Let's Ask the Hard Questions: Equity Rich and Cash Poor

Let's Ask the Hard Questions: Equity Rich and Cash Poor

Realtor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2022 · 47 posts · 34 votes

Hi BP!

This is my first post ever...so it gets a bit vulnerable at the end.

I'll keep this as short as possible, but I hope this is helpful to many.  Through communities like this, I think everyone eventually finds themselves in the same scenario (esp. if you have a lot of low fixed-rate debt from the last few years) of being equity rich and cash poor.

I certainly am, and I feel so stuck.  I quit my full time W2 job this past year, and we went full-time on the real estate and mortgage business we created 4 years ago.  Because of this, Conventional Full Doc loans are probably off of the table for a little while.

I've taken HELOCs against every property that I can and I have business lines of credit available as well - total credit available is probably $500k. And I am building and developing ADU's as fast as possible in San Diego. We own 16 units in San Diego and are building 4 ADU's in 2024 and 4 more ADU's in 2025.

Problem(s):

1) I want to buy a primary home and start a family soon, but all of our cash is locked up in equity in real estate (ok, not all of it, but like 65%). So if I take my cash on hand to buy a primary home, then it slows my construction scalability. I think primary homes are going to run up in price massively over the next 2-3 years, and I want to have a place to really call home and be a part of that market share for the next couple of years.

2) Construction lenders want to refinance my entire project to build...but I have 3-4.5% debt on the projects and I just need to get cash to complete my builds, so that I can refi or sell and 1031 on the backend...and I will greatly deplete my cash (and have my lines of credit already obligated on other projects) if I buy a primary house.

Solution(s):

1) Primary home mortgage rates for asset depletion and P&L loans (which I have qualified so far) are like 9%.  On a $2.25M purchase that is a $17,000 a month mortgage...ouch!  Are there better first-lien loan products available? We could make it happen at 7%-7.5%

2) Construction lending - I have scraped builds together so far with multiple HELOCs and lines of credit, but to continue to scale I think I need better products or relationships with lenders.  Do construction products exist that ONLY finance the build portion of a project? Or do better lines of credit exist that could cross-collateralize my equity that is locked up in other properties?

Thank you in advance if you made it this far!  Would love some feedback and direction/guidance!

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Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
2y

Your best bet might be just to get a higher rate private loan (as you mentioned, 9%) and eat the higher payment until rates move down.  Then refi. 

I've been in that spot.  Hopefully you've done the math and concluded that your higher borrowing cost is offset by what you're able to do with that capital.

I've started to do more and more private loans (to people like you) as they're safe and pay returns that are high on a risk adjusted basis.

Good luck!

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  • Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    2y

    Your best bet might be just to get a higher rate private loan (as you mentioned, 9%) and eat the higher payment until rates move down.  Then refi. 

    I've been in that spot.  Hopefully you've done the math and concluded that your higher borrowing cost is offset by what you're able to do with that capital.

    I've started to do more and more private loans (to people like you) as they're safe and pay returns that are high on a risk adjusted basis.

    Good luck!

  • Realtor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2022 · 47 posts · 34 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Cody L.:

    Your best bet might be just to get a higher rate private loan (as you mentioned, 9%) and eat the higher payment until rates move down.  Then refi. 

    I've been in that spot.  Hopefully you've done the math and concluded that your higher borrowing cost is offset by what you're able to do with that capital.

    I've started to do more and more private loans (to people like you) as they're safe and pay returns that are high on a risk adjusted basis.

    Good luck!

     Thanks @Cody L.

    Are you lending just on Construction 2nd position loans? Or for first lien acquisitions as well?  What rates are you getting on your money?

  • Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    2y
    Quote from @Keegan Wetzel:
    Quote from @Cody L.:

    Your best bet might be just to get a higher rate private loan (as you mentioned, 9%) and eat the higher payment until rates move down.  Then refi. 

    I've been in that spot.  Hopefully you've done the math and concluded that your higher borrowing cost is offset by what you're able to do with that capital.

    I've started to do more and more private loans (to people like you) as they're safe and pay returns that are high on a risk adjusted basis.

    Good luck!

     Thanks @Cody L.

    Are you lending just on Construction 2nd position loans? Or for first lien acquisitions as well?  What rates are you getting on your money?


     I'm not a lender by profession.  I started doing lending when I'd get outbid on a property.  Meaning I was doing a loan on a property that I wanted (and tried to buy) anyway.   Thus if the loan went upside down, I'd be happy with the asset. 

    Example, I bid $4m on a property.  Someone else bids $4.5m on a property.  They get it.  They ask me to do a loan for $3.5m.  I say 'okay' since I get a nice return and if something goes wrong I can get the property at a basis that's lower than I was willing to pay.

    Rates vary depending on risk, borrower, asset, etc.  Most of my deals are low risk to me (due to the asset, as mentioned) and over around 8-10%.


    I've done 1st liens on purchases, and I've done seconds when there is enough equity (i.e. I did one where a guy has a $2m property with $1m of debt -- I did a $500k loan.  That's pretty safe to me even though I'm a second)

    I don't want to do anything that messes with construction or draws or any of that.  The most basic rule is my loan amount (or my loan + the 1st lien, if applicable) has to be less than I'd be happy to buy the property for

  • Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 94 posts · 32 votes
    2y

    Cody, this is a great strategy akin to selling a naked put.  Curious, how many times you have ended up owning the asset that you lent on?

  • Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    2y
    Quote from @Alex U.:

    Cody, this is a great strategy akin to selling a naked put.  Curious, how many times you have ended up owning the asset that you lent on?


     zero times.  Though I did have one deal where the guy partially paid me off, so I removed my lien on some of the properties.  The rest of the loan was heavily secured by remaining properties.  He stopped paying.  I went to foreclose.  His partner sued me to stop the foreclosure saying they didn't have his permission, etc.   That's still an ongoing issue but pretty sure it'll resolve in my favor. 

  • Accountant · Bryn Mawr, PA · Member since 2023 · 409 posts · 321 votes
    2y

    Keegan any better pricing on the Asset Depletion products if you do a short term or was the 9% more permanent?  I'm in PA and have seen quotes at 7.5% for a 5/25 product was in a similar position this year on our primary. 

  • V.G JasonPro Member
    Investor · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    2y
    Quote from @Alex U.:

    Cody, this is a great strategy akin to selling a naked put.  Curious, how many times you have ended up owning the asset that you lent on?


     This is one of the better ways of getting into the private debt space. What Cody is doing is what a few of us are doing. We won't buy the underlying asset at that rate, but we'll buy the debt behind it and assume the asset as collateral if all fails. It's still really early, but I have a few of those so far all performing. We'll see for how long, but it's a great instrument to use in today's market.

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