All Forum Posts by: Bily Elliott

Talk to a mortgage broker about an FHA loan, you can get one with a 3.5% down payment. Do some research on "house hacking", buy a duplex, get a tenant on the other side to pay your mortgage and get a roommate if needed to help save more money. You could possibly buy a 100K property with your current 3K in cash. If it were me though I would save up a few thousand more so you have some money to fall back on just in case you run into any problems.

I paid 20K cash for a 2/1 SFR that was a foreclosure in 2009, put less than $2,000 to get it rent ready, moved a renter in the next month and he has been there ever since. He has turned into a headache over the last few months and I dont think he will be there much longer, but I would say so far it has been wonderful.

I will be starting over again in less than two years and here is my short story and plan.  I filed bankruptcy and had my home foreclosed on, it went back to the bank and my four year wait period to buy an investment property (I already have a primary home, my wife isnt going to move so no house hacking for me) will be over in April of 2017.  I am FINALLY in a place where I can put some money aside to invest, I put money in my 401K, a little into a TD Ameritde account each month, pay all my bills, keep my wife happy and I am able to put $1,000 per month aside for real estate.  I believe at the start of next year I will be able to bump that up to $1,500 per month.  So, in April of 2017 I will have 30K (the exact number you are asking about) to buy some property.  I am going to be a slow and steady guy after my bankruptcy/foreclosure (I was newly married, we just bought a house and then my wife at the time decided she wanted a divorce, I couldnt afford the house on my own, couldnt sell it in 2011, so it went back to the bank).  Here in Tulsa Oklahoma my plan in to put 25% down on 100K homes that rent for 1000-1200 per month.  I will take the cash flow from that home, add it to the $1500 I am saving per month, then buy another 100K home with 25% down in 2018.  I plan to do that four times, by 2020 I hope to have four rental properties cashflowing $200+ per month.  I will just relax for a few years, pile up cash and then move into multifamilies.  

Well, hopefully I can refinance my current rental property anyway. To make a long story short, I paid cash for a cheap forclosure (20K) in 2009, put a few thousand into renovations and then placed a tenant at $500/month and he has been there ever since (I would say it has been a heck of an investment so far!). I got married shortly after that, got divorced within a few months (that is a story of its own!), spent too much money, filed bankruptcy, and had a different home foreclosed on. My bankruptcy was discharged in 2011, the lender FINALLY took posession of the house in March of 2013 (so just over two years now), and I have really made a HUGE change in the way I handle money now. I am re-married, we paid cash for our current home, my credit score is way up, I am making good money, bills are very low and my DTI is very high. I have contacted 3 local banks and credit unions to see what they can do for me. I would love to get some money out of the rent house to start doing some BRRRR. I have two big things going against me, first, the house is probably only worth around 40K, so it will be a small loan that they may not want to mess with and second, my bankruptcy/foreclosure is still not too far off (2 years I have read and heard is the minimum to start to get some financing again). I am wondering if anyone else has tried to get some equity out of a small home shortly after a bankruptcy/foreclosure and how it went for them.

@Clay Smith I dont see anything on your website about dad/mom loan terms, is it still there?

Thanks everyone!  I have done a lot more reading, when the time comes to fill the unit I will be happy with the person I chose. 

So about 5 years ago I bought a small SFR. I have an employee who had worked for me for several years, and he had been renting at his current place for many years. I knew there would be some problems renting to an employee, but for the first 4 plus years, everything was great. No late rents (its hard to see your landlord 5 days a week and not pay lol), he fixed small problems, I didnt raise rents because we had a really good thing going for both of us. I had to let him go late last year and I was concerned that this time would come. He has been paying late,yada yada yada, nothing horrible, but I taold him rent was going to go up in August and he said he couldnt afford it and would be looking for a new place. I know its a good thing for both of us, but I am a little worried about my next steps. First things first, I WILL NOT rent to another employee. This went good, but I can see it being a problem in the future. I have been a landlord for 5 years, but now I feel like I am just getting started. We just had handshake agreement about rent and such, so he was pretty much month to month. I want to be more professional to protect myself, to be better organized and be more on top of what is going on. After he moves out, I will get the house ready to be rented again, then what lol. I need applicants, but what is the best way to screen them? I need a lease agreement, what all does it need to include, and where is the best place to get one? I have talked to one PM company and they said the rent here is not enough for them to take me on as a new client, so I will continue to self manage.

That makes sense in that it would limit the "pool" of items that a creditor could go after. 

Should one LLC own multiple rental properties? If so, I dont see that as being much better than having them in your own name. Do you suggest an LLC for each property? If so, that would get expensive.

OK, I have done some reading, I will be getting him his 5-day notice to quit by tomorrow.  I guess I was just hoping that he would get things turned around and I would have another 5+ years of on time pay, or I guess I could hope to win the lottery too lol.  Thanks for all the advice.