All Forum Posts by: Anna Dvorak

We've purchased a home as a primary residence, zoned agricultural and with large acreage. Conventional financing has been a challenge as a result, but we've found a local bank that will work with us. They've presented two options for financing based on our goals -

1. Residential financing - 30 year fixed mortgage
2. Commercial financing - 5/25 year balloon with adjustable rate every 5 years

Both of these loan options would be construction loans, with interest only payments for the first year. We intend to fix up the property while living in it, then rent it out for a handful of weeks (~12 weeks) out of the year as a short term rental. It would still be our primary residence, which makes me lean towards the residential option. 

However, the commercial option was brought up in the context of thinking a year or two down the line - this local bank does not offer a HELOC, only an investment line of credit. We do want to be able to take a line of credit in the future to fund future investment deals. My understanding is investment lines of credit are only given on investment properties (not primary residences).

My question is this - Would it be safer to take out commercial financing now (although not entirely necessary), knowing that we would likely look to take out the investment line of credit in the next year or so? Or should we go with the more appealing residential financing option and cross that bridge for the investment line of credit when we get there? Trying to understand how big of a deal that would be / any concerns or pitfalls to be aware of.

Thank you!!

Bringing this back up! I live in a rural area on the eastern shore of Virginia. Our current primary residence is 200+ acres with about 100 of that being leased for farming. Total purchase price was $625,000 as the home was in need of some major repairs. We've been told by a local appraiser and real estate agent that the property should now appraise for $1M+.

We took a private loan from a family friend at $250,000 to purchase the property. We're now looking to take out conventional financing based on the equity we have to do a few things - pay off our existing private loan, fund some larger ticket renovation items (i.e. HVAC), and have cash on hand for funding future investment properties. We've reached out to several national lenders, but since our property is zoned agricultural it was a non-starter. We've also reached out to a few local lenders and are having some luck there, but they're overwhelmed with applications and are moving very slowly right now. We were trying to avoid a farm lender given they generally have higher interest rates, but per the above it sounds like that might be worth pursuing.

Our short-term plan for the property is to continue to live in it as a primary residence while we continue fixing up the house. The ultimate goal would be to rent it out for short term stays or possibly as an event venue (in addition to being on farmland, it's surrounded by pine forest and waterfront). The short term rental market in our area has been doing really well over the past year and we feel this property is a destination unto itself. Just need to lock in the financing to move things forward. Any thoughts / creative suggestions on financing or otherwise would be greatly appreciated!

Hi BP! New investor here. I live in a rural, coastal area on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

I'm actively looking to network with likeminded investors, particularly those with knowledge of the Accomack or Northampton county areas. I've heard about investment activity in my area, but haven't been able to find a meetup - if anyone knows of one please let me know! My goal is to purchase BRRRR and BRRRR'nb investment properties in my local market. I also have an interest in house flipping, but primarily focused on establishing consistent cash flow.

After 6+ months of reading and researching, I’m excited to start building some momentum. Any guidance, advice, recommendations, referrals, etc. would be greatly appreciated!