All Forum Posts by: Andrew Postell

@Shannon L Fogarty the tried and true technique here is to ask other investors in your market who they are using.  And I get it, you were posting here to ask other investors...we just need to ask people in your market.  Whether it's a plumber, electrician, title company, lender, etc. go local for who people are using.  I mean, nothing is foolproof...but that will get you started in the right direction. 

Try some local real estate meetup groups. Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too. Even facebook might have some good local groups for you. Some of those facebook groups have thousands of members. Eventbrite too. But post locally for this. That’s the best bet.

@Elton Tate congratulations on executing on a property!  Always great to hear from a fellow Texan too!

@Nate Armstrong yes, huge crash coming.  So, stopping competing against me on all these houses.  Come back in 10 years.  Should be ok then ;) 

@Ryan Lee I mean, "significant" is a little open to interpretation but the rates/pricing will be different.  The best way to know for sure is to speak with a loan officer that can tell you what pricing is for you specifically.  Do you know of any in your market?  If not, there's a little "Lenders" button at the top of this page that you can click on to find one.  You can also lean on some other real estate investors in your area on who they use.  It takes us about 60 seconds to find out what pricing is for someone so it's usually not that big of a deal to just ask a loan officer.

@Kwok Wong ensure you are inspecting the pictures of those properties.  Meaning, if the kitchen has high end finishes...then yours should too.  However, don't OVER improve your property either.  Adding a pool won't carry much value if no other comps have pools.  And that same thing can be applied for any finishes.  Keep your home as similar to your comps as possible and that will ensure your value is as close as possible as well.

@John Bui the "best" HELOC lender is usually open to interpretation some but also it will be market specific too. I mean, I know you were posting here to get other investor opinions on this...but we just need to do the same thing - in your market. Try some local real estate meetup groups. Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too. Even facebook might have some good local groups for you. Some of those facebook groups have thousands of members. Eventbrite too. But post locally. That's your best bet.

@Manuel Llanas Hmm, ok, good point.  I'll have to create a post about this.  Some real quick items here:

VA Loans are for Primary Homes

You can use VA Loans for 1-4 unit properties (House Hacking)

VA Loans have 0% downpayment (most of the time)

You can have more than 1 VA loan (some people don't know that)

VA Loans do carry a "funding fee" which is like a little "tax" to write the loan, but it is waived if you are a disabled veteran.

VA Loans do not have PMI (and that's a huge benefit for us)

VA Loans also have a very streamlined refinance feature (called a VA IRRRRL) which makes it super easy to refinance if rates were to fall (hopefully that will occur in the future)

VA Loans can also be used by a surviving spouse.

The VA may not give us the best health benefits but they can certainly get us into debt!

Semper Fidelis.

@Tristan Gardner hmm, I'm not sure if there's a good way to attach things here...certainly willing to email this to you but the below is what I use when dealing with private lenders.  

Also, an amortization schedule is usually a good tool to have to show the amounts based on how long you have been in the loan.  If you have paid extra, or if it's interest only, or some other feature...you may have to do something different but amortization schedules are usually a good place to start.

@Adam Hill does your GC have experience with new builds?  This would be a requirement for any new build lender.

@Kyle Mccaw any suggestions here?