All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Stone

@AJ H.

Thanks for your reply.

Are you doing multi family development or buying existing MF properties? Are you buying and holding or value add or flipping?

@Mark Fries

Thanks for the reply.

Were these properties local to you? What year you start your RE journey?

I am wondering how some of you started and what brought you to your current strategy. 

Specifically how did you find your niche in RE?  What made it clear to you that it would be or could be a good fit.  What eliminated other options and why.

@Steve Kim

Thanks for this question as it has added a lot of awesome discussion.

As for how to factor in the age and finishes:

Age of home is a factor. A younger home can have many advantages as you point out lower maintenance costs as well as avoiding things like led based paint and asbestos.

Finishes- this is actually a double edge sword. You never defined the neighborhood for this property but did point out comps in a C class so I’m assuming this is B or better. Nicer finishes attract better tenants to some extent but also cost more to maintain and replace as a property ages. Also a really nice house in a not so nice neighborhood isn’t likely to draw the right type of tenants to keep up those nice finishes.

Finally. If your friend is really only looking for cash and has equity in this property consider a deal that would allow you less out of pocket capital with additional gains for both. Possibly a seller carry of some portion of the down payment that would allow you not to pay PMI and utilize the cashflow, if there is any offer the tax situation pointed out, to pay him a shorter term loan. That could dramatically increase your COC and leave you cash in hand for either other deals or reserves for this property.

Good luck!

@JC Espinoza I believe @Ryan Plummer is setting up another online/zoom REI meeting in the near future that is for Southern Oregon investors. I am planning to attend although I am not sure there is a date set for the next one yet.

@Dillon Francis

Thank you for taking the time to put this together in this challenging time.  I know many of us can't wait to get together and trying to network via Zoom and through forums only is tough.  I look forward to meeting you at one of your meet ups whether we can do Feb. 4th or otherwise!

@Ryan Plummer  

I know this is an old post but thought I would reply anyway.  The environment has changed a lot this year especially in Southern Oregon, between COVID and the intense fire devastation. Are you still trying to host meet ups?  Have you guys moved to Zoom or some other method with the current limitations?  I would love to learn more about the Southern Oregon market in general especially from people who are local.  My wife and I are in the Portland Metro but travel through to visit family in CA and have been looking at Southern Oregon as one possible location to invest.

@Tj M.

You've received a very diverse group of answers. But the variance seems to be how much risk you are willing to take on and if you can develop your own value add. Whether that's STR, LTR, flipping, investing in stocks, dividend or otherwise.

The ideal question I started to ask myself and my wife is:

What can we do to reach the income level we require to impact our lives and the lives of others?

Then back up from there to how to build each block of that income.

There are limitless strategies. If you just wanted a simple proforma you could look at some of the turnkey providers from different markets. Or as others pointed out historical stock returns.

@John Kernen

Awesome questions and you already have a ton of great responses. Here are some notes I will give from my personal experience:

I borrowed from a 401k for a primary residence and learned many valuable lessons, 1 even if you aren’t planning to leave your job if you leave that balance is due, if you can’t pay it you now have a withdrawal penalty and tax bill due. This happened to me as I was being forced from a position just less than a year after buying a house. Issue 2 if you don’t have reserves for the size of investment you are making be very diligent in all you research and cost estimates. Stretching to buy an investment where the math barely pencils out is trouble. If you find a good deal there is money to be had. If you find a great deal, people are always going to help you find a way to make it work.

I think others have said the same thing but look for a mentor someone with experience and possibly some capitol to partner up with for this deal. As I often hear on the BP podcast it’s better to have 10% of 10 deals than 100% of 1. It seems like you have invested quite a bit of time and energy and that is something people with capital available often don’t have. The work you have already done is useful but as others have said proceed with caution, but don’t let speed bumps stop you.

Have an awesome 2021!