All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Ervin

@Natalie Wells

Hey, Natalie. Yeah it’s definitely tough to do rehab with little ones (mine are 5, 4, and 2). I’m hesitant to advocate for living in a remodel property on a public forum just because I don’t want the parenting police to jump on me lol. But yes it’s doable! We made sure the house was livable and safe before moving in, but the kids were absolutely around the site at times during the reno. From the time our first was born we’ve done remodel projects on our personal houses and now in our investments so the kids are already familiar with the whole thing. They love “helping” with anything they can! It becomes a fun family thing to do little projects together. But as long as you’re safe and within reason considering the state of the rehab, it can be done! I like the quote, “live like others won’t now do you can live like others can’t later”.

@Kristin Kiddy, thank you! We are doing just that! We are working on putting together a design portfolio for my wife right now and will have professional photos taken. The idea is to parlay the experience she has to help generate clients for her design work and give her an edge when she gets her RE license and begins working as an agent, too.

@Dawn Matze, thanks!

@Zach Hoereth, thank you!

@Susan Maneck you’ll have to trust me when I say the before photos did not do any justice to how bad this house was when we bought it. The floor plan was basically unlivable for any homeowner. It functioned as a 4 bedroom house with 4 separate tenants before we bought it.

@KJW King, thank you for the kind words.

 Thanks, we really don't want to cut corners in this business.  It's been a very rewarding experience for us because we knew the quality of work that went into this house was literally high enough that when we decided to move in instead of sell, we could.  

It depends on who you ask, I suppose.  For us, it made plenty of sense to trade a few thousand for that much equity and a mortgage we can comfortably cover for our primary residence.  This house would have been profitable as a flip or cash flowed as a rental.  We decided it had a much bigger impact for us to build the equity, move in, and better our personal financial position substantially and immediately.  And, we can keep this house as a rental when we decide to move.  To me, 4-5k is worth leaving in this deal.  For some, 4-5k is a significant loss considering that could amount to (potentially) years of cash flow to make back on a rental.  Especially if that same person doesn't have reserves.  

So your question requires a different answer depending on your personal situation and investment goals/requirements.  You'll want to consider several factors when answering it for yourself.  The last thing I'll add is that if leaving a few thousand in a deal is going to be a major hindrance in your investing or personal financial position, then you'll want to really evaluate whether or not you're ready to do a deal at all yet.  

Sorry for droning on a bit...

Jack, not quite.  If I wanted to fudge the numbers a bit to say I got 100% of our investment back from the re-fi, I probably could.  But after factoring in every expense (including re-fi fees, additional money we put in after deciding to move into the property, etc.) we are leaving about $4,500 - $5,000 in it. 

Ben, I grew up in Pace so very familiar with Milton. You'll enjoy working with Matt if you get the chance. I ran my own numbers and analyzed the deal through my own spreadsheet, but yes Matt was helpful in offering his assessment, too. I found his analysis to be more accurate than mine which is good because I am highly conservative in estimating ARV.