How did you get started in commercial real estate? What set the foundation for your future investments?
I started with SFR. I was in the Army, and I would buy a fixer house real cheap. My first one I bought just assuming the payments, fixed it a little (mostly just cleanup), lived in it 2 years then converted it to a rental when I was stationed elsewhere. Next one I bought a fixer zero down on a VA loan - same thing. Kept that up until I had houses in Tennessee, Washington, Arizona and California. became a real estate agaent when I got out of the Army and while selling I picked up more rentals including an 8-unit apartment. Decided I didn’t like being an agent so I dropped that to just invest. Kept investing.
In 2005 decided on having fun so sold all of my properties except for two (Las Vegas and Texas) and moved to Ecuador. At the end of 2008 I plan to come back and start all over again.
If I was doing it now I would be looking really hard at smaller apartment complexes (8-12 units) because they are generally owned by individuals - not larger corporations - so there are possibilities to buy them on great terms - while there is a lot of pressure on increasing rents due to subprime mortgage meltdown (market-dependant, of course).
Man, all these viewings and only one response…