All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Sykes

@Dennis M. that's sweet man. Out of curiosity if you don't mind?

1. Did you buy for cash?

2. What do you cash flow on that property? 

3. Tenant Turnover/Vacancy Issues?

@Caleb Heimsoth Well that's good to hear! @Linda S. said the same thing as it goes for screening. Is there anything specific or any guidance you could give in regards to the screening process? Anything that you have found productive or telling through the screening other than just a gut feeling? 

@Jaysen Medhurst

Thanks, Jaysen! Yeah, it certainly wouldn't be an all my eggs in one basket approach. I'm definitely a steady plotter... which could also be my downfall. But, what do you think of the possibility of using @Linda S. approach of M2M? You already know you're going to deal with turnover, I guess one bright spot is this is a highly rentable area so finding tenants won't be a problem. It's 100% finding the right tenant. Also, this is a CB construction so does that mitigate some possible damage/repairs? 

@Thomas S.

I see a lot of people say that. "You will be broke" how is that possible? The mortgage on the property after a refi would be roughly $416 (P&I, Insurance, and Taxes). I could cover that mortgage all year without anyone in it. If you had a tenant in just one side for 8 months. 

That's: $5,592

Mortgage for the year: $4,992

Obviously, you have maintenance and other issues to factor in but even at 2% of RV that would still only put you at a net loss of $800 a year?

I am new to this as in investing. Not new to real estate or the area, this area grew 9% last year and based on market data I think it will be close to that if not higher again this year. So it is not full speculation that it could be a nice area, more so that it might still take 3-5 years.  

I truly am trying to learn as much as possible and I appreciate your response just curious how you go broke on an $800 loss a year. I am trying to be educated here! So hit me with your knowledge! 

@Linda S.

Thank you for the input, that does seem like a good strategy! For deposits on M2M are you taking a full month of rent? I would love to avoid the eviction process.

So I am newer to the Real Estate investing side, but work as a Realtor®. My question is directed toward seasoned investors, or people who might have some experience investing in what is right now is a low income and depressed area but is essentially being squeezed in between two large and growing, active areas. My guess is that in 3-5 years this will actually be a somewhat desirable area. 

A deal that I analyzed last night: 

Purchase Price: $38,000 (Duplex)  2 - 2/1's

Rehab: $22,000 

ARV: Only $70,000

Rent Potential: $699 (Each) ($1398)

The problem I have is that my guess is vacancy is going to be a huge factor maybe 15+%, but with the cash flow potential and low investment point, is this a good investment? Especially with the potential that the area has? I don't mind playing a long game. Just curious if anyone has any experience with this kind of investing and how there experience was? 

Blessings,

I was curious about that, but the only case I could find on that was that MLOs can not be the agent and loan office on FHAs. Everything else I saw said that you could do almost all other loans.

I have recently been doing some reading on Realtors also being MLO's.  I am currently a Realtor and work with a group of Realtors, and hadn't thought about the profit potential in converting these leads in-house. I guess my question for conversation is this...

I don't want to leave being a Realtor to become an MLO, but am looking for the opportunity to do both (as in not have to go into an institution every day). Does anyone have any information on this? Or have an experience in this? 

I also saw this as a possible added benefit as a grow my own real estate investment portfolio. 

Blessings,

My growing curiosity in wholesaling continues to push me to further research this intriguing element to real estate investing. I know a few people who do it very successfully (as in it's all that they do...). I have no plans of leaving my current job to start wholesaling, I am more focused on buy & hold, but I like to be versed in all areas. 

I would be interested in hearing a few elements and maybe a few different methods? 

1. How do you determine what to offer on a house? (70%) this is the one I see most commonly. [ARV x 70% = (x) then (x) – rehab = (offer)]

2. How do you estimate for repairs? 

3. Do you assign or do you prefer a different method?

Blessings,

I am a 26-year-old Realtor, my wife is 25, just graduated PA School and is now on the job hunt. Before she started school I had a stable job in marketing and with the market still rather low (in 2015) I felt like it would be a good time to try and buy a house. We got extremely lucky and found what might as well have been a foreclosure condition house (but with all major systems working). It took a little leap of faith on her part to trust the possibility of a good eventual outcome, but now we are sitting in a house that is a 2/1 - 1100 sq ft. that we purchased for 72,500 (at the time we used an FHA loan). That information along with the minimal improvements we have made the house would appraise for right around $121,000-124,000.

Here is where I am seeking advice because you can theorize this stuff all day. I want to know from someone who has actually been doing this, and has done it well to give me their advice if it was there primary residence at the moment what they would do?

There is an unfinished garage space that we are going to build out to add a third bedroom and second bathroom (the garage was closed in years ago…). should we refinance the house before we do that to keep the mortgage down when we add the additional bedroom? With that added space we could rent the home for between $1300-1600. Or should we add the space and refinance the house? My fear is that adding the additional bedroom would bring the appraisal up to around $180,000 and at that point you drop below the 1% method for this as a rental property with solid cash flow?

I guess what it boils down to is this…

1. Refi when my wife gets a stable job. Mortgage the house at the 120,000 range and add the additional space, then rent out. More cash flow, less cash money…

2. Add the additional bedroom, refinance around 170-180k… Less cash flow, more cash money.