All Forum Posts by: Becky Elder

Thank you all for the feedback and comments, I'll do some further research and will update you all on what we decide to do.

I have a lot in a vacation area in Vantage WA and considering building a home that's 1 level and wheelchair accessible - does anyone have knowledge or experience with this?  I'm thinking it would open the door for more renters and set me apart from my competition.

Any thoughts or feedback on this would be greatly appreciated!

@Ajay G. I think that using the HELOC to buy another asset makes sense. Equity in your home is doing nothing for you unless you put it to use. If the numbers work, they work!

I understand the question you're asking and I'm happy to chat with you more about it. The minimum down for a single family investment property is 15% so don't put 25% down if you don't have to. There are also HELOC's available to use on investment properties. You could also look into hard money, private lending, or partnerships.

Reach out if you want to chat more, I'm a Loan originator and happy to give advice and help you strategize. 

thanks! 

I agree with the comments above about your goals.  Appreciation or Cash flow or combination of both?  

There's less turn over with single family than mutifamily - would you be managing the properties yourself? 

I'm a Mortgage advisor and would be happy to chat with you about your goals and strategize with you on your plan.

Hi there! 

I've connected with a realtor in Ohio that often gets off market deals. There's a 21 unit off market deal available and the spreadsheet he sent to me has a lot of information with the cost, rental income, market rent, taxes, insurance then at the end of the spreadsheet it has the DSCR calculation.

Is this in regards to their numbers with the DSCR? I thought the DSCR was independent of your personal scenario, so I'm thrown off by them sharing this number - OR - I feel like I'm missing a piece to the puzzle, I've never done a DSCR loan before. Can anyone provide some guidance on this?

Any insight is appreciated! 

Would you be able to cash flow on that property if you got a HELOC on it to access the equity to use to purchase your next home? Check out market rates for your property and see if that might work for you. If you can't cashflow on renting it out, you should probably sell it and use the equity for your next purchase. For lending purposes your rental income would have to be 25% above your mortgage for it to not negatively affect your debt to income ratio. If you find a tenant and have an executed lease agreement, that can be use for lending purposes to offset you debt to income ratio and help you buy another home.

As a Landlord - after your 1 year lease is up with your rental property - do you typically renew for another year with the tenants or allow it to go month to month?

My Uncle that got me into real estate investing and has passed away had recommended to me that it's better as a landlord to keep it month to month because if the tenant stops paying or there's any issues - it's easier to remove them from the property.  I'd love to hear any thoughts, laws or personal stories regarding this.  

My tenants want to renew their lease and they've always paid their rent, however I get copies of the city utility bills and they frequently get behind on those.

Yes, house hacking is what this method is called and it's an awesome way to get started in real estate! For lending purposes we can use rental income you receive to help offset your debt to income ratio.  The best plan is to get started and begin building equity for yourself.  Then you can leverage that equity in the future for your next property.  

Message me if you want to chat, I'm happy to help!

I think the best way to get started is to buy a home as your primary residence with the intention to rent it out in the future.  Or if you can find a multi-family property that's even better.  Rates and downpayment is so much lower when it's your primary opposed to starting out with buying an investment property.  Listen to BP podcasts and you can learn so much! 

Sometimes a local bank or credit union will be willing to do a HELOC on an investment property so you can access some equity from your rentals for your next purchase...