Best Method to Finance

[Juan Ayala]

Hello Team,

So here is my current situation. I am working on selling my parents properties and making $80k. They are selling and have capital loss. My parents would like to invest that money with me so that I may start purchasing my first investment home. We would like to buy and hold but are open to fix and flip as well. I am interested in purchasing in Los Angeles County or surrounding areas. The reason for this is so my dad and his A+ TEAM of construction workers can work on our property. I also have about $25k to spend on repairs and closings and placing this investment property in a LLC. I have heard of hard money lenders and then refinancing with cash out. Ive heard pros and cons. I want to hear what you guys think is my best option in going in on my first investment property? I also need an option that will allow me to have some cash to go in on my next property. I am a 10 year military veteran currently on AD serving overseas and my passion for real estate is my key out the military. Love serving my country, but its now time for me to become the real estate investor i have always wanted to be. I would like to purchase enough property and become proficient at this and do it full-time. I enjoy real estate and learning. Thank you for taking the time to help me out and submit your recommendations!

[Moses Kagan]

First (and most importantly): Sincere thanks for your military service.

Now, with respect to your question:

My strong advice is to consider waiting and saving more money. 

This is a very hot market (particularly in LA). It's easy to over-pay, particularly if you are not experienced. 

It's also easy to get into trouble with your rehab, even with an experienced crew. If you're well-capitalized, then this isn't the end of the world... you just spend whatever it takes and accept a worse margin. But it doesn't sound like you have a lot of excess capital to play with, so a rehab problem could get pretty painful.

Finally, if you finance a bad deal with a lot of expensive debt (eg the type supplied by a hard-money lender), you can easily find yourself in serious trouble.

Sorry to be down-beat on a site that normally hypes real estate investing, but I'd hate to see someone who has done us all such an amazing service get into trouble.