The Ren Men Show – Episode 52 – “State of the…”

October 21, 2011

in Travel

A web video blog about lifestyle design, passive income, real estate, vending machines, used cars, and eustress challenges.

Grant and Alan give a quick update on where they have been and where they are going.  Shot in Grant’s kitchen.

Runtime: 19:40

A quick rundown of the episode:

  • Welcome to Episode 52.
  • Where have we been?
  • Report on the Ren Auto Group
  • Report on Renaissance Vending Group
  • Report on Renaissance Men Properties
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Zac October 21, 2011 at 4:31 pm

About time! Glad to see you are back.

As a manager of multiple apartment buildings, turnover expenses are my biggest killer. Some people leave the apartment awesome, some not so awesome. It’s getting and keeping the ones who leave it awesome that make it profitable (problem is finding those people, haha).

Looking forward to more from you guys. Are you looking for partnerships in your area or anywhere?

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2 Ben G October 21, 2011 at 10:26 pm

Yeah baby! Great to have you guys back.

Like you guys said at the beginning of your episode, passion is so important when deciding to get into any new venture. Like you alluded to, it’s the passion that ultimately carries you through and helps you power through the obstacles. Passion/excitement is one of my top criteria for deciding on whether to start a new project. If your heart is not in the game your head will not stay there long.

I’m also really jacked about you guys getting back to talking about real estate! That is the stuff that I’ve always enjoyed hearing from you guys. Like you guys said, it is your wheel house and I’ve definitely learned from you in this area.

$400 above PITI! That is a strong number. I’d love to hit that kind of number in my real estate market. However, I’m interested in how it looks for you guys as a percentage of rent (income) on average? For example, a typical single family home around here may rent for $600/mth. Right now I’m targeting between $250-300 in cash flow after PITI or 40-50% of rent. Where do you guys fall as a percentage of rents in your area?

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3 J. Steve October 22, 2011 at 8:23 am

Great update, thank you. I was also hoping to hear about your body fat challenge…any progress there?

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4 Darcy W October 22, 2011 at 9:40 am

I watched, I learned, now I comment!
Great to see you again! Have you lost weight!?
How will you determine which units to sell? Based on age, location, appreciation/length of time in portfolio, keep the ones you just repaired? This is something I was struggling with when we first talked. Over time doesn’t every property become a better investment as it appreciates, mortgage gets paid down and rent increases? For me it was so much work to acquire them at that price I want to be sure before selling.
Also I’d really love to hear how you managed to acquire 100 properties before hitting the cap rate! I was really lucky to get 6 before they gave me the cold shoulder and then forced to go with a private lender for my current deal I now know what it feels like to be a prison “spoon”! (After being exploited every way possible I ended up paying 160k for a 115k deal!)
Looking forward to more!
Darcy

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5 Darcy W October 22, 2011 at 9:43 am

Sorry I meant capital limitations of your bank not “cap rate” :)

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6 Bill October 22, 2011 at 10:41 am

Welcome back gentleman! I’m excited to see the focus back on RE.

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7 Todd October 23, 2011 at 1:39 am

Good to see you guys back! First question, how do you pay the bills? I wonder if you can share that.

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8 J. Steve October 24, 2011 at 11:31 am

Thanks for the update. Great to see you guys back, I really enjoy your posts.

I was wondering if you had an update about your fat loss challenge?

Are you still doing it?

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9 Annie Sorensen October 24, 2011 at 5:51 pm

Thanks for the update, guys! I would love to hear more about your new qualifications vs. your old qualifications for the homes you’re purchasing. Beyond the “now they have to be able to cashflow at least $400″ tidbit, HOW are you finding those properties now that you weren’t doing before? Different queries to find listed properties? What attributes? More personal control over the purchases than you had before? More research to better, more quality rental areas in town?

Hugs,
Annie

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10 Sharon October 27, 2011 at 4:19 pm

glad to have you back

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11 DScottG October 28, 2011 at 4:52 pm

Welcome back gentlemen. Can’t wait to see where you are in another year. Go get em. Simple is better most of the time so I think it is great that you’ve shed ventures that weren’t returning good rewards.

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12 Ben October 31, 2011 at 1:18 pm

I’m just curious what your market is – are you just in the south central ohio area for rentals, or are you in “neighboring” markets like Cincy/Columbus/Dayton?

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13 David Wilde October 31, 2011 at 1:19 pm

Hello RenMenions!

Welcome back! It is funny to see you again… I think you made a wise decision to concentrate your effort, time and energy in only on field. Diversification is important, but you new to have capital volume first, most fortunes (Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Getty, etc) were created from concentrated and controllable investments. Control minimizes risk…

You’re are now talking about no down payment mortages and +400$/month over monthly mortage rate on your new portfolio of real estate assets. I dream of such numbers in Munich (Oktoberfest)… Well, few questions:

- What is the interest rate for your mortage and for how many years do you have it on your backs? In the US I think you ave by now interests close to 0%, if not negative! ;-)

- Do you pay partial or full mortage rates? In Germany I may choose between full amortization (it means that I would have paid off the complete mortage for a house in 20 yrs) or partial amortization with rates between 1%, 2%, 3% or more per year, however I would have then a mortage contract with a fixed interest of let’s say 5, 10 or 15 years between 3-to-4% depending on asset’s location and size.

- In case you use partial amortization rate, for ow many years is the mortage interest contract fixed? Do you use fixed interest mortage contracts?

- What does happen after the partial amortization fixed interest mortage contract expires? You need most probably to refinance or pay down the fully in debt amount on date of expiration, don’t you? What do you usually use and how? What about the risk of a higher interest rate in the future? How do you protect yourselves from an exploding interest rate in the future?

Best Regards,
David Wilde
PS.: Meanwhile I have built few houses in Brazil with ROIC of 25% after taxes in cicles of 8 months. Check the pictures under:

https://picasaweb.google.com/daviddckw/DKWEngenhariaLdta?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-VgsmAg_zRVw#

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14 JKC November 14, 2011 at 9:13 pm

Grant and Alan,

This was my favorite episode by far. Maybe because I am mostly interested in your real estate, but there seemed to be a lot of honesty, integrity and experience showing through.

One main thought: It is normal that today’s deals are better than your deals from three years ago. For two reasons: 1) You are smarter and more experienced now, so you have the knowledge to negotiate better deals. 2) The market timing is in your favor. Three years ago was nationally the “top” of the seller’s market. Today is dramatically more of a buyer’s market – so you are supposed to be making better deals now. I know I am. This dramatic shift in the real estate market is greater than any time in recent history. Buy now if you can.

I hope you are able to find more lenders. I assure you it can be done. Just get your financials in good order and show your profitability and management prowess. The money will follow.

All the best to you, and I look forward to more real estate news.

JKC

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15 JKC November 14, 2011 at 9:16 pm

PS: You may want to express your profitability in terms of ROI rather than “$400/mo.” It will help people who are unfamiliar with your local values and rent rolls.

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16 Darcy W January 23, 2012 at 7:41 am

Ren mentors, what’s up!? Would love to hear an update on the action and goals of 2012!

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17 Jim February 19, 2012 at 3:41 am

Gentlemen,
Perhaps a 6-month update on April 21? Just a thought. We hope all is well.

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18 mark February 19, 2012 at 6:22 pm

Are the Ren Men still alive? Did the economy get the best of them?

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19 Luke February 21, 2012 at 9:12 pm

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Not the renmen.

I saw that Grant is heading off to film a documentary with Adam Baker, but you all can’t leave us hanging like this.

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