All Forum Posts by: Alexander Knowles

@Gregory Schwartz

I believe the podcast preaches: "time in the market is greater than timing the market". While no one knows when this will blow over, you can make a safe bet that normality will resume sooner rather than later. Hold on and stay the course!

Chat to a lender in person and see what your options would be. A credit union may have other options available to you when you are refinancing so would be best to talk to different lenders in your area. You will be able to refinance up to 80% LTV anyway, so disclosing to the bank that this would be an investment property shouldn't be any trouble as most banks require at least 20% down for an non-owner occupied mortgage. You may hit a snag on the HELOC, as typically you can get a HELOC up to 90% LTV but if you tell them this is an investment property that may change.

@David M. - yes our Chase business cards also do not report so good to confirm that! 

@Keith Linne - yes that is interesting why Capital One does that! I agree with you that by paying the balance every month will not hurt you, but always good to have a backup plan in case something runs over a certain timeline and need to get rolling on a next deal. I agree a low debt utilization ratio is a key driver in having a higher credit score. Good point about the cashback options and something I am going to look into this week!

@Keith Linne - I am curious to see whether or not your Capital One Spark Business came up on your personal credit at all? We use that card for our small business outside of real estate and unfortunately, it shows up on our personal credit report?! Obviously we want to shelter as much from the bank as possible in this world!

Hi all - I am looking to see if anyone has any recommendations for the best credit cards used for renovations and paying contractors? Reward points, insurance perks, cashback? 

I am looking to open up credit cards under my LLC to pay for renovations and contractors for my next deal and seeking the best way to "hack" current credit card offers out there!

Hello, 307 world - 

I am based in Laramie and focus on long-term buy and hold single or multi-family. Wondering if any of you are doing renovations this winter/spring and could help out a newbie with some tips and pearls? It is usually a great time of year to find some deals but as a rookie investor, I am worried about getting into a renovation where the weather could cause a major hiccup and be out of my control. Obviously exterior work is out of the question - when would you renovate the exterior? Leases here typically revolve around the University semesters begin/end. Would love to hear your thoughts on when the best time would be to renovate and then seek tenants would be. Thanks in advance!

Check out Stessa.com and/or Cozy.co. for your bookkeeping. Typically put cash reserves into an online high-yield savings account that is easy to withdraw if need be. Use a high reward/points credit card for as many real estate expenses as possible and pay this off at the end of every month out of your real estate dedicated checking account. 

If you are short on cash and still have other projects to finish, you may want to triple check your reasoning to purchasing your next property. Having reserves stashed away is a good idea with an impending recession on the horizons. Depending on your current LTV and what projects you say need to be finished, a cash-out refinance may be something to look at as interest rates are low, it will give you an injection of cash and you will not have to worry about paying off the HELOC in slow-mo. Most investors use a HELOC to purchase a property that they know will be paid back ASAP when they refinance the property after renovations.

Although not a Podcast, Matt McKeever on YouTube has some solid videos about short-term rentals. CNBC just released a TV show called Cash Pad (the first episode is also on YouTube) - it is very glorified for TV but had some fun little pearls in there. 

@Roxanne McClain I am considering it. Haven't taken the leap just yet as our current lease expires end of August and our renter is moving out. We need to make some renovations and crunch so numbers to see if it would be worthwhile. We are are a college town though, with many out-of-state students and popular football following.