Utah Real Estate Investing

[Nate Hollingshead]

Hello everyone. I have been reading some investing books by Brandon Turner here from BiggerPockets. Great information, however, I have some questions that revolve around his No-To Low Money Down and just the markets in general. 

1. Brandon mentions in his book that you can't refinance a property until after 6-12 months of having purchased it. Does anyone know if this holds true here in Utah? Is it 6 months or generally closer to the 12 month time period?

2. When talking about Hardmoney Lenders he mentions loan points. Now my understanding is that 1 point = 1%, is this part of the monthly charge or is it a one-time up front charge?

3. Does anyone have any experience with Hard Money Lenders here in Utah, the good and the bad? Also, do Hard Money Lenders here in Utah finance 100%?

4. How much do market fluctuations play a role in determining whether to fix and flip or buy and hold? Does anyone have an idea of where the markets are heading here in Utah?

5. My last question, what website do you all recommend for researching, looking for properties, and other valuable information contained to help with real estate investing?

[Rebecca Belnap]

1. Technically no, you don't have to wait to refinance.  The reason he is saying 6 to 12 months is because banks won't give you a cash out refinance for 6 to 12 months depending on what programs that you qualify for.  This means you can refinance and it can pay off the hardmoney lender and whatever payments you can prove you paid (bank statements and receipts) but everything will be based on original purchase price, not the new appraisal.  A few programs will do it in 3 to 6 months, but you have to pay for 2 appraisals.  After 6 months they may require either a 2nd appraisal to do a cash out or a desk review.

2.  One time upfront, but some will require more points to extend if you don't pay off by the deadline.

3.  I used Private Money Utah on a house I flipped in Eagle Mountain.  The only fee they charged before closing was about $400 to pay someone to come out to my house (basically an appraisal).  They do have some 100% financing options, but we didn't use them because it was too expensive.  I haven't personally used any others.

4.  The rates are rising FAST.  The more people have to pay in interest, the less the purchase price can be.  We are seeing the normal winter slowdown.  No one likes to move in the snow if they can help it, and the kids are in school.  I wish I knew how much the change in rates will affect things, but my crystal ball is pretty cloudy right now.  My personal plan is to only buy properties that would rent easily to families just in case prices drop and I need to hold long term.

5. To find out values that I can sell for, I have a Realtor who does a CMA for me on the MLS. The utah county recorders office is free online and it can give you all sorts of good info like name of owner and what the taxes are. If the owner's address and the property address are different, you know you have an absentee owner. I don't do very well at negotiating with sellers, so I'm liking the wholesalers meetup groups. Other than that, bigger pockets.