Just transferred 250k cash from selling stocks to my bank to close on 8 apartments. And I have never seen 10k with my own eyes. It kinda feels surreal. Came long way from living on $30 a month to this. I am no pro. Doing real estate for about five years. Have ten, working on eight more. Planning get to at least fifty units total in next five years. I dont believe in the FIRE bullshit because I think thats a lifestyle I dont want and a myth. I like building systems and I will keep doing it as long as I like. Work and family gives me purpose. But I do plan to make enough money from real estate so that I dont need a paycheck. And that day doesnt look far. AMA if you are into real estate and dont know how or where to start. I know there are pros on blind. I am no match to them. TC: Oracle pays me enough. Dont give a shit about fang prestige. https://t.me/joinchat/PXsgX0fteauiC7OmiqJ52w
Which location? Do you have positive cash flow?
Do you use a property manager? How much liability insurance do you carry?
Any info you would be willing to share on your current holdings? City/suburb? SFH? ROI? Any info to help us who are new to the game. Thanks!
Georgia Florida. Big metro suburb. Blue collar demographic. Duplex or quad. You need to have investing mindset. Long game. Don’t look for short gain. If you are thinking you will save money by managing yourself, you are doing it wrong. That way you can only buy where you live. Also you are not delegating. You can’t scale. If you are into crypto or tsla fomo mindset, you are not fit for this. You don’t target quick money. You target slow and boring money. Like putting 50k for a duplex will get you only 400 a month cash flow mindset. You keep doing it and suddenly you have 5000 cash flow per month.
Boring. $1690 4/2 calls on tsla
Do you physically visit the property before investing or do it online? How much additional time do you have to give for management or maintenance/repairs? Do you consider this passive (still working for oracle) or active investment? Do you use any realtor for guidance or do it yourself?
I never visit. I don’t need to. When you buy stock, you don’t visit Tesla factory. You look at their numbers. I only look at numbers. I Look at inspection report. I spend near zero time in management. My manager does that. Sometimes I just approve big items. I have my family to enjoy. I will lose a few bucks than to stress myself. I am passive. Passing active before irs is pretty hard. Maybe someday. I have my own agent. I chose the properties and let him do all the work.
Thank you. What do you think of Roofstock ?
Could you share your journey from start to this point? Biggest learnings along the way? How do you manage risk, given most markets are at high price levels?
Biggest obstacle is the mental barrier that I can do this. And the long game mindset. I don’t regret missing gambling on Tesla stocks. Not my thing. I follow Buffet or Graham. Money wise it doesn’t take much to get started. If you know basic arithmetic, you know the risk by crunching few numbers on a calculator. Risk is low. Gain is low. It’s the volume and time that makes you win.
Buffet and graham are not real estate investors, they basically track spx
Lots of questions. I'm trying to start too. Thanks for doing this ama. 1. How do you evaluate properties: cash-on-cash return? Cap rate? If there a specific number/% for either you look for? 2. How did you find the team of people in Georgia & Florida you can rely on? 3. If you don't mind, can you share example zip in these states to look at for analysis? 4. who all does your team consist of besides realtor & property manager? 5. How much do you pay down vs mortgage on these properties? 6. Did you have to rehab any of the properties you bought before they could be rented? How did your calculate those cost before purchasing? 7. How did you settle on GA & FL as places to invest in? 8. Did you visit these places before buying the properties? 9. Would you mind mentoring someone like me to get started? As you'll guess from my questions, I've done some research on biggerpockets already, but in very early stages.
1. Rent minus expenses. Simple. Mortgage, management fee, average monthly expenses are easily calculated. And you know tents too. There’s no magic here. 2. I have my agent and manager. That’s all I need. Plus how to read a listing, how to crunch numbers. Finding a reliable manager is THE key. 3. None. 4. 25 is minimum to get investment loan. I pay usually 30%. 5. I chose ready properties. I don’t do rehab. Properties with tenants in them. 6. They have lots of quads and duplex with price that still makes sense. Plus their laws and landlords friendly. It takes less than 30 days to evict someone. I would never buy in seattle or bay just for this reason even if number makes sense. 7. Nope. 8. I think that’s what I am doing now. If you want face to face. I am not sure.
6. What’s your plan B if the law changes and GA & FL become landlords-hostile?
I've been worried about renting because of the risk of a bad tenant. Needing to do maintenance which puts you in the negative, dealing with someone refusing to leave or to pay, so on How has your experience been? Any concerns about the risks?
How did you find your agent and manager ? Any tips on choosing?
Hey, thank you for sharing your experiences. I read previous questions to make sure there are no overlaps. Here are few questions I had: 1) Do you refinance exisiting properties to get more loans to invest more into RE? 2) On average, how much (what percentage) of the mortgage do you charge as rent? 3) On average, how much are your properties? Did you start small (mortgage) and gradually grow in size or stay with small investments all the way? 4) How much extra do you charge a month to calculate "maintanence" fees. 5) What resources did you utilize to get to where you are now in RE?
1. No. I set things and don’t touch. My oracle rsu gives me the down payment for new ones. 2. I don’t calculate that way. As I mentioned earlier, rent minus expenses. I try to keep per unit cash flow target from 300 to 400. 3. I started with a quad. Took cash out from my primary for that one only. Per unit cost ranges from 70 to 90k. 4. I don’t calculate that anymore. As I add more properties I am more resilient. It’s hard to put a real number. I need to check my balance sheet. Sometimes one quad gives no problems for few months and another does a little. It balances out. 5. Not much. Learned how to read a listing and figure out how much it would cost to run. Basic math. Mortgage is known. Hoa maybe. Usual repairs. No need to read any special resource. Redfin Zillow and a calculator are enough.
How long have you been doing this for? How long have you been with Oracle? Professional YoE before you started this operation?
Long way for a humblebrag.
Yes it is.
What was humble about it?