All Forum Posts by: Matthew L.

@Derrick Craig I would hit Phil up for some $ but he better be saving it all to wine and dine some free agents!

@Trevor Ewen I want to get my hands dirty too, that's why I am seriously thinking about moving away from NYC because the home prices here are so ridiculous. I want to be close to my properties.

My Atlanta purchase happened pretty quickly. I had been saving up money to take a leave of absence from my job and do some long term travelling. Then one day last summer it just hit me, why don't I start putting my money to work for me so in 5-10 years I'll be able to travel while still collecting checks? Like I said, I had been very interested in REI in high school and got sidetracked but this seemed like the perfect time to take the leap.

I started looking at other cities because, for me, NYC did not make good business sense. I looked at cities that I would actually want to live in and where turnkey properties could be had in the $100-200k range. I narrowed my choices down to Atlanta, Austin and Denver. Ultimately I chose Atlanta because it was the most inexpensive and closest to NYC.

About a month after I had the thought I was on a flight to Atlanta for the first time and worked with a broker who specialized in lofts. I've always loved loft apartments and when I found out Atlanta had several authentic loft conversions, I decided that's what I wanted to buy. I actually ended up buying a unit in the first building my broker showed me. She showed me units in around 10 buildings over the 2 days I was there but the first building was the one I loved the most. It's called The Stacks. It's a really great, unique complex and I thought it would be really easy to get it rented out as opposed to buying and renting a generic condo. The broker told me 1br units in the building rent for about $1,400 and I confirmed that through my own research. Based on my projected monthly expenses it made sense. I made an offer on a 1br/1.5ba and lost out in a multiple bid situation with 5 other people. About a week later the broker told me another 1br unit fell out of contract because the appraisal was $5k lower than the contracted price and the seller wouldn't come down. I made an offer with the contingency that the I would cover the difference between appraisal and offer if my appraisal came back for less $ and they accepted.

It was around 3 months from when I first decided to buy something and when I closed on the property. No analysis paralysis here!

I probably spent a bit more than I should have and I was definitely a little too emotionally involved in it since I loved the building and was itchy to own something, but it worked out great. I'm definitely going to be approaching my future purchases with a more even keeled business mind.

I actually don't have a property manager because the grounds are maintained by an HOA and I figured I could call the appropriate specialties if the tenants have a problem. So far it's been smooth sailing. They call the HOA manager directly for any issues outside the apartment. They had a small plumbing issue that I had to call a plumber for, and just this week they asked me to replace the thermostat with a programmable one so they don't have to run the A/C all day in the summer and I have to find a handyman to install one. The broker I used to purchase the property I also used to handle renting it out and she charged one month's rent as a fee.

Now I have some big decisions to make before the end of the year as to what city I want to move to and what investing strategy to take.

Hi all!

I'm Matt and I've been reading the forums for a few weeks, burning through the BP podcasts and figured it was time to introduce myself.

I'm 29 and live in Queens, NY and work in claims for an insurance company. I first started reading books about real estate investing in high school but got sidetracked with all the fun of being a twentysomething in NYC (probably could have bought 5 houses in cash with all the $ I blew on partying, sigh). I finally took the plunge and bought my first investment property last year in Atlanta: a $165k 1br loft that rents for $1,400/month. It cash flows about $375/month after expenses. I hear all the time that making that first purchase is the biggest step to overcome and doing that has only increased my desire to become a full time REI.

My ultimate goal is to own enough single and multifamily rentals to generate at least $7,000/month of net income. I'd like to reach that goal by the time I'm 40. In the short term, I am very interested in taking on the challenge of doing some flips to fund the purchase of rentals.

I've lived in NYC my whole life and am definitely in need of a change of scenery to push myself outside of my comfort zone. Not only that, but NYC and surrounding areas are definitely not the place to be for an investor starting out without deep pockets so I'm looking into moving to a city with much lower housing prices. Whether that will be Atlanta since I already have a unit there or another city remains to be seen, but I'm hoping to make the move within the next year.

Looking forward to being an active member of the community and hopefully I will be able to contribute!

-Matthew Lobacz