All Forum Posts by: Ashton Karp

How intimate is your friend with his income, expenses, tax burden and ultimately the ins and outs of his budget? Is he maximizing his savings interest? How bad does he want to purchase his first property. As Dave Ramsey would say, Beans and Rice! Although your friend wants to take a loan unlike Ramsey's guidance....

If I could pay off my primary residence I would and then I would get a first lien secured line of credit and really ramp up low interest property acquisitions. My two thoughts on this being negative are 1) the inability to take advantage of primary residence mortgage loan rates/benefits 2) having your primary residence tied to investments in the case of a law suit and judgement. 

The thought of low monthly payments on my personal life I think would psychologically be of huge benefit. 

You can always theorize future housing prices but the only thing that is tangible is the moment. If you're looking for a turnkey rental, run numbers on properties and if it cash flows in your current market what's the hold up? If you want to hedge market crashes purchase distressed housing and add value. 

I would prefer to start amortizing now because the numbers work than speculate for the future home runs like many other investors. 

@Michelle Peacock did you ever find someone you like? I am starting to talk to property managers in the area as I'd like to purchase a STR in the near future

I know this post may seem like an obvious answer but I haven't found any real answers on this specific question. I want to purchase a vacation property and my DTI will be to low to qualify. I own one house and have one source of income, w2. My question is if I were to remove my escrow account and pay for taxes and insurance myself would this be calculated by a bank as a decrease in my DTI due to the mortgage being lowered approximately 25% or will they request payment verification for insurance and taxes to include monthly payment equivalent in my overall debts.

Thank you, BP for all your help.

It's time for me to buy a new computer but unfortunately I am not tech savvy. I am more than willing to learn but to get going I need advice for what brand or model I should be looking into based on my needs. My real estate future will include being an agent and running a buy and hold business with construction being a part of my model. That's a general idea but that's what I want. I want the ability to edit videos, make virtual tours, work with CRMs and that sort of thing. I only know what I know though so tips on what I may require from a computer is appreciated. A laptop may be preferred due to portability but if there are suggestions of desktops I will look into them. 

Thank you, BP.

@Steve Milford Are you saying you worked real estate while also working your w2 job or that you are dual licensed and split your time equally for each skill? If the latter, what are the positives and negatives you've seen practicing two licensed skills?

To clarify I am moving from my current career in automotive to real estate brokerage in entirety. My dilemma is when to jump into real estate due to my lack of robust savings and inability to tap into my primary residence's equity. I prefer conservative finances and don't want to be left with no income and no ability to market. With this in mind I thought it to be potentially beneficial to jump from automotive to my focus on real estate with me working in the mortgage and agent business simultaneously. I am inexperienced with the real estate professions (obviously), and will keep these recommendations in mind. The thought sounds effective to my naivety nonetheless. 

Whats up, BP. I am in the Tacoma, Washington area and I am closing in on my real estate agent license. I currently have about a months worth of living expenses saved up after paying desk and startup fees and this is going to limit my ability to jump into being an agent full time. I am saving money monthly but would be uncomfortable quitting my current W2 job until I have at least 6-9 months worth living expenses in the bank. From my understanding the first 6 months to a year will be the most difficult for providing income while also maintaining proper marketing costs until I could establish a larger sphere of influence. 

So here's my question. If I were to obtain my mortgage broker's license and potentially work as an agent and a mortgage broker simultaneously what would be some pros and cons of doing this? I know there's disclosures needed and time would need to be allocated to each business but I feel like the mortgage broker income would help supplement larger but more spread out paychecks from being a real estate agent while also spending my time and energy in real estate. What are your thoughts on this idea?

Annual, quarterly, and daily goals are all important factors in a successful career in anything. To keep it simple my two goals for 2020 are to 1) Obtain my Washington State real estate license and hang my license at a firm 2) purchase my first rental property with some level of positive cash flow.