All Forum Posts by: Alex Grosvenor

Congratulations on your first deal! It is a huge step into financial freedom. As a former member of the Army I can say it is incredibly impressive to see somebody looking at homes while overseas. 

The only thing that worries me about the deal is have you found people to rent out rooms already? Do you KNOW what you can get for rents or are you just guessing? have you talked to multiple property managers to get an accurate rent estimate for those rooms? Who is paying for electric? Water? Lawn care? Garbage? HOA (if any)? Trash? Who is cleaning what? If you're paying for a cleaner is that factored in all of the prices. If you are managing the property and not using a property manager do you have an attorney approved lease that you are having the tenants sign?

I don't want to scare you or for you to back out of the deal. I would just hate to see you do all of that work just to not rent any of the rooms out. If you do know all of those things and those numbers work congratulations! It is going to be a wild ride. If not then seriously get deep into the deal and figure out how to make it work.
 

Hey Joseph!

I've been telling many people this but always go with the rule of 3. Which means always interview at least 3. So talk to 3 agents, 3 lenders, and 3 contractors(if you need them). Each time choose one out of the three that is knowledgable and your personalities mesh well together. 

Things to Ask Agents 

Do you know the area?

Do you work with a lot of investors?

Do you Invest yourself?

Tell me about the last Investment you've made?

Lenders should be able to show you A LOT. What your rate will be, your monthly payment, Interest based on points, closing costs based on points. How much each point will cost you. Ask them to see ALL of it. 

Also ask what offers they may have (such as paying for closing costs). 

@Jessica Pham Also when you finish this property hopefully not at any loss at all make sure you go back and reflect on what went wrong so you don't make the same mistakes again. TONS of people say never buy near a busy road and now you know why.
Also, ALWAYS have solid comps!! Without solid comps you cannot truly place your ARV anywhere. If you are having trouble finding solid comps that means things aren't selling in that area. Why aren't things selling? Solid comps make sure you know your ARV. ARV makes or breaks your deal.

As a fellow Veteran I plan on doing the same thing in the near future. I agree with @Bruce Lynn in the fact that it only works when you are living there and the pre approval letter is a very important starting point in finding your first deal. 

There are tons of real estate agents here that know about investing. Use the rule of 3. Always do three interviews. Talk to 3 agents, 3 lenders and 3 contractors if you have to fix something up in the property as well. Learn the best fit for you. Not all Agents are equal and not all personalities mesh well together.

@Aaron F. on the BiggerPockets podcast they talked about dropping the price 3% from the other comps to account for a busy road when the market is really good when it’s not then it goes to 8% to account for it. 

@Jessica Pham the house looks beautifully updated. Have you thought about other exit options? Refinancing through hard money for a longer term pulling out 80% LTV. You get more of your money out but you have a higher interest rate. Then use the property as a rental? Or even refinancing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac getting 75% LTV back and renting it out. You leave more money in but this gives you a lower interest rate.

Facebook groups there are tons of different groups with 100,000 different people looking for deals. Post in every group once or twice a week and grow your buyers list. Also attend networking events in your area and let people know what you do. Everybody is looking for more deals

If you're going to BRRRR the property why decide to sell it in 12-24 months? At that point it just turns into a long term flip and your numbers should have accounted for the sale (realtor fees, closing costs on the sale side, taxes, ETC.) I hope you did at least.
I wish I could help you with the termite damage I just don’t have experience in that area. I’m sorry that it’s happening but it’s all a part of the journey of real estate! 

I would go with what Mark has said about passing the electric bill to the tenants. I'm sure since they aren't paying they are leaving lights and AC on all of the time. 

As a Realtor in Dallas talking to some appraisers from El Paso, TX and here in Dallas as well, solar panels do not add much value to your home. I would talk to appraisers in your area to find out how much value it adds to your property. 

Hello!! I am also a Realtor in Dallas, TX. I would love to say how prices are going to drop and we can all go scoop up all of the properties at a lovely price! However, I do not believe that will happen. I believe we will have an influx of foreclosures come January-March time frame but even then the stock market is at an all time high. The people paying rent on time is actually up and if we do see a dip it wont be major or last very long. 

There are more than enough housing options in the DFW area. New construction is constantly being built and homes constantly remodeled. We are currently at 3 months of inventory right now which is crazy low. 6 months is a healthy inventory and no flood of foreclosures is going to push us past that. Even if the stock market does come down the Real Estate Market I believe is fine.

I will say DO NOT worry about the prices of homes going down for your two rentals. Equity and the price of your home does not matter unless you plan on selling it. If you hold through a recession then the prices will shoot right back up to where its at now or even higher.

I agree along with going Far East Mesquite going out to Terrell.