All Forum Posts by: Nate Garrett

@Tyler Flagg

I protest most of my portfolio every year as well. At least in Tulsa county, the assessor has no way of knowing that your property is a rental when he makes his assessment. Because rental properties are typically not in the same condition as the retail properties they are being compared to, I have been quite successful in getting them to lower the assessed value.

You may find my blog post regarding how to protest property tax assessments useful.

@Travis P.

Welcome to Tulsa and real estate investing.

I'm assuming you are thinking about becoming a real estate professional?

If you just want to invest in real estate, you don't need to get a license.

If you are interested in working in real estate and desire to get a license, you will want to do some studying on the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission's website to learn the process for obtaining a license. You can do the pre-licensing school online or in a classroom setting and there are several companies that offer the course.

I think you will find Tulsa to be a good market to be a real estate investor.

Good luck, and let us know if you have specific questions about the process.

@Stephen Lassiter

Sorry to hear that you had a negative experience with Mr. Brune. We have dealt with him directly only a few occasions, but have found him to be very knowledgeable and competent. We have dealt more frequently with another of their attorneys, Timothy Houchin, who is also an adjunct law professor at the University of Tulsa.

You make a fairly serious allegation - namely, that Mr. Brune is encouraging clients to violate federal fair housing law. Is it possible you misunderstood him in some way? I find it difficult to believe that an attorney with his resume would do that. If your allegation is true, why not report it to the Tulsa bar association instead of BiggerPockets?

We will research further, but at this time we stand by our recommendation.

@Nancy H.

If you are looking in Tulsa county, you will want to familiarize yourself with the online court records system at www.oscn.net. This will give you access to court cases such as judgments against an owner, but not information about the property itself.

To look up records on the property itself, you can either visit the county clerk's office on the first floor of the Tulsa county courthouse, or you can subscribe to the Public Land Records Access (LRMIS).

Yes, we also invest. We like the suburbs and areas in Tulsa where the rents are $900 / mo and over. These areas have had good rental appreciation in the last few years.

Hoping that oil stabilizes in a profitable range so the oil companies keep hiring keeping rental demand high!

@Jesse Jackson

Welcome to Tulsa. We have a great market for investing in real estate. What areas of town have you been looking at?

@Joel Kadlec

Of the 4 places you mentioned, Jenks is probably best positioned for future appreciation. They are somewhat land-locked, have a great school district, and many nice neighborhoods to choose from.

I would work with an experienced Realtor to help you buy right. If you aren't already working with someone I'd be happy to refer you to one that I have referred many people to that are moving into town. She's a very experienced agent with Coldwell Banker.

As for the investment side of things, I wouldn't get too set on specific property types until you get out here and study the rental market. Nice duplexes are somewhat hard to come by, triplexes and quads even more so.

Best of luck on the move and welcome to Tulsa.

@Chris Lynch

I assume that you are talking about starting a property management company. I don't know of many companies that only offer leasing services. Most offer both leasing and ongoing management services.

To start one from scratch would be difficult, but not impossible. A national franchise may be able to get the business off the ground more quickly than starting an independent management firm from the ground floor.

Another option would be purchasing an existing firm. It probably will take 40-80 doors under management before the company will be able to pay a reasonable living salary, assuming you own and operate the company, depending on the local market.

If you are interested in property management, a good starting resource is the National Association of Residential Property Managers.

@Joel Kadlec

As @Kimberly Gillock mentioned, Tulsa is a great market for small landlords. You could likely acquire 2-3 nice class A/B single family rentals in Tulsa with the equity you project to have after the sale of your residence.

If you choose to go this route and plan on retaining your rentals after leaving Tulsa in a few years, I would recommend you stick with class A / B rentals. I don't know of too many out of state owners of class C/D properties that are happy with their investment in the long term. 

By investing in a few Tulsa rentals in the near future, you would be able to take advantage of low mortgage interest rates before the Fed raises interest rates, which will likely push mortgage rates higher. 

@Lana Chen

If you're taking about paying all cash and getting a stabilized 8-10% ROI then you are talking about capitalization rate. It is highly unlikely you will be able to achieve that in single family right now. Interest rates have brought cap rates down on all types of real estate. Multifamily is in the 4-6 range. You might do slightly better than that in single family.

Anyone telling you differently is likely uninformed or trying to sell you some oceanfront property in Arizona.