All Forum Posts by: Salvatore Lentini

@Ozzy Akpek - It's hard to find that first deal...especially if you're jumping right to multi family.  It's not that buying a multi family is that much more difficult to buy than a single family, it's just that it's harder to find one to buy.  That's because there are less of them, the sellers are a little more difficult to get in touch with because it may be owned by an entity, not a person or it has a property management company running it.  The property management company can act as a gatekeeper.  You're also in heavy competition with brokers that are calling, emailing and sending direct mail every day to thousands of multi family owners seeing if they want to sell.  I've only ever done group coaching but if I ever did one on one 30K is pretty crazy.  

Investment Info:

Other commercial investment investment.

Bringing this mom & pop run business into the 21st century. Adding online booking, AirBnB, monthly rentals and digital locks.

Investment Info:

Other commercial investment investment.

Purchase price: $3,100,000
Cash invested: $240,000

Farmers Market with 14 food vendors and 13 apartments above.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Cash flow and diversity

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Networking

How did you finance this deal?

Commercial mortgage and seller 2nd.

@Andreas Norberg - hard to find cash flowing properties in your area.  How far outside LA would you have to go to find more affordable houses?  Do you know anyone in other more affordable states you could partner with...especially since you and your wife are not interested in being hands on.  You could be a money partner for someone else that is willing to do the work but doesn't have the money.

@Randall Alan - find out how you, or if you are married and file jointly, your spouse can qualify as a "real estate professional".  Then you can write off passive losses and depreciation.  That combined with your expenses will likely wipe out any income on paper and in some cases create a loss which will reduce your overall income.

@Mike D'Arrigo - ahhh. Because it's not called Marketplace?  "Real Estate Listings".  The only way I've been able to find out in the past and just now was by Google Bigger Pockets Marketplace.  Maybe it used to be called Marketplace?

I've posted rental properties on here before but now I can't find a link to the Marketplace.  Am I losing it?  Looking to post my multi family in Dayton OH for sale.

@Mike Zamolo - Your ROI will be very low if you pay all cash. I would take that money and put it down on several properties. If a property doesn't cashflow with a down payment of 25% it's probably not a great investment.

@Chris Kendrick - Building a portfolio by saving up cashflow doesn't work.  You can buy, rehab, rent and refi and if you do it right you can most or all of your money back out.  You can partner with a money partner.  Get the seller to do seller financing or do a seller 2nd and then you have to come up with very little or no money.  Real estate can be like chess.  To be really successful at it requires planning and thinking several steps ahead.  Many investors get excited and buy their 1st rental property and then realize they don't have any money to buy their 2nd.  But if you do the strategies mentioned above, at some point years in the future you can refi your properties and pull out the equity that build up due to principal paydown and appreciation.  That's when real estate gets really fun.  You can become your own bank in a sense by using your portfolio of properties to buy more properties.  And if you time rates right, sometimes you can refi, get money out and be paying the same amount per month as before.

@Samuel McCart - planning to use the equity in your home could take a lot longer than you anticipate.  The run up in prices over the past few years is not normal.  You could buy something and it could lose 5-10% in the first 2 years....stay relatively flat for another couple years, then slowly start going up.  And since cash out refi loans at the moment are 75LTV it will need to go up a significant amount for you to pull money out to use as down money on an investment property.  And you have to account for the fees the lender will charge.  I'm not saying you shouldn't buy a primary.  In my head it's not really a decision of one or the other.  I'm a big believer in home ownership so if that's something you and your wife want you should do it and independent of that decision, figure out how to buy your first rental property (money partner, seller financing, lease option, subject to, joint venture.....lots of options).  I started my real estate investing career with no money and 9 years later I'm closing in on 200 rentals.