All Forum Posts by: Taylor L.

Heck no. That makes it way to difficult to terminate people when you need to. We did that in a deal with a PM and it was a disaster. I've seen it backfire on many others in the past as well. Clawing back equity for non performance turns into a legal battle far more often than just terminating a service provider.

Totally agree with @Arn Cenedella that the networking opportunities are the most important. You might also consider Real Estate Guys or RE Mentor's events. They're not specifically multifamily, but most of the attendees are multifamily investors. Michael Blank's events are great as well.

You'd need to start by narrowing down further from states to cities, primarily because states can have a mix of good and bad markets. Then analyze the economic indicators of the cities you've selected, as well as the landlord-tenant laws. After you obtain that data, select the top one for a deeper dive. Get to know the market well, travel there, and build your network in the area. I'd also consider travel time. A trip to NC is a much longer commitment than a trip to AZ.

Generally speaking we look for growing populations, growing jobs, friendly landlord-tenant laws, and diverse economies to start with. Those criteria eliminate the West coast states & many east coast states as well. Many investors have flocked to the "Sunbelt" in recent years. 

Having worked with many non-Americans over the years, I'd say the most common misconception about the States is how ridiculously big the country is. It's huge. Most non-Americans underestimate how vast the country is. Just bear that in mind as you look at different markets and when you plan your DD trips.

What market(s) are you looking in?

The extra complicating factor is going to be looking for a relatively turn key deal. In a competitive market it's important to be nimble and get off-market deal flow. Sometimes that means buying a distressed property and doing renovations, sometimes that means being ready with cash to buy out a distressed owner. The MLS, if that's where you're focusing, hasn't been a great source for turnkey cash flowing deals for a good few years now.

We've used Madison SPECS in the past and have had a good experience

Edit: should tag the man himself, @Yonah Weiss

We've looked at deals with internet providers for larger properties. Ultimately it hasn't panned out for one reason or another, but I hear promising things about it. That only really works when you have a bigger property, more negotiating power, and some level of control of the lines in and out of the building.

These things are fairly marginal, though. There's just more gain to be made by either buying more properties or improving the ones you have so they pull higher rents.

IMO yes, waiving the inspection would be a bad idea. Sure, you have previous inspection reports but there's no guarantee that those reports are the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The fact that it's fallen out of contract twice due to what was found on inspection should be a sign that something is up and you need the inspection contingency as well.

It's tempting to waive it to try to get a deal, the first rule of investing is don't lose money. One of the key ways we protect ourselves from losing money is a contingency based on physical condition.

First one, then the other. Specifically, first cash flow then appreciation. Cash flow is what sets us free!

On the topic of turnkey - you still need to do due diligence and run your own numbers. Just because the turnkey provider says it's a great property, it'll cash flow, etc, doesn't mean it will. There have been a number of helpful guides to turnkey due diligence written over the years, see if you can hunt a few of those down.