All Forum Posts by: Amy Paradis

Hey David! Welcome to BP! First, congrats at thinking this way at your age! You are certainly on the right path by running numbers and trying to learn as much as you can. Keep going! I haven't had a chance to take a look at the property. Currently, I invest in Vermont and wish I had started to think about investing at your age. Feel free to drop me a message and I'm happy to go over some stuff with you when I have a little more time! Amy

@Seth Marcus let me know if you want to compare notes on this!

Hi, I am looking for a handyman. My partner is a contractor by trade but we have a few projects we are falling behind on (starting with repairing concrete steps). Projects range from interior work to replacing some hand rails. Hoping to find someone local to start farming some of our to-do list out. Anyone have any good recommendations, I haven't had much success! Thanks! Amy

@Deren Huang I apologize for not responding. I tried to email you but I discovered the email in my outbox folder today. Auto emails of properties under 90k would be awesome if that is possible. If you ever have some time to connect, I would love to pick your brain about a few markets in the area in general and see if you are familiar. Again, thanks for your offer and my apologies for not responding sooner!

Hi All,

I own 2 duplexes in Vermont. One under an LLC and another as my primary house. We are currently looking to purchase a single family home. We came across a requirement for the loan program we qualified for which required saving "reserves" for each property we own. This is a 5% down type loan but would make our out of pocket costs combined with required reserves to be $27,000 (the property is $200,000 and this is without any seller contribution). Has anyone else come across this problem in obtaining financing? Any suggestions? We are super frustrated that a single family house that is under 200k would only cost 13k less then putting 20% down on an investment property 2 years ago. It seems insane.

Advice, feedback, banks to try, etc is welcome. 

Amy

Hi,

We have friends that live in Oklahoma and are encouraging us to look into purchasing property in the area. I am curious if there is anyone out there, specifically in Ada, OK or surrounding areas that can shed some light on the market, if there are decent property managers out there, etc. We are looking to buy and hold. 

Thanks!

@Blair Knowles The gift idea is a great one and works for some. I am not in a position where that is a feasible option. I agree, I think there are currently more seller financed deals in St A than in Burlington although some of the time it is right place/right time/right person. The Lincoln Street one does have some appealing aspects and is certainly on my radar. That said, it is still challenging to find any of them!

@Ramon Alvarez I had not thought of that. That is a fantastic idea, thank you, I will look into it. 

That makes sense. I found a bank by me that would be willing to look at deals financed in that scenario. The challenge now is finding a property with an owner willing to finance that way up here! It is good to hear there are sellers out there willing to look at this. 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for such great replies. 

Daniel- please let me know about any upcoming events as I would love to get out and network more around here! Welcome to the area, let me know if I can ever be a resource- I work in Burlington and used to have a condo that I rented out in Burlington as well, which left me pretty familiar with the area.

Chris, we have had a few close calls with folks willing to owner finance but haven't had anyone pull the trigger yet. I will certainly keep asking as the worst they can tell me is no. I am always open to talking shop! 

Katherine, that is what we are currently considering. I want to wait to refinance until I finish one more renovation that is needed to really build a little more value although I walked into quite a bit of equity when the building was first purchased. I have the reno on the schedule for this summer barring anything else needing it first. We used a ARM loan through New England Federal Credit Union which required 5% down as I had a difficult time finding an FHA lender that would be willing to loan the money with the ratios I was working with for the owner occupied duplex. I am lukewarm to ARM loans but the interest rate is locked for the first 5 years at a phenomenally low rate and NEFCU has been wonderful to us. I figured by the time it adjusted, I would be looking to refinance into conventional anyway and it can only adjust a small amount with a cap.

I actually just found that another bank might be willing to refinance my owner occupied into my LLC while still living here to free me up for a few more options in the financing side of things. I am a bit anxious to buy a new place in order to get a chance of scenery with a little more space but I am hoping I can make the numbers work within the year. I am always looking to find other options though and see if anyone has found something that I haven't thought of! Anything to save a little legwork in the financing side of things is helpful.

I really appreciate all the feedback and connections. 

Hi BP, I am an investor in the Saint Albans, Vermont area. I am newer to BP and hoping to network more in my area (this is the first chance I've had to introduce myself). I am hoping to connect with others in Vermont, especially in Northern VT. I have a few units in Saint Albans City- one duplex is owner occupied and the other held by my LLC. I am hoping to add another but am running to brick walls in the financing end of things as I am hitting the 20-25% equity in each building but not enough for a HELOC. I am not only interested in meeting folks from the area but hearing about how everyone is financing their units. I am finding that financing for the 3rd building is challenging without 20-25% cash in hand. I would be curious if anyone has found ways around what I'm running up against. Thanks! Amy