Bilgefisher intro

[Bilgefisher]

My name is Jason, known as 'Bilge' or 'Bilgefisher' online. Chances are if you see a bilgefisher in cyberspace, its probably me.

I grew up in Fort Collins, Co. Had no idea what to do with my life and couldn't pay for college on my own, so I joined the Navy. I did six years as a submarine mechanic, water chemist and radiation specialist all at once. Earned my degree while in. I still didn't know what I wanted to do. It wasn't till I was out of the service, back in school, and doing an internship that I finally discovered that I could make more of myself. I read RDPD, joined the fastlanetomillion forums, 6 months later did my first property flip, 2nd lien transaction and began building a business of RE flipping. Still, I needed someway to get out of the rat race and give me a feeling of accomplishment.

I learned of the benefits of Self Storage from Sonya on those forums. Her expert knowledge helped my business partner and I decide to head down that path. I hope to benefit from this forum while giving back to it. I hope to more or less blog my progress through here, hopefully contributing to other startups at the same time. I hope my mistakes can be a learning tool for others. Anytime I can contribute to these forums, I will certainly make my best effort to do so. btw, ATW I want to thank you for setting up this gathering point. I hope it grows beyond your wildest dreams.

[AroundTheWorld]

Hey Bilge...
Welcome to the forums! (And thank you for your patience.... I know it took a L O N G time to get this going!
I look forward to hearing about your progress on the project!

[Bilgefisher]

Rather then make a new thread, I'll post my progress here.

Step one of my plan requires financing to even get my self storage venture off the ground. I decided to turn houses. Initially the entire plan was to fix and flip. While that will still be apart of the plan, an opportunity presented itself that I could not pass up.

By chance my buyers agent came across some tier 1 property flippers. These are the folks that pick up properties as low as 30 cents on the dollar. They fix the properties then turn around and sell them to investors for wholesale prices. Why not full market value? Simple, they can turn around more properties this way rather then holding on to a few.

We have lending in place for 0 down and closing costs rolled into the loan. I will be picking up two properties at once. The reason is to get these properties all at once so my debt to income ratio will take one hit and not two. This allows me to lock in lower interest rates for both. 6.5% currently, but will likely rise before the deal is inked.

Property 1 we will pick up for 99k. The tenants are locked in 1 year contracts for 950/mo. Property management in place at 6%. Making assumptions of 8% vacancy (1 mo), $500 maintenance annually, $750 taxes. The property will cash flow for about $50/mo. Current market value is 120k. This neighborhood dropped 25% in value last year and this particular property sold for 125k in 2001.

Property 2 we will pick up for 100k. FMV 120k. Sold in 2006 for 160k. 1400/mo rent. All other values are similar. Cashflow around $350 mo. This property is slightly different. It has a mother-in-law loft above the detached garage that rents for $400 and the main house for $1000. Both tenants in place. The nice part about this property is it will cashflow without the other unit rented. Slight downside is the street isn't exactly great. When we sell it will sell below comparable in the area. The 120k takes that into account.

If these two properties work out for us, our goal is to get into 3-4 more properties this way before years end. We will sell at least one after 1 year for cash reserves and tap into equity on the others plus our own home equities to begin our SS venture. We still plan on flipping at least 1-2 houses this year for further cash reserves.

I should be going under contract tomorrow and already have the nod from the investors.

This is very exciting.

[sphan5838]

Good luck to your new adventure. Looking forward to learn more from you.. Any advices you could help, please post here. thanks

[my1972ih]

how about an update, Bilgefisher? by the way, how did you get the name? bilge as in a boat?