Buying Investment Property in West Michigan
Numbers before emotion, and an honest read of the property. When it does not work, I say so.
Numbers Before Emotion
An investment is a different purchase from a home, and the moment it stops being one is the moment it stops working.
A home is allowed to be the one with the porch you fell for. An investment has to survive a spreadsheet with the optimism taken out of it, and the discipline is boring rather than clever: decide what the property has to do, work out what it can actually do, and walk away when those two numbers do not meet.
My job in that is not to talk you into anything. It is to make sure the facts you are building on are real, and to say so plainly when they are not.
Three Different Things People Buy Here
A long-term rental. Steadier and less seasonal than the alternative, and the return is decided by ordinary unglamorous things: the roof, the mechanicals, the septic capacity against the number of bedrooms, the well, and whether the road is maintained by somebody other than you.
A short-term or vacation rental. A different business with a different risk, and the rules are set township by township and do change. That one has its own page, because the first question is not the house, it is what the township permits.
Land, held. The one people misjudge most. A parcel's value is not really about acreage. It is about whether it is buildable, how it is reached, what the township allows on it, and whether septic can go where a house would want to go. Ground that cannot carry a building is worth what the next person can do with it, which is often less than the listing implies. Land has its own page too.
In their words
What working with me is like
Tamara was so patient and kind with our house search. From looking at disasters to beautiful homes, we had a lot of laughs. I would not want anyone else as my realtor. I'm happy to be able to invite her to our remodeled home so she can see the difference in our house to home.
Going with Tamara as our realtor was a fantastic decision! She is honest, calm, professional, and a fantastic listener. I would most definitely recommend her to anyone!
Not Everything Has to Start Earning on the Day You Buy
The assumption behind most investment property pages is that a purchase goes straight onto the rental market. Plenty of what I see does not, and treating that as the only shape is how people talk themselves out of a purchase that would have suited them.
Some of it is simply held. Bought because the buyer wanted that specific ground and was willing to own it for a long time before doing anything with it. Vacant land gets bought this way more than people expect.
Some of it is used first and earns later. A place enjoyed for a few years, then turned over to renting when circumstances change. That is one purchase with two lives, and the questions you ask at the start are different because of it. A property that suits you now and could not be rented later is a different proposition from one that can do both.
And most of the people I work with are not buying one thing. They are adding to something, and what they need next is often decided by what they already hold rather than by which property looks best on its own.
So the first question I ask is not what the return looks like. It is how long you intend to own it and what you want it doing in year one versus year ten. Everything else follows from that, and the numbers themselves are for you and your accountant rather than for me.
What You Will Not Get From Me
A projected return I made up. A pro forma is only as honest as the assumptions under it, and an agent handing you one has every reason to be optimistic about all of them. I am not going to be the source of a number you then make a decision on.
What you get instead is the property described accurately enough that your own numbers are built on something solid. I go and read it in person: what condition it is genuinely in, what is going to need money in the first two years, how it is reached and by whom, where the well and septic are and what shape they look to be in, and what is next door that the photographs left out.
And when the numbers do not work, I say so. That is not restraint, it is the actual service. An agent who never tells you no is not screening anything for you.
If You Are on a 1031 Clock
Say so before we start looking, not after you have found something.
An exchange runs on deadlines that do not move and it needs your qualified intermediary in place before the sale closes. The rules and the timing are your CPA's and your intermediary's call, not mine, and I am not going to advise you on them.
What the clock changes on my side is how we search. A short window means a shortlist that is already read in person rather than a list we start visiting, and it means being honest early about which properties are realistic to close inside it.
Where the Questions Differ by Town
In Twin Lake short-term rentals are established around the lakes, and the frontage-versus-shared-access question changes what a property is worth. Fremont sits inland in Newaygo County, where the same money buys ground rather than frontage. Then there is Montague and Whitehall across the White Lake area, and North Muskegon on the peninsula.
Tell me what the property has to return and what you are prepared to put into it. I will tell you which of those towns is worth your attention and which is not, and then go and read the shortlist.
This page describes how I work with investors. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and anything to do with an exchange, depreciation or how you hold title belongs with your CPA and your attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you tell me when a deal does not work?
Yes, and it is most of what you are paying me for. An agent who never says no is not filtering anything on your behalf. I would rather lose a transaction than be the reason you bought something that could not do the job you bought it for.
Can I rent it out short term?
It depends entirely on the township, the rules differ between places a few minutes apart, and they change over time. Never assume a property can be rented short term because a neighboring one is. Check for that specific parcel before you offer.
Is land a good investment here?
It can be, and it is judged differently from a house. Acreage is not the number that matters. Buildability, access, what the township permits and where septic can go are what decide what the next buyer can actually do with it, and therefore what it is worth. That is checkable before you own it, which is the entire point of checking.
Do you work with out-of-state investors?
Most of my buyers are out of the area, so yes. I read properties in person and report what I actually found, which matters more on an investment than on anything else, because you are buying a set of facts rather than a feeling about a place.
Keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Tamara Hekkema?