All Forum Posts by: Marcus Auerbach

Hi Sarah, perfect credit is a common myth for a primary residence. It's great if you have good credit, because it gives you a broader choice of programs, but there is a program for almost any credit situation - maybe fewer choices. One of my favorite lenders has done a very good job with similar situations in the past. They actually have in house credit repair/counseling (for free) and we have seen specacular results with clients who are motivated to work on the issue. I will PM you the contact information.

@Ryan Swanson you don't provide enough information to give you a meaningfull answer, but my concerns is that you are having fun playing with layouts and will see a negative return on investment.

I assume this is a filp - first rule is: don't fix it if it's not broken. This incluldes a bad layout or bad flow. But if you rearrange rooms for the sake of it you will loose money. In particular in the basement.

Your budegt numbers seem low. I recommend find a local metor, agent who has flipped or even an appraiser and talk this through. Your buyers will not share your excitement and at the end you may have to write a big check at closing. Sorry, dont mean to be negative, it's just a very easy mistake to make. Good luck!

Very hard to build investment income without - well, an investment. And that is typically from your W2 income. Banks don't like to give loans to people without a job. I see a lot of people try and they start with creative financing with cheap houses in bad areas and never make it out of that market, it becomes their anchor. I quit my well paying corporate job (with 50% international travel, not very cool) after my passive income had well exceeded my W2. That took 6 years of nights and weekends and it was a big leap for me. My wife and I still work every day for insurance and active income (she is a teacher and I am an agent, no international travel necessary!), which covers our living expenses, so we can re-invest our cash flow into more properties and growing our business.

@Bruce Clark when you make those kind of decisions just compare interest rates with ROI. If your ROI on 40k is greater 8.5% then keep it and have your investment pay for the debt. If your ROI is lower than 8.5% then you are better off to elminate the debt. Third option: refi the 40k into a lower interest rate and/or pull equity out of the property with a HELOC (yes, select lenders will do that on an investemnt property) and pay the 8.5% debt off with money you borrow for 5%. Selling a csahflowing and appreciating asset should alwys be the very last resort.

@Kevin Smith your friend does not know what he's talking about and he's giving you very bad advise. The only upside is the cheap price. Just like @Larry Fried said - more headache than you can imagine. Out of State is usually tricky and a SF has much less PM interactions (and turnover) than a duplex, which over the distance will more than make up for the lower cashflow.

okay, hope I have reached everyone. If you are looking for the address text just text me.

I have just sent PM's with address to 10 people on the list - and dicovered that BP does not allow to send more than 10 messages per hour. So I will resume later when I get back from showings I guess..

If you need directions feel free to call/text me at 262 671 6868

I got a few questions - so, we are not going to have a formal presentation, but if you have questions feel free to let me know and we'll steer the discussion in that direction and come up with an answer collectivley.

Looking through the RSVP list we will have a pretty intersting mix of people: we have some new and some seasoned investors, both SF and MF. We have a lender (investor friendly and is sponsoring some sacks), we have a hard money lender, several flippers, a financial consultant (who is also an investor), people who have done rehab - throwing in some drinks it should be a fun evening! 

PS: if I have not emailed you the street address yet I will send a PM on Wednesday to everyone. If you are from the Milwaukee area feel free to join, just RSVP on top - I need a rough headcount on Wednesday - thx!

@John Gunderson in Wisconsin a title company will handle a transaction, transfer the deed and disbruse funds. We have serval we work with on a regular basis - depending on what you need them to do I can give you a good contact. Just call or PM me.

@Kelly G. yes, lots of moving parts. Most of my tenants don't understand what a sump pump is or what it does - or what to do if it runs all the time, or not at all. So, I always take about half an hour to explain this and the other main systems to the new residents. Like a little walk-around training: where to turn off water, gas and power. How to check and chnage the furnace filter. What goes in a drain and what doesn't - that sort of thing. Don't worry too much about the details. Just ask your tenants to stay in touch about anything they notice on the house, and thank them when they do. You'll do great!