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May

31

The Value Play

May 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment

One of the most lucrative strategies in apartment investing is what’s called the “Value Play” (or “Value Add” to some people). Because I plan to make the Value Play one of the cornerstones of my investing strategy, I wanted to spend some time explaining what it is, and why it can be so lucrative.
At […]

May

30

The (Other) Golden Ratio

May 30, 2008 | 2 Comments

This post is about the Golden Ratio. You may have heard about the Golden Ratio in mathematics and architecture, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about. I’m going to talk about the other Golden Ratio – the one that applies to apartment investments. You probably won’t see it referred to […]

May

29

At Home in Atlanta

May 29, 2008 | 1 Comment

Well, we’re here…
After several long days of driving through snow (yes, snow!) and thunder storms, sleeping in our car (everyone else was smart enough to get out of the storm and the hotels were booked), and one 27 hour stretch of driving, we made it to Atlanta. Our stuff arrived on Tuesday, and the […]

May

28

Closing on Our New Home

May 28, 2008 | 2 Comments

On April 28, 2008, we closed on our new house!
As you’re reading this, we are likely in the middle of unpacking the new house after our (no-doubt-too-long) cross-country road-trip. Here’s a picture…

May

27

Finding a House (Part 3)

May 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

After a stressful bunch of days house-hunting, negotiating, and getting paperwork signed, we were well on our way to buying our first house. Luckily (and surprisingly), the process over the next several weeks went very smoothly:

Property Inspection: While the inspection was a bit more costly than I had expected (nearly $600), I […]

May

26

Disclosures: Trust But Verify

May 26, 2008 | 3 Comments

I learned a very good lesson while performing due diligence on the house I put under contract. After arranging the inspection of the house, I got a call from my agent asking if I wanted to include a radon test as well as the standard inspection. Figuring that after spending hundreds of thousands […]

May

24

What Controls Mortgage Rates?

May 24, 2008 | 2 Comments

In my last post, I mentioned that all my home purchase paperwork had been completed, and that I was just sitting back waiting for the various other parties (my agent, mortgage broker, inspector, appraiser, etc) to get back to me…
Well, the first person to get back to me was my mortgage broker. My application […]

May

23

Finding a House (Part 2)

May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment

After spending two 14-hour days looking at houses and talking to sellers/agents, we had finally put an offer on a house. On Sunday, while waiting for the response from the seller, we visited a couple more open-houses, and revisited “the Mansion.” We spent about an hour examining the house and talking to the […]

May

22

Finding a House (Part 1)

May 22, 2008 | 1 Comment

I mentioned previously that my fiancée and I were in a bit of a bind in terms of purchasing a new house in Atlanta. Long story short, we needed to close on a purchase prior to quitting our jobs, or risk not being able to get a mortgage. So, we headed to Atlanta […]

May

21

Finding a CPA (Part 3)

May 21, 2008 | 1 Comment

On the first day of my trip back to Atlanta, I spent much of the day driving around the city and suburbs interviewing CPAs. Let me start by saying I wasn’t at all impressed with the overall quality of the CPAs I spoke with.
The bottom of the barrel were the ones who obviously knew […]

May

20

Our House Hunting Trip

May 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we spent a long weekend in Atlanta a few weeks ago looking for a house. In addition to looking at houses, there were a number of other things we were hoping to accomplish on this trip.
We spent all day Thursday meeting with CPAs, hoping to find […]

May

19

Oh, The Irony of It All

May 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As I mentioned in my last post, the fiancee and I headed to Atlanta on a house-hunting trip a few weeks ago…while I would like to say that is was just a stress-free trip to just look at some houses and relax for the weekend in our soon-to-be hometown, it unfortunately wasn’t…
You see, as soon […]

May

18

Using A Buyer’s Agent

May 18, 2008 | 2 Comments

The fiancee and I headed to Atlanta a few weeks ago on our first house-hunting trip. In preparation, I decided to look into finding a real estate agent to help us better get our bearings on the local area where we are considering buying, as well as to help us negotiate and close once […]

May

17

Reverse Sticker Shock

May 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’ve been in California for about 8 years now. When I first moved out here from Maryland, one of my best friends in Maryland had just bought a $200K house (and a nice house at that!). I remember thinking about how ridiculous it was to spend that much money on a house, and […]

May

16

My Last Day of Work

May 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment

While I resigned from my job two weeks ago, it’s standard practice to work at least an additional two weeks to ensure a smooth transition of your work to others. So, today is my last official day at my job.
Between writing this blog, finalizing our moving plans, packing, and planning our cross-country drive (we […]

May

15

Creating Our Corporations

May 15, 2008 | 2 Comments

After some research and talking to a CPA, I’ve decided that both of the businesses that my fiancee and I will create will be structured as multi-member Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), and that they will likely be taxed as S-Corporations (LLCs can be taxed as any other corporate or partnership entity). I will own […]

May

14

Finding a CPA (Part 2)

May 14, 2008 | 3 Comments

I was really hoping to get some personal recommendations for a CPA to use for my business. I really hate cold-calling professionals (even with my list of interview questions), especially since it will likely be difficult for me to determine the great ones from the mediocre ones just based on a 30- or 60-minute […]

May

13

Finding a CPA (Part 1)

May 13, 2008 | 1 Comment

Now that I’m getting ready to actually relocate across the country, it’s time to start building my team and defining our business structure(s). With that in mind, the first team member I’ll be looking to find is a really good Certified Public Accountant (CPA), with a specialty in real estate.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able […]

May

12

Building My Investment Team

May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

In a previous post, I laid out the outline for my Business Plan. The last section of my plan calls for an overview of the team I need to put together before I start doing deals. Because of my short-term desire to define and create my business structures and ensure that I’m prepared […]

May

10

Starting the Business Plan

May 10, 2008 | 1 Comment

I’ve started writing the business plan, and while I’ve actually written a good bit of it over the past few days, I wanted to get the basics out of the way first. Below are the “Overview of the Business” and “Definition of the Business Structure” sections of my business plan:

LISH PROPERTIES BUSINESS PLAN

Overview of […]

May

9

Lish Properties

May 9, 2008 | 1 Comment

Today I picked a name for my business. It will be called “Lish Properties.”
Why the name “Lish”? Simple really…
My dog’s name is Rookie.
Still not obvious how I got to Lish, huh?

Don’t ask me why, but ever since Rookie was a puppy, I’ve always called her […]

May

8

Business Plan Outline

May 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’m currently in the process of writing an over-arching business plan for my real estate company. While having a detailed plan is probably the most important prerequisite to starting a business, it’s also quite daunting. Trying to articulate my specific goals, quantifying the strategies I’ll utilize, the risks I’ll face, and the safe-guards […]

May

7

Basics of Residential RE

May 7, 2008 | 1 Comment

As I mentioned in my previous post, I plan to base my real estate investment business around investing in apartment buildings (at least at first). Before I talk more about my investing plan, I should probably explain why I chose apartment buildings over other types of residential real estate investments.
First, some background on the […]

May

6

My Investing Niche

May 6, 2008 | 2 Comments

One of the first things I realized when I jumped into studying real estate is that there are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of different real estate investments, strategies, and tactics. Real estate investments range from single family houses and apartments to strip malls and office buildings to oil wells, vacant lots, self-storage facilities […]

May

5

REI Goals For 2008

May 5, 2008 | 2 Comments

Now that my introduction is out of the way, it’s time to get down to business. And the first order of business is to define my goals so that I can track my progress and adjust as necessary.
By the time we settle down on the east coast, it will be mid-year, leaving only six […]

May

4

More About Me

May 4, 2008 | 4 Comments

With the goal of laying out my entire investing strategy and the progress of my business in this blog, I guess I shouldn’t be too shy about giving some more background about who am I.
I’m originally from the East Coast, but have resided in Silicon Valley (California) for the past seven years. […]

May

3

About This Blog

May 3, 2008 | 1 Comment

If you’ve already read my ABOUT page, you’re now probably wondering exactly what you’ll get out of this blog if you keep reading. While I have no idea where my real estate journey will take me, I do have a vision for how I will get from square one to successful investor. And […]

May

2

I Quit!

May 2, 2008 | 4 Comments

I quit my job today.
Check out the About page for more info…