All Forum Posts by: Angelo Aguirre

Hi @Abigail, I would never take a risk, especially since you want to run a legit business. 
Just call the county zoning department of wherever you are looking. For example, I was going to use my Portage, WI property as a short term rental, I called Columbia County zoning department and found out it was a $200 fee and an application and no other length-of-stay, primary occupancy, or any other regulations. Just the fee. County Zoning. Good luck!

Hey @Gunnar Conrado, great to hear you are getting into RE investing, and in Madison. It's an awesome market for appreciation, but cash flow is hard to come across unless you put more than 20% down. If you house hack of course you can take advantage of included rent. If house hacking, find a multi-unit rather than a single family and renting rooms out, then you can separate utilities and have more privacy. Also, consider if you will be going into a deal looking to use FHA (3.5%/5%) downpayments. In Madison, you will be competing with 20% or all-cash buyers, especially for the first-day-on-market HGTV remodeled homes. I'd edit the search to 30+ days on market, sellers are usually more apt to work with more conditions FHA require. If you're looking to AirBnB the other unit look into Dane County codes & Madison regulations, I believe Madison has some length-of-stay regulations. It can cash-flow you more and will always work in Madison, especially downtown area.

There's a number of steps you should consider prior: What's your max budget?First, Get qualified on lending (bank/credit union), THEN find a realtor - (Ale Broz at Keller Williams, Madison has helped me buy and sell multiple properties last two years), then you can go into offers strong with a pre-approval with the help of a professional realtor. Any realtor will ask you to get preapproved before making offers.

If you need help on market specific rents/values DM me and we can discuss specific addresses, I have 100+ BP Calc/deal apps analyzed Madison, WI Properties.

Hope any of this helps,
Good luck out there!

-Angelo

@Spencer Dixon, I've been looking into this idea as well in the same areas. I've found luck obtaining information/licensing requirements first on the county's website under zoning, and then reaching out to the specific town/city and verifying any further requirements they may have over the county's. But, the county zoning department is where I found how to get legally licensed.

Good luck! 

@Nicole Deuerlein, sorry for just seeing this!

I contacted the unit for my tenant this year, and they were extremely helpful. The CO said they cannot withhold his BAH payments but they can "strongly encourage" to the service member to get caught up on their rent. The CO recommended that I, 1) Document all damages (missing rent in you case) and 2) Sue the service member in small claims court. This CO was an investor too, and had to do this to his tenant. 

Overall, there was nothing 'legally' the military could do but there is still the civilian side of law where they can be held accountable. 

Hope this helps!

@Brian G., this is amazing. I've started to watch videos and read about this 121 Exclusion now. Thank you so much!

@Moises R Cosme, Thank you sir! I appreciate you looking and reading my story. With all the ups and downs, the support here is amazing. Thank you!

@Andre Walker, thank you very much, sir! I really appreciate your words of encouragement. That makes me feel great knowing that my story could help inspire you, that's truly why I love to post my story along the journey. It's all about helping others, and, I love to hear that you are on the path to success. You can definitely do this, and I have faith that you will! Please update your story along the way so I (and all of BP) can cheer you on. I bet you have already inspired people within your network as well. 

Take care and stay in touch! 

@Suzie Remilien thank you! We loved this home the whole time we were in it, and now super excited that it has become a true asset. Thank you for checking it out :)

@Sam Lewis thank you! I did not have any worries about renting out our old primary home for a couple reasons. We were able to leverage this home to purchase the other two investment properties via a HELOC. We were then able to refinance, paying the HELOC off, and the rent:mortgage is at the 1% rule. Our refinance is at 75% LTV, so the Bank was happy to refinance it. It works even better because since it was a primary, we were able to get a 30 yr mortgage, resulting in better cash flow. Also, since we know everything about the house we are able to better gauge for expenses and foresee what might come up during the rental period. This house is in our area so I liked that it was closer than the other properties. Also, this area appreciates better than our other properties so I feel like we are taking advantage of all 4 area of RE we love: Cash Flow, Appreciation, Debt Pay-down, and Tax Benefits.

Thank you for checking it out!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $165,000
Cash invested: $20,000

This was our primary home for 7 years. We just closed on a new primary (June 2020) home and converted this into a rental. We're excited to be able to have held onto this property. Great East Side location and close to interstate, malls, and grocery, all within 2 miles of this home.