All Forum Posts by: Ryan Spath

Yes and no. Totally agree that being local does have its advantages. You can constantly check in on the deals and more than likely have stronger connections. However, a lot of us invest out of state in an area that we have boots on the ground, or possibly an area we grew up in etc. If you have the proper systems and people you can definitely make it work. Will it be more expensive because you can't drop in daily and buy your guys lunch / talk about the game etc...sure.

In my opinion OOS is more about mindset, a majority of people have limiting beliefs and a common on is my market is to expensive. The OOS option gives people a way to exercise mental growth and take action.  

The thing we really need to start talking about is how RE investing is like planting a tree. It is going to take 10 years for that tree to start bearing enough fruit for a meaningful harvest, and you are going to need a few of them to have any meaningful financial benefits. 

great post, thanks for sharing!

Wyatt, congrats on starting out at your age, alot of us did not start unit after 30. Often times the longer we can hold off on gratification the easier things will be later. 

You mentioned you were in the military, thank you for your service. Going against the grain here. Have you considered purchasing a multifamily dwelling with your VA loan that can offset your living costs? You may be able to buy a 2-4 unit and pay little of no housing costs....I know you mentioned you are about to start building, just throwing an option out there.

Nothing wrong with paying off your house if this is what you want to do, you can sleep better with no debt. You just need to look at the opportunity cost of the funds not invested and make the right decision for your family. 

My family is 100% in real estate and cash. I used to be in the market and found that real estate is better for what we need. 

You sound like a go getter, you should look up local meet ups in your area and surround yourself with people doing what you want to do. You have alot of time on your side. Investing in real estate in like planing fruit trees, the sooner you start the sooner you have fruit bearing trees that can feed you. This is not a get rich quick game, it is long and slow. It does not take tons of properties to replace income if you start soon and are patient, with 4 kids your days must be moving at warp speed (I have two daughters 4 & 7 and sometimes i don't know how they have gotten so old)

Im 41 we have a dozen doors in two states and have achieved FI from real estate. If you ever have any questions or I can help please feel free to shoot me a dm. Best of luck with your journey!

Love the post, Less is more when it comes to properties. Everyone has a certain capacity that the operate the best in, find this and stay in your lane. Not everyone needs to 10x and own 100's or 1,000's of doors. 

Investing in real estate is like planting a fruit tree, it is going to take ~10 years to start bearing any fruit. This is a long game in my opinion.

In order to be successful you have to run a business and operate according to you business plan.  

Anthony, congratulations on the first property, this is the hardest one typically.

1. If you plan to have others invest with you partnerships/OPM get the llc going. If you are not going to do this Umbrella policy can often times provide enough protection.

2. If Avail works use it, don't over complicate the software IMO

3. Befriend other investors. Go to the meet ups, look for folks here on BP. COld call FRBO's. 

EX: Anthony? Anthony, hello my name is Ryan, Im a local investor before you hang up I was hoping to ask you about the property? This is when you can discuss your occupancy rates, share contacts for painting etc you get the idea.

4. Don't wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait. If you are in a position to buy and the math, maths. pull the trigger. Working with a local realtor that has a pulse on your market can help advise here too as far as the direction of your market. 

Best of Luck, I live in Idaho and Invest in Indian River County, FL. I have done long distance for ~5 years. reach out if I can help in any way.

check out the agent and lender links on BP, they connect you with folks that can help.

https://get.biggerpockets.com/agent-finder-bd/?utm_term=bigg...

Best of luck

The sooner you set everything up the easier it will be. The most important thing is separating the "business" funds from your normal funds, do not co-mingle. 

Depending on your risk tolerance you may not need an llc, an umbrella policy can provide as much protection talk to your insurance person for this. The llc will be for business and being able to write things off. Talk to your cpa on this based on your situation.

have you systems down, criteria for tenants, online payment options we use schedulemyrent.com it charges me $2 per tenant payment.

Take great pictures of your rental to post. Post your property on all sites to get the most exposure. zillow, avail, facebook, mls if you have access.

Get a great lease, pro members get them for free for every state through BP.

Have contacts for all the repair items if you do not plan to do so yourself.

feel free to reach out with questions, happy to help. I self manage a dozen doors personally some are 10 minutes away, a few 45. We also have 7 in another state that we manage remotely.

Best of luck and congratulations!

First of all congratulations on the interest at such a young age. If I could wave a magic wond and go back in time to be your age I would 100% house hack a property, I would contact a mortgage broker and see if there are any types of incentives for first time home buyers to assist with a down payment. Or use FHA to put minimal down. If this did not work I would drive around my area and find properties that looked like they needed work and get owners name/number establish rapport and try to get owner finance deals. Next or at the same time I would be going to real estate meet ups, everyone I could drive to and listen/ask questions. I would more than likely find ppl in my area that were doing what I wanted to do and I would work for free for them doing whatever they asked to gain insight. Best of luck!

I love this....if I had 1MM liquid today I would secure properties that would generate an 8% annual return or 80k annually. 10 years ago I would have leveraged it to the highest level and bought as much real estate as possible!

Mark- First of all congrats on the success of acquiring 5 properties 10 units! It sounds like you are suffering from a case of the "tired landlord" All of us that self manage go through this. 

We had something similar happening on an older property we acquired out of state. I would constantly have calls/texts from tenants about issues that needed to be replaced/repaired. 

This is how we resolved the issues. Plan for the long term, if something is damaged, don't repair it replace it. We do walkthroughs 2 x a year and we are actively trying to get ahead of any maintenance issues. 10 year old water heater, perfect be prepared to replace it. 12 year old AC unit the same applies. Often times when we first get started we acquire properties with older larger ticketed items and they have better cash flow, now we are victim of higher cap x.

If you have great properties and everything is up to caliber you should not be getting non-issue calls. We invest in single family & small multifamily properties, we have also noticed that the single family properties require less management as the tenants are often times previous home owners etc.

Ultimately, if you want a hands off investment turn it over to a PM, we have used them and ultimately chose to self manage. Like anything if you want better returns you will be required to be involved. 

Best of luck!

Feel free to use this template:

RE: Renewal

Dear Tenant:

With the increased cost of taxes, insurance, maintenance, and other incidentals we are required to increase your monthly rent. This letter serves as official notice in accordance with your rental agreement.

Even after this increase, we believe we are still at or below the average market rent for a unit of this type and hope you agree. If you do not wish to pay the increased rent you may decide to seek other housing. If you intend to vacate, the original lease agreement states you have to provide a 30 day written notice of your intent to vacate.

Should you choose not to renew your current lease you will only have to pay the difference of the last month’s rent you originally paid. 1750-1495= $255.

Current Rent: $1,750

Increase: $119

New Rent Rate: $1,869

This increase takes effect the 1st day of November, 2023.

We’ve been happy with you as a tenant and hope you continue to stay with us for a long time. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at ______or call us at _____.

Best,