All Forum Posts by: Zachary Ware

 Thanks for your explanation Evan! That's a great message on the importance of the proportion of compensation. 

This is my personal opinion, so take it as you will. I think investing in RE is alot of hard work. If I were in your shoes, with access to free housing and baby sitting at the moment, I would work as much as you possibly could. I would try and build up as many funds as early as you can. RE is a great wealth builder but it can take alot of money to play the game. Keeo your living expenses as low as you can for as long as you can while you increase your income. Making a wide gap here is what leads to financial freedom. 

Goodluck on your journey! 

Does your landscaper have insurance? I would presume this is his responsibility. I have had a landscaper who was mowing the yard and threw a rock into of my tenant's car window, they had it fixed in a week. I believe they have business insurance that covered the cost. 

There's no problem with buying a turnkey property and it has alot of benefits. Like you mentioned you know exactly what you are paying for it verus having a estimate for a rehab. This will help you while UW the deal. If the deal pencils and hits your desired returns, go for it. 

A STR is definitely more work than a LTR and there are risks involved with changing STR regulations. Make sure you know the local regulations well and try to find out what way these regulations are trending.

I have heard you can find some very good work from Fiverr. 

Sounds like you should bring on a partner. You can have them provide them some equity in exchange for extra funds needed or try and find a local RE investor who would be willing to loan you the money. 

DSCR loans do not require you to prove your personal income. This might be a good option for the financing aspect, though you will have the prove where your funds came from if not seasoned. Alternatively, you could look at bringing on a partner with more experience and provable income.

 Hey Justin,

I am running into the same thing where I am located. It seems as though this is due to previous zoning regulations. All the properties I have looked at would fail the self-sufficiency test but aside from that, I am also worried about high vacancy and turnover costs with so many other 4 units around the subject property, even with a nice remodel, I don't know if I could pull rent rates that much higher than the next door competition. 

This value add strategy can be an enormous wealth-building machine but the value add part can be very different on different deals. This can be buying a 70% occupied property, putting new paint on the outside, doing some landscape, upgrading the interior of units with new flooring, counter, etc, and increasing rent and occupancy. Buying a completely vacant property sounds like a whole different beast and there are a lot of questions you need to get answered. A few that I think of instantly are: 

- Why is it vacant/Are there soil issues/Is there anything hazardous about the property itself/how long would rehab take and the property starts to produce income, are there large outstanding liens/easements on the property? 

A benefit of rehabbing multifamily units is that the property still produces cash flow while you renovate some units. You will want to make sure to have ample reserves with fully vacant property. But with risk comes reward, you could get a deep discount with a fully vacant unit if you have the experience and team to turn it around.

Look to see if the city has a growing job market. Are big companies moving to the city? Look for cities with a diverse selection of employers as well.