All Forum Posts by: Mitch Dowler

Inventory availability will of course vary by market. First Look is offered for I believe the first 20 days for owner occupied. Here in my area there is still a good inventory available for investors. I looked at some great properties and placed my offer on the one that best met my criteria. I prefer single family because the apreciation is greater, they are easier to sell, and I can get higher quality tenants. For multi-family I prefer commercial multifamily so that the advantages of forced apreciation and lower expenses per door can be experienced.

Only certain lenders participate in the Homepath program. There is a list on the Homepath page. Note that brokers may also deal in Homepath and originate loans with investors on this list but brokers will not be listed. I am using Ridge Lending who is licensed in several states.

Toll Free 855.74.RIDGE (74343)

Direct 503.244-4161
Fax
e-mail
web
Company NMLS # 34683
Personal NMLS # 9556

You can have up to 10 financed properties and still do a Homepath for 10$ down. For the next 10 you would need to put down 25-30%. I have my lender in place for this and an agent experienced in Homepath investments. You can submit whatever offer you wish. For the property I placed an offer on I know that it has been listed for some time and had a failed sale. I am offering 80% of the list price and requesting 3.5% for closing costs. Will need to see what they come back with.

This was podcast 64, 50 Units in 5 Years

You do not have to pay PMI and there is no appraisal required. Read the financing and the Investors tabs. They are not exactly clear but Investors pay 10% down for up to 10 properties.

Homepath

As a landlord you must be intimately familiar with your state and local landlord tenant law. To not do so is a formal invitation for a lawsuit. I am in western Washington and I belong to the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound. They provided me a great education on landlord tenant law and keep an attorney on staff who approves their forms available for use. Normally you must take the best qualified tenant that meets your criteria. Even the way you market can get yourself in trouble so I recommend heading off potential trouble by getting experienced help with this.

I am myself an Army retiree. A VA is only for owner occupied property. After closing the VA expects that the veteran will personally occupy the property for a minimum of two years after closing unless there is some good reason such as deployment orders if the veteran is still serving. A four unit property can be purchased if the veteran occupies at least one unit, the other three can be leased out.

If it is not intended to be occupied by the veteran beware of prosecution for fraud.

LLC's really don't have much of an affect on the financing of commercial real estate as the credit worthiness of the LLC is not important. The credit worthiness of the individual owners behind the LLC are not as important as they are in single family or 2-4 unit properties. Commercial real estate loans are made on the ability of the property to generate income. Income after expenses is expected to exceed the debt service by a factor of at least 1.2 or more.

I have long had 4 financed properties so I have been paying 25% down plus closing costs for each new investment. I takes time for me to scrape together that kind of money for my buy and hold investment style. When I heard the recent BP podcast on Homepath I ecstatic. I had also done quite a bit of investing out of state due to price point and cash flow but now with Homepath properties right here in Washington state surrounding Joint Base Lewis McChord now make sense. Crunching the numbers I can realize strong positive cash flow and a 16% ROI.

I am retired Army and have great success keeping my properties in this area rented to both military and civilians. I have turned properties within a week and good tenants literally line up around here with good marketing and a quality unit. Once I have 10 financed properties Homepath is still a great tool to move up to 20 Fannie Mae financed properties by putting 25% or 30% down.

This is a big help in building my portfolio and helping to replace my earned income for a real retirement. I think about it this way, for every new investment property I acquire under my criteria that is one more day per month for the rest of my life that I don't have to work!

For a commercial property you should have a plan in mind. For this class III property have you identified management shortcomings by the current owner that is reducing CAP rate of the property that you will be able to improve or cure. If the vacancy rate is high, rents too low, or costs for services such as landscaping and garbage too high you can do something about that. If there is deferred maintenance you can invest in the repairs and improvements to do something about that as well. If this is a questionable neighborhood you could take measures to improve security and make tenants feel safer and draw more tenants. Bottom line is to have a plan to improve the property management and force appreciation.