All Forum Posts by: Ryan Lesley

Hey @Account Closed,

Welcome to the BP family and congrats on talking your firsts steps on your real estate investing journey. 

Like @Hamp Lee III suggested leveraging your VA loan is a great option for your multi-family investing goal.

in addition to the other points he made I would suggest getting on www.meetup.com and look for REI meetups in your area to start attending and networking with other real estate professionals and investors. good chance that you will find investor friendly agents willing to help you out there.

I hope that helps, and best of luck with your first investment 🤝🍀

Hey @Leonard Calvin, 

in addition to checking here, I would look and see if there are any Facebook Groups in your area and also jump on www.meetup.com and see if there are any investor meetups you can go to and see if any local wholesalers are there that you can network with. at the least you might meet someone (agent, investor) that has a good wholesaler in pocket that they might share with you. best of luck 🤝🍀

Hey @Ty Coutts, 

We work with a guy named Bill Exeter that should be able to help you out. I will message you his details 🤝

Hey @Erika Baker, 

This is a common question that new investors ask and you will get arguments on both sides. 

I personally subscribe to the notion that "time in the market beats timing the market". In short, no one can tell you with certainty if the market is going to go up or down, but if we look at data for the history of the housing market it has always trended up in the long run. So despite the crashes and spikes we've seen over the last 20 years, there is still a positive appreciation across the board. 

The last thing I will say on this is, since we don't have a way of knowing whether the market will go up or down tomorrow, next week, or next month - we have to base our decisions on what the market looks like currently. So if I analyze potential deals and the numbers work, and I know that the market historically tends upward, then I am of the opinion that it makes sense to invest - especially if you're just trying to get started. 

Investors who have several properties or are sitting on cash have the luxury of being a bit more picky with their investments since they have the ability to contrast the current market against their current investments, and decide whether or not it makes sense for them to invest. But my opinion is getting that first investment, so long as the numbers make sense, is more important than if prices are higher than they were X years ago or where they could be x years from now. 

I hope that helps and wish you the best of luck on your investing journey 🤝🍀

Hey @Madison Sloan,

I'm going to base my suggestion on assuming that you do not want to do the rent by the room option because of privacy/security concerns.

1) If you can find a SFH that has a basement with a separate, or easy to separate, entrance you could essentially "block off" the connecting door between the top and bottom levels and either rent out the top or bottom and live in the other (not so unconventional)

2) Find an SFH with an ADU or other additional building that you might be able to convert into an apartment for yourself to live in and rent out the main home. Even doing a barndominium or similar kind of shed conversion.

3) Look into buying an RV or Camper that you could park in the drive way or yard, live in that, and rent out the main home.

with all these suggestions I would definitely double check your city/county zoning laws and occupancy laws regarding whether you can or can't do any of the above suggestions. 

I hope that helps and best of luck with your house hack! 🤝🍀 

Hey @Michael Dardaris, 

That's awesome that you are keeping the current tenants in mind when looking to sell your property. 

I'm not sure what disqualifying factors they have to keep them from being able to purchase the property but I assume that its based on a traditional loan through a bank? If so, and the disqualifying factors are not something that would deter you from this option, you might consider doing seller financing. This is to say that a monthly payment rather than a lump sum is preferable for your situation, not to mention the possible tax advantages and the ability of earning interest by carrying the loan. 

The other route you could consider is having a provision in the purchase contract that requires the new owner to keep the old tenants in their current lease or possibly for some prescribed amount of time in order for them to get their new housing situation figured out. 

either way, hopefully one of these options helps in finding a solution for your current tenants. best of luck 🤝🍀

Hey @Angelo Looney, 

Are you keeping your STR investment local? (Houston/ Texas) or are you open to out of state investing? Denver is a really great STR and MTR market and Tampa has been touted as a fantastic market to get into this year.

If you would like more info on either of these markets and to see what investing there would look like, feel free to send me a message and we can talk more. best of luck with you and your wife's STR and investing journey 🤝🍀

Hey @Isaac Nikoro, 

everyone has given great advice and covered all the main points. 

I would add that since you are young and just starting out that house hacking and utilizing the rent by the room method would be a great way to check a lot of things off your list at once. 

Depending on how aggressive you want to be with the house hacking strategy and how motivated you are to cut your living expenses down, you could do a rent by the room strategy where you, that's right, rent out each room (excluding your own, unless you want to go full @Craig Curelop style and sleep on the coach) to maximize your cash flow potential. 

At this point tenants are covering your mortgage, covering your monthly living expenses, potentially getting you some cashflow, and increasing your net worth month by month. 

If you utilize a loan where you have to remain there for a year then you have the the whole year to decide if you are going to remain there or rinse and repeat with another house hack. The beauty of it is that you will simultaneously be able to live for free, increase your net worth, and hopefully even realize an additional income stream all by implementing the house hacking strategy. 

I hope this helps and best of luck on your investing journey 🍀🤝 

Hey @Lauren Huskey,

Are you wanting to keep your rentals local (in NC), or are you open to out of state investing? I ask because we have a great STR market here in Denver (and surrounding markets) that have very quick access to the mountains, as well as in Florida (Tampa for example) which get you that beach aspect you want as well. I would like to chat with you more regarding both markets if you want more info or to strategize more 😊

Hey @Gregg Whitt,

if you are looking to STR or Mid Term Rental the unit you can check out www.AirDNA.co and see what kind of data they might have. The free report will give you some basic data that you can use to get a rough idea of what you might be able to get for it. hope that helps and best of luck on your first house hack 🤝🍀