All Forum Posts by: Sam Kahl

Hi Tiffany, highly recommend Larry Kovacs at Rent Turners. They do it all from major renovations to punch list and rental turnover. He's honest, reliable, and communicates very well. He works with investors frequently and speaks the language. In fact, he's replacing two windows at our personal residence tomorrow morning! Let him know I sent you.

https://www.rentturners.com/

(410) 218-4802

This is what I love about residential real estate.

 That's incredible! I love the idea of a turnkey new build where the numbers work. (Ironically I just came from another thread where I'm arguing against out of State investing, but here I am wanting to learn more about this!)

 How far of a drive for you to Baltimore? As I said in my reply earlier, it's a City that I recommend investing time in to learning before you put down the cash on a property. It's not for everyone, but I have had out of area/out of state investors who are doing well with their Baltimore rentals now that they're established and they took the time to learn the area. If that's not a possibility for you, then you may be better off considering something in a closer market, if there is anything at all. If not Philadelphia, how about areas in northern Delaware? Not at all my market and I only practice real estate in MD, but just an idea to consider.

Hey Jon, just popping in to say hi since I came across a post from a local here! Do you mind sharing where your first property is located, just out of curiosity? Congratulations on all you have accomplished!

Hi Wyatt,

First of all, we share a few things in common: stage of life (raising a family: we have four young kids at home) and age (I'll be 30 later this year). I am in a very similar head space right now in terms of thinking about my family's future. It's a very exciting time but also comes with a lot of decisions! 

I think your focus on having a clear plan on income is paramount. My financial advisor frequently says that in his experience with a variety of clients, it's far better to have high income and no assets (yet) versus a lot of assets but low income. There could be no greater investment in your financial future than in activities that allow you to increase or secure your income. Likewise, be careful with investments that take too much of your time away from income-earning potential (you need to especially watch this around RE investing).

Secondly, focusing on paying off the house you're in, while not popular with many in these forums who love their leverage, will allow you to not only secure your family's shelter but give you sleep at night, better cash flow month-to-month, and a much cleaner balance sheet as you pursue investments down the road. You don't have to do it all at once, and doing things in the proper order is going to be far better than taking chances with too much debt in an effort to accomplish all of your goals at the same time. As Ecclesiastes says... "a wise heart knows the right time and procedure".

As for your other investments, I think it's wise to have plenty of exposure to stocks in tax advantaged accounts like a Roth. I would do your best to max out an IRA for both you and your wife each year, but I realize that is a lot of money. Maxing out a 401k also works, but that's a bit more than two IRAs combined and I think it's easier to have an IRA versus 401k if you switch jobs. Certainly, I would at least contribute enough to max out any match your employer may offer in the future for a 401k - that's free money! (Obligatory disclaimer that I am not a financial advisor, just providing personal perspective)

I recently passed up a rental property for us because I think I have some better opportunities to put that cash to work in stocks right now with the recent market action. While the property itself was a decent investment in and of itself, I simply felt there were better returns in another asset class at this time. Look, I'm a real estate agent - so I naturally love to buy/sell homes, but that doesn't mean it's always the alpha investment at any given time for your particular circumstances.

Congratulations on your family and all that you guys have accomplished so far! You're young, and have a lot of life ahead of you. You are by no means falling behind and seem to off to a fantastic start.

Very well said. I have found that my OOS or even "out of the area" clients who invested in Baltimore Ciry are all doing quite well because:

1). While they weren't exactly local, they were close enough (DC/VA area) that they were willing to make the longer drive over and over again to tour houses/neighborhoods themselves. We spend significant time together just having them get familiar with the areas that change dramatically in a block or two. This was a significant time investment on their part and as you noted, is a cost.

2). They were willing to be patient and have all done very well on the purchase - both in the purchase price and property condition.

3). Many have other investments up and down the east coast already and were familiar with remote landlording.

You can add the DC region to your list of coastal areas with investors looking for better markets to get in. Baltimore has a reputation with OOS investors but this is not the city to do it in unless you have your ducks in a row and a great team that can assist you the whole way.

All that being said, I can't ignore the fact that my investor clients who have purchased in Baltimore have all done quite well, but largely because they went about it the right way.

A local government forcing you to hire a manager... seems like a racket. I just pulled up Raytown's permit application to see for myself. The agent or manager needs to reside in the "Kansas City Metropolitan Area" which is quite undefined. I am surprised they didn't give you a short list of their "approved" managers :-)

Never heard of/seen this before and I'm in a State where you'd expect it.

Maybe try to talk with a few managers and see if some of them have a very basic plan - where you pay just enough for them to be the point of contact but you do as much as possible if that's what you're comfortable with. Add this "cost of doing business in Raytown" to your numbers and see if the house still makes sense.

I know the new build market varies a lot market to market (in my area here in central Maryland it doesn't quite work usually), but the "newer" builds can be a good option. I think there's a lot to be said for the newer options and the Capex/maintenence you're likely to save, especially for investors who are aiming more for simplicity and appreciation over the highest cash flow.

Anecdotally, one contributing factor to new builds not working for investments where I'm at is most of the building is happening in higher value areas or they're just luxury homes on 2 acre lots for $800k+. Some of the "newer" communities built in the last 10-20 years seem to be located in areas with a bit lower values and can be a sweet spot.

What's your new build market there in Reno? Is it a mix of townhomes/SF? Around here 4,000-5,000 square foot homes on the world's smallest lot got pretty popular. In the suburban/rural County where I live, we also see smaller developments of those luxury homes on 1-2 acre lots for about a million, like I mentioned earlier. Even the newbuild townhomes we have seemed to be priced at a premium for their market, although builder incentives may help somewhat.

Hi Victor! While I personally have never done this, I would be cautious about spending too much unless you have some verifiable references to the program. It's probably best to try and make some organic connections with a local investor group or even right here on BP. I am sure there are some decent programs but there are also a lot of people looking to take their pound of flesh by selling their "secret sauce" to others and could be overselling the value they will truly bring.

This is also true for real estate agents who buy in to programs that provide leads, and so often they are not worth it. For real estate agents, the best way to meet leads is organically and by referral.

The challenge is it isn't always easy to just "meet" other investors organically and find a mentor, but I'd suggest using this platform for all its worth. You'll get a wide variety of opinions from people with very diverse backgrounds and locations and in the process may connect with others local to your market and can talk with them further offline. You may also find there are those who work in real estate (agents like myself, lenders, etc) who work around/with investors and can offer quite a lot of advice and help. While this should be done without expectation of you of using their services, they are willing to spend the time with you because it's part of our business model and how we meet new people.