How to ask a family member to finance a down payment for a rental

Question

Hello!

I live in a midwest college town and I'm wanting to buy a rental property but don't have a ton for a down payment (probably around $5k) My older sister mentioned that she would be interested in financing a bigger down payment and just told me to come up with a proposal of how that would work and what she would get out of it. I'm open to either buying a house and renting the other rooms to roommates or preferably buying a duplex or triplex and renting the other units. I would be managing the property(ies) and the loan would be under my name.

Have any of you done anything like this or have thoughts on how to go about making on offer on this sort of thing? She is being super generous in offering and I want to make sure I'm being fair/making it worth her while. I just need help figuring out how to structure a partnership like this.

Thanks!

Ryan Taylor · Answer

so i guess im house hacking not brrrr-ing

Ryan Taylor · Answer

sorry, my rookieness is showing haha. My goal would be to buy a duplex, live in one side of it and rent the otherwise as will as the other bedrooms in the one that I am living in (with friends). Idealy, I would only live there for a year before buying another one and doing it again and again and again.

My current situation is that I live in a college town where, college student or not, the leases operate on an academic schedule (august to july) and most people are signing leases in march and april for the following academic year. I am trying to buy now so that I don't have to sign another lease for the fall but I dont have the down payment. That is where my sister came in and offered to help if I could tell her what was in it for her.

Ryan Taylor · Answer

yes I would be brrrr-ing

Andrew Postell · Answer

@Ryan Taylor Hmmm, so this will vary WILDLY based on what you are doing.  If you are buying a primary home vs. investment property.  If you are buying off the MLS or are BRRRR'ing the property.

Just for reference, downpayment minimums on a duplex as an investment property are usually 20%-25% down.  And because that amount is so high, that's why we BRRRR.  Likewise, I would strongly not recommend borrowing 100% of the value on any investment property.

Now, if you are buying your primary home, now you only need 3.5% down, maybe 5%.

Knowing that, would that change what you are trying to do?

Ryan Taylor · Answer

In my situation, I was just talking with her about how I was wanting to buy and get into real-estate investing but was trying to save money for a down payment and she actually through out the idea of her investing in it. I have borrowed from her before for other things and was faithful to pay her back so I have built a level of trust with her which is why I think she felt comfortable offering.@Andrew Postell Most duplexes in my area go for 150k on the very low side and 300k on the very high side. Im very new to this so i could be understanding this way wrong, but my thought is that by allowing my sister to come in on it with me, I would be able make a bigger down payment and bring down my monthly mortgage payment and interest rate, allowing us to make more off of the property(ies) each month. I have not talked to any lenders about a down payment because before I got to that point, my sister had mentioned that she would be interested.

Andrew Postell · Answer

@Ryan Taylor how much of a downpayment do you need exactly?  Have you spoken to any lenders about this?

Douglas A Lewis · Answer

I have asked family members for money on down payments as a lender or for equity in the deal. If she mentioned that she is interested in investing with you that's great. I was not so lucky because the relatives that I asked live out of state and beyond their comfort level. I was willing to give them 50% of the deal to bring the money since I had the deal for equity side. I offered 10% annual return for their money as a lender. If the money is a down payment they most likely would be a second lien position on the property or first lien position if they put up all the money. Or you can create an LLC and write up an operating agreement which spells out the contract you both want. I would definitely consult an attorney in any case.

Asking for money from your family or anyone you are interested in working with should not be treated as asking for a hand out. Instead you are offering them an opportunity to get a better return on investment than money just sitting in a bank. If they say no chances are its not personal, but instead they may not be comfortable with the investment.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

-Doug