All Forum Posts by: Roy C.

Hi @Pri Kon, my wife and I are both from Raleigh, and both engineers as well! We are looking into similar path you are looking at, and we are novice investors as well. I would avoid buying townhomes, bc of assessment fee as mentions several times in forum. Also research/educate yourself about how to calculate cash flow correctly, because believe it or not, it's not just Rent-PITI. There is a whole lot of things to consider. Go look for 50% rules and how to calculate expenses on forum.

Welcome to BP!

Yup that's exactly what I was hoping for.  I was wondering if there is a book that can pinpoint guidelines and things to watch out when dealing with contractors.  if not book, maybe youtube clips?

@J Scott Do you have any good recommendation for books on construction? I have zero knowledge on construction part of real estate beside watching those McFlipping on HGTV. 

Thank you!

@Brie Schmidt , what an inspirational story! That being said I made a promise to myself that one day I will be where you are standing right now. One property at a time!

I was also planning to go to Europe trip with my wife for the summer. It was going to be two months trip covering 15 different cities throughout Europe, and I had it all planned out... but I decided to back out, because I discovered the beauty of REI and BP. And I am glad I did. Instead of spending on that money now, I am going to use as a down payment for REI!

I really enjoyed your podcast also. I think I might have to listen to your podcast again...... for third time!

That's funny. I feel like I am in a similar situation as you... well except children part. I am a newbie also. One of my realistic REI goal is "I have 3-4plex as my primary resident by end of this year" so I can implement househacking.

But after reading 10x by Grant Cardone, I now have a list of more unrealistic goals now such as:

"I started my own companies by 2016"

"I have muti-billion dollars company which operates its own"

"I weigh (blank) and I have a black belt"

etc etc.

I think you can def achieve your goals. But like @Jean Bolger said, you gotta learn to adapt. When I look back at some of the goals I made in the past few years, I am shocked that how much I diverged and grow from my old goals ... in better ways!

For short term why:

My wife and I decided that when we are ready to have kids, we will not put them in a day care. My wife will stay home, and I will be the breadwinner of my family. (I don't mind being stay at home dad, but I think my wife wants to stay home badly!) I want my wife to be financially independent with passive income generated from REI.

For long term why:

Early retirement, and get to the position where I can help out my community in a significant level. 

Welcome!

 What if a married couple with 8 properties and 4 separated properties under each of their names? So husband has 4 properties and wife has 4 properties. Are they qualifying for cash out refinance at this point assuming that they have 6 months reserve for each properties and good credit?

I think the term NMD is misleading especially to new investors like myself. As Brandon Turner said on one of the podcast, even though it's NMD, he is bringing other values to the deal. NMD should be renamed to "None of My Money Down But Somebody's Money Down". With guys like Brandon, they are able to use OPM to make down payment, because they have enough experience and skills in REI, and they bring awesome deals to investors. From what I can tell successful NMD comes with track-record and experience. So noobies like myself will have a hard time starting NMD deals. And even if I could, I probably wouldn't go this route atm, because I know I will be making mistakes all over place with my little or no knowledge in REI. I rather make mistake with my own money at first to learn rather than playing with OPM and become liability.

I like Grant's podcast. He didn't go into too much detail how he financed his properties, but it sounds like he had built couple of business prior to building his REI empire, and Grant used the profit generated from those business as down payment. So he is able to create a huge down payment for those multi-million dollars apartment deals because he has three of business running in the background to support it. I mean how many noobies out there can make down payment of 300k like he did?

And if people think Grant's way is the only way to become successful in REI, I ask you what about Ken McElroy? In Ken's Podcast, he mentions his multi-million dollars apartment deal with NMD. Is Ken's methodology incorrect since Grant said NMD doesn't work? That's what I love about REI. There are many different routes you can take to reach your destination. You just gotta figure out which route works best for you.

 That is such an awesome website. Thank you Michael!