All Forum Posts by: Beth Blankenbicker

Sometimes I arrive at a decision not by choosing an option but by eliminating all the other options. Maybe make a list of all the different ways to get started in real estate wholesaling, flip, buy and hold, house hack, etc.

Now eliminate what doesn't make sense, for example house hacking is an excellent way to get started but if you are straight up unwilling to live with a roommate or neighbor/tenant then cross that off.

Myself I can eliminate wholesaling because I work two W-2 jobs and I don't have the time to chase leads and if I'm making any phone calls its at 2 a.m. on my lunch break (nightshift) which I'm sure would not go over well with most people. 

Now with the shortened list break them down like buy and hold you could buy with traditional financing, DSCR loan, BRRR. If you don't have capital for the 20% down for traditional loans eliminate that. Keep eliminating until you have just a few options left.

Once you have narrowed it down to 2 or 3 options that COULD work for you choose ONE and focus on it until you master it. Once you master it then allow yourself to explore another option. There are so many different ways to approach real estate investing its easy to spin your wheels and gain no traction. (Ask me how I know this!!)

Anyway hope that helps.

I had a "beep" that I could not locate. Changed every battery in every smoke detector TWICE, wandered around the house for hours looking for it. Finally I got fed up and started systematically removing things from the house- walked every single smoke detector out the door and placed them in the back of my car, unplugged everything that could be unplugged. By eliminating every potential in the house I was able to narrow down my search and found an old carbon monoxide alarm that had been stuffed in the back of a closet. Hope that helps.

 I will listen to that podcast- it is wise to learn from others mistakes 

Hello. Haven't posted for a while. I'm still very new to investing and I was looking at both Tennessee and Ohio for a buy and hold or BRRR and I'm having difficulty deciding which one would be better to start with. Can anyone weigh in?

Funds are a bit limited right now- I have a chunk of money currently tied up in litigation (not real estate related and I can't really go into any details) so I was trying to wait until that was finished but it's taking longer than I expected so I'm looking to see if I can get something going in the meantime.

 I would try to look for hospitals that relied heavily on travel nurses even before the pandemic, these will be your most stable markets going forward. If you can, find hospitals that offer multiple contracts- i.e. are they hiring one travel nurse at a time or ten?  A lot of hospitals are trying to phase out traveling nurses right now but we are seeing a trend that they will phase out travel nurses and then in a few months start hiring them again when they realize they cannot meet their own staffing needs. The spring and summer months tend to slow down for travel contracts and as a result the contract rates fall too but the fall/winter picks back up when the RSV/Flu/Covid season begins. The location should be within easy driving distance to the hospital but also a safe area, its better if the location is within easy driving distance to multiple hospitals as you can increase your pool of applicants. You can advertise on Furnished Finders, there are also specific Facebook groups geared towards travel nurse housing. As for furnishing- comfortable mattress, good blackout curtains are a must, fully stocked kitchen. Recently a travel nurse was complaining that they rented a place with a fully stocked kitchen but the kitchen had no cookie sheets, muffin tins, measuring cups or spoons, another nurse might not care about those things if they do not cook/bake but for that nurse it was important. Above and beyond would be things like a blender, an instant pot- some nurses travel with these things because, to them, they are must have items but if the nurse is flying into their next contract they are very limited on what they can bring with them.

Above all else PLEASE take into consideration that travel nurse "contracts" are volatile at best. A nurse will uproot his/her entire family, travel hundreds or thousands of miles to their next contract, sign paperwork and hand over thousands of dollars for a place to live and find out THE NEXT DAY that their contract has been canceled. Personally I will not sign any lease that does not have a generous release clause and I instruct other travel nurses to do the same. If the contract gets canceled then we don't have a job, if we don't have a job we are not getting paid, if we are not getting paid then how are we supposed to pay our rent? Being locked into a 13 week lease for thousands of dollars with no income is a lose-lose situation.

Read Avery Carl's book Short Term Rental, Long Term Wealth, I think you will find the information very useful 

@Tomas Valladares 20 months was just a wild guess. If you want to send me a private message with the exact numbers I can try to help you pinpoint a more exact dollar amount and timeline or if you prefer just play around with the calculator I’m sure you can figure it out

Looking at a first flip asking price is $325k, estimated repairs $40, estimated ARV $450k

Using the 70% rule I would offer no more than $315k, correct? My realtor thinks a full price offer and he is confident it will resell for at least $450 if not more it I am trying to be conservative in my numbers- generous budget for rehab, conservative in ARV

Since this is my first flip I want it to be successful, worst case scenario I break even. If I have to cash out refi based on the ARV I could hold it as a rental or potentially a short term rental or even house hack it for a couple of years (I currently rent and could easily carry the mortgage even with these horrible interest rates)

Thoughts?

How long are you planning on living in the house yourself? If its for at least a couple of years you can pay extra on the mortgage towards the principal so when you do refinance at a lower interest rate (though who knows when that will happen) your loan amount will be smaller and it may cash flow at that time. Or say if your rent or mortgage would normally be $1000 out of pocket and now you're paying $300 out of pocket you're saving $700 a month so throw that $700 into a savings account and you can put a big down payment on your mortgage when you refinance to make it cash flow. There is also the potential to raise rents. 

If you go to https://www.calculator.net/mor... you can play with the numbers- like how fast will your mortgage be paid off if you pay an extra $50 or $100 a month towards principal. If you have a loan at $250k, 30 year mortgage at 6.5% interest and you pay an extra $500 a month towards principal the loan would be paid IN FULL in a little over 16 years. Pay attention to the amortization schedule- if your goal is to move out within two years you can see how aggressively you need to pay extra to get it down to where it will cash flow so maybe you only need to pay an extra $500 a month for the first 20 months or so. 

I think you're on the right track. I hope that made sense. 

@Julia Havia Have you considered a STR management company like Evolve? I cannot vouch for them personally but it might be worth looking into- you are required to furnish it but then they handle all bookings, coordination with cleaners and handy man services for minor repairs, etc, and they have additional insurance to cover property damage.

Maybe someone on this thread has personal experience with them and can weigh in?