All Forum Posts by: Todd Anderson

@Bryan W.

Welcome to the BP community. This is a great place to get the information you need to make your first deal.

Making the first deal is normally the toughest for any investor. It's good to learn exactly what to be looking for, and then look at a number of deals to see if you can find it. Make sure you give yourself a realistic timeframe to look at deals. This means look and talk to people about specific REI deals for one to three months until you're comfortable with the deals you're seeing and how to do the underwriting on each.

At this point, you will have to push yourself to move. I talk with a number of investors through the years that get caught in the "analysis paralysis". They get to the point of looking at deals, but are always looking for the perfect one I have found over 30 years of investing. They rarely is a perfect one. There's always some peace that you have questions on. That is why all investing is a risk. As others have said, I would strongly recommend that you go with a lower risk strategy on your first deal. You don't need to hit a home run the first time at bat you just need a base hit.

Best of luck on your journey, please connect if I can help in anyway way

@Ven Perla

Welcome to the BP community and welcome to your REI journey

It's great that you've been doing your research and it looks like you're coming to very good conclusions. I talk with investors each week that are in your situation. They want to get into REI but it doesn't make sense in their local area. You identified three great markets, all of which are growing in population and employment. This is an important step one. Make sure the market that you invest in gives you the opportunity to get in the way of appreciation.

It sounds like you need to start looking at some deals now. I would be happy to help if you'd like. The investors that I have worked with have found good deals in each of these markets. As you brought up, we find that looking towards new construction has many benefits.

Best of luck on your REI journey.

@Steven Le

Welcome to the REI world. It's great that you found the BP community because it's such a good place to learn.

Trying to find your first deal, I told the investors I work with, to look for a "Base Hit". As an OOS Investor, it gives you the option to find a strong market for your first deal. Find a market that is growing in population and employment but still has good areas with slightly lower price points. In a market like this, you can find a house that will take a little less maintenance to run and will allow you to get in the way of appreciation.

When I talk with investors in your position, investing from out of the country, I suggest that they look at new construction investing. There are many builders out there right now that are building properties that were great as rentals. Some of the builders are able to offer great incentives to investors to take properties that are already completed. Some of the investors I work with are able to find great right by Downs and even free property management.

As you get started in REI, I feel the best way to start is with an easy base hit. This will keep your risk down, but still allow you cash flow, appreciation and knowledge of REI.

Best of luck on your journey.

@Elvin Torres,

You can find some good deals on New Construction right now. Good for you!  DR horton is a big production builder so you will always find people unhappy but all in all they have a good reputation.  

Two things to look out for:

Make sure that interest rate stays locked for at least 10 years.  This is a good time frame you may want to move, upgrade or refinance before then.  

Be careful of the HOA. this is a real problem right now. May builders will keep the HOA low while they are building, bit it can go up dramatically once construction is dome and they move on.

Best of luck. 

@Kevin Liu,

Welcome to the BP community.  This is a great place to continue your learning.

I have worked with many investors like yourself, People who have full time careers in fields that they are good in. There is no reason that you can't build wealth with REI at the same time. I think for many people that is the best way. You don't have to make Real Estate a JOB to be a REI.

When I talk with investors who are looking to enter REI with this strategy, we talk about how much risk they are taking on to get their return. We normally find that a Turnkey model is the best risk-reward situation because you are able to leverage a team that is already set up and working.

I to have worked with a number of investors that have never visited their properties.  They find with the right team in place, which includes "boots on the ground" and with today's technology, they are very comfortable with the entire process.  

Feel free to connect

Best of luck.

@Eric Blair,

That is a great question to be asking. The build to rent stradigy to REI is a growing and i beleve very viable way to invest. I would with investors just like yourself who want to invest this way, but have full-time W-2s.

The biggest challenge in the strategy is to solve for many of the problems that are popping up for you, getting the work done, finding the right area, and funding the construction. What I found the best way to solve for these problems, is to find a builder in a quality area that is currently building this way. This way the builder can take the risk of the construction loan, and the investor can enter the deal after the build is complete. The investor gets all the benefits of a new construction investment property is able to avoid much of the risk and the long wait times of the build. The investor is also able to see an ROI as soon as he get the property rented.

I found that this type of investing works for mini investors in your situation. If you have more questions about the concept, feel free to connect.

Best of luck.

@Jay Styles

welcome to the BP community. Hopefully you find that this is a great place to learn and get advice.

I talk with investors all the time who are looking to invest OOS, because it doesn't  make sense for them to invest in their home market.  For a new investor like yourself, I would strongly advise to look for a turnkey option. Not all turnkey companies are the same though. It is good to do some investigation into the differences in how the turkey is approached.

The market is also a major concern. The three that you are considering to would all work if bought in the right way. These are all markets that are growing in population and employment.  This makes the deal, and how it's put together the most important thing. You are in a good spot right now to look at a number of deals and see which one works best for your investing goals.

Feel free to connect, if I could help more to clarify your options.

Best of luck.

@Chaim Mal

This is a story I hear all the time from other investors, and I've totally experienced it myself as well. With the technologies in today's world, there is an easier way to invest in good markets out of state.

With OOS investing, there are two ways you can make it work. Take the time to build your own trusted team in a few markets. Or going with a turnkey provider. The investors that I work with have found it's much easier to use the turnkey provider which also gives them the ability to invest in multiple markets.

As for which market to invest in, ask him that question on the forum, will give you multiple good answers. The best markets to invest OOS, our markets that are growing in both population and employment, and have a good landlord tenant laws. In this type of market, you were able to control your investment and get in the way of obvious appreciation.

After being in REI for a number of years, I found that I didn't need to look only for good deals in bad markets. I found that it is better to look for good deals in good markets.

Best of luck.

@Zachary Wallis

Welcome to the BP community. Congrats on the disision to get started on your REI journey early! Starting to build a portfolio at this age and letting it grow will be a great way to build lifetime wealth.

I talk with investors in your position all the time.  I think this is the best way to invest.  Keep your w2 job,  build your portfolio slowly until your portfolio will be able to build itself.  

I would agree with some of the others that the property that you can get with 25K would not be the best to start with.  In our position I would recommend that your wait and build your down payment to the point that you can get into a good deal. 

I work with a turnkey provider, and the investors that I work with are very happy with the team and process.   Find a provider that you feel good with and that will take care of you throughout the entire transaction.  Having "boots on the ground" may be the most important part.  

Let me know if you would like to talk more and we can go through the process.  

Best of luck.  

@Tibor T.

Welcome to the BP community. This is a great place to do research to get started on your REI journey.

It's great that you have a passion to get started in REI and there is no doubt that is a great place to build wealth. Each of the REI strategies will work if done right some just carry meaning more hurdles and risk for certain investors. Fixing and flip is a great strategy and it does work well, I have used it many times. But there is a lot of risk and things very seldom go smooth as outsiders see. The risk of you trying the strategy to build capital with the two hurdles of being out of the country and new to the industry would be something I would not recommend to an investor.

When I talk with investors, especially ones that have full-time jobs and are not looking for another job, we normally look for better options than fix and flip. When I talk with a new investor, I want to make sure we are trying strategy that will definitely be successful and start that investor on their REI journey.

With many investors that have demanding full-time jobs, whether they are local or investing OOS, I would recommend looking into a turnkey investment. This way you can have professionals help you with market, finding a deal, acquisition, and even property management. With this type of strategy, it gives the investor, the best chance of success, and the best chance to be ready for the next investment.

I would also talk with an investor in your position about looking into Build to Rent.  this way you can get investing experience with a brand new property that will have less headaches day, one, and less overall maintenance for the first part of its life. This takes one big  risk out of the investing, then you can focus on managing the tenant and running the property.

Please connect if you have any further questions about this and best of luck on your investing journey