s enough....and walking away. I typically find the winning bid price point and clearing the reserve, puts most properties at a price point where most flippers would not be interested. This winning price point typically could leave enough margin for a good buy and hold investment.

I would advise you to expect most auctions on auction.com to not work out well but then sometimes they do.

I would be interested in hearing about others experiences with auction.com, what went well and what went poorly.

Good luck.

@Aaron K.

I screen my tenant prospects extremely thoroughly including credit evection job application and background check etc. and that allows me to entertain tenant prospects with marginal credit or past credit issues. Not so long ago I had a tenant that offered six months advance and double security deposit to get into the home and they have been on time excellent payment record tenants since.

One caveat to share, my CPA made me book the six months advance payment in the time. Received so anticipate that if you except a larger down payment. Also make sure you’re in compliance with any state laws on how much you can except from tenants in any particular window. Good luck

@Aidan Mulligan

Definitely check the tax records and site plan... it might be online and check easements with the planning department.

Good luck.

@John Patterson

Be selective and work your way up and down 85 and 77. Concord and that little airport and the Amazon distribution facility have got to have created some SFR buy and hold opportunities. Buy right or don't buy. Good luck.!

@Viktoria Barrett

Most of our investments are in North Carolina and it can be a very good market.

I would echo what somebody else said to you in a reply that you need to know the market. I do not agree at all that beginning investors should be hands off and use a property manager. Much of my experience has told me that high levels of customer service, extended renewals from tenants, increase in rental rates, cost reduction in minimizing the service calls.... come from the intimate experience of doing some of these things right as the landlord.

No property manager has the vested interest in nurturing your customer relationships with your tenant and watching over your investment with a long-term perspective like you do. Don’t misunderstand, there are some great property managers in North Carolina and elsewhere. I already know who I would use if I was unable to manage on my own.

Going back to your question of North Carolina, it’s very market specific....over the last two years the Raleigh area the Charlotte area have been two of the hottest markets in the country... several other markets are strong as well.... know your market, do your research...you’ll do well.

Good luck.

@Dan Hedges

Unless I misunderstand your plans, Quicken offered to do that exact thing for me and of course, they are in your back yard in Detroit. They love paperwork and measuring all the metrics in your application and portfolio, but they offered to do it for me and I probably will do exactly that with my next foreclosure purchased and placed back into service as a rental home.

Good luck.