All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@Patrick Davenport I’m still small potatoes but I’m getting the loans in my name for 30 year fixed rate, my current one is at 3.675%.

I’ve got an umbrella policy that still covers all my liability for my net worth. If you took into consideration my leveraged worth I might need to go higher on the umbrella but I figure there’s no value in outstanding debt.

@Arden Aemmer I’d say try to save as much as possible. If you aren’t self employed maybe see if you’re allowed to do some moonlighting after hours or on weekends to quickly pick up some extra cash to help finance additional deals as soon as possible. The electrician I use charges slightly under the going rate and works nights and Saturdays and makes bank.

I'd definitely consider the FHA 3.5% down payment house hacking on a multi family which I would use personally if my partner wasn't vehemently opposed to living in such close proximity to other people. I believe you only have to live in the building for one year and then you can do it again with the next property.

Some of my properties only cash flow $125 per door per month but are in great locations with a probability of appreciation as the years pass. And some have a huge cash flow of like $850 per door. These I was able to negotiate great deals on at purchase.

So don't worry too much about starting slowly, make sure that each deal pays its own expenses and try to make the next one a little bit better if possible. Utilize the BP calculator. If I could find decent SFH that was $36,000 and didn't need a major overhaul I'd be on top of that all day long unless I could find affordable multis. Which should consolidate expenses with a higher margin of cash flow.

And congratulations on your first home!!!

@Erich Oertel In my state we are only allowed to collect 1st month and 1 month security deposit which then must be held in an interest bearing account. With interest rates being what they are that means the tenants earn about $0.01 per month but it’s the law.

@Christian Olivo I’ve got 6 units, soon to be 9 and I self-manage. The units are all in excellent shape so I have little to do in the way of maintenance requests.

If you feel up to it I’d highly recommend managing your own property if it’s feasible. You will care way more about your own building and your profit than a property management company will.

Unless you’re handy find a handyman, locate a plumber, scope out an electrician. My community has a local Facebook page that’s great for getting these types of recommendations from. Or you can ask people locally for recommendations, if you have a local banker or accountant they can be a great source of information.

Best of luck!

@Cisco Alva Personally if I could get it for $100K I’d be more inclined to buy it as a buy and hold as opposed to a fix and flip.

Surrounded by warehouses I doubt you’ll be able to get anything close to high $200s for it selling it. However if there’s some other houses in the area and you do a nice rehab on it you can probably rent it pretty easily. At least this is how it would go in my area.

Recently I looked at a home that was on the market for $90,000. If I could have gotten it for $75,000 and put $45,000 into it I could have rented it for 25 years with little maintenance for $900 a month. But I couldn’t have sold it for even $125,000 because of its location by a concrete plant. The owner declined my offer and got $82,000 about 5 months later.

If you have a trusted investor friend or realtor, not the one selling the property unless you know them well, ask to see if they think you can flip the property at a profit realistically if that’s your goal before you buy it.

All day I’d say keep it as a rental!

@Ralph Ace Is there a bathroom above it? A fireplace near it? A vent pipe on the roof above it? A seam in the roof?

I’ve also had some really windy storms blow rain up under the shingles in my house where otherwise the roof didn’t leak. This happened twice.

Just my thoughts.

@Som Jafari Can you call a plumber who is certified to work with gas or someone else who is, not sure who does this work in CA, and ask them their thoughts on insulating the line?

@Curtis Davis When I first bought last May I got a great deal on a SFH. Now you can't touch one that needs a total rehab for $100,000 more so I've turned to multi family housing. I got an A class 4 Plex in February and am about to close on an A class Tri-plex at the end of the month. The Tri-plex needs a ton of work but I'm getting it at a $100,000 discount.

Neither of my multis are cash flowing cows but they are solid and should the market drop I will continue to get full rent from them because they are beautiful apartments.

I would recommend looking for multi family deals. I have a duplex that is a 3/1 & a 3/3 that rents for $1400 & $1600 cash flowing about $2200 a month. While you won’t likely find a deal like that you might get something that cash flows $800 - $1200 with some of your money left over if you put 25% down. Then today have maybe $15,000-25,000 leftover to save for the down payment on the next one!

@Inna T. In my market many landlords aren’t signing yearly leases right now, only month to month due to the eviction moratorium. That way if someone stops paying rent or there is a problem we can say it is a non-renewal of the lease as opposed to an eviction and get the courts to process it. Our court system is still backed up and it takes months to accomplish but we are able to remove tenants this way.

@Jezelle John My area is very rural so I work with 1 agent for my entire region, about a 30 mile radius. Obviously this would not work in a more urban environment. My agent not only sends me the first MLS listings but also has feelers out to other agents for the types of property I am looking for.

I think it can come down to your location and what the customs are locally.