All Forum Posts by: Sara Frank

Hi Kyle. I own a few rentals in Baltimore dedicated to traveling professionals. Two of these are renting the room. It is always beneficial for each room to have a bathroom but that won't kill the deal. There are traveling professionals out there looking to keep costs down and don't mind having a room. Make sure you have a smart tv for each room so they can log in to their shows and watch without taking up a living room. Secondly as soon as I get one person in a room I let them know that I am looking to rent out the other room but if they find another travel professional such as another nurse on their unit that wants to rent the other room I'll give them $100 off of their rent for a month. This incentivizes them to find someone they get along with and fill your rental for you as well as creating a harmonious situation as they know they already get along.

You nailed it with the referral program, thats always what I advise because then if there are disputes you can always remind them that they chose that person, not you.

3 Votes

Worcester, Massachusetts

Buy a primary with low down payment loan. Rinse and repeat every few years.

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Padam Neopane:

Thanks Russell,

Do you recommend to have LLC in DC.

LLC is fine if you're OK with rent control. You get "protection" from the LLC, but in reality most people end up commingling funds or doing something to invalidate that veil of protection anyway, and add on rent control on top it might not be worth it.

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Chelsea Price:

Hi! New to this site as well as investing. I recently inherited $200,000 cash and thinking about investing in a STR. I live 24 minutes from the White House and within a 3 hour radius from many viable tourist area options. However, beach towns down south that I would have to fly to if I wanted to check on my property are really pulling at my heart strings. What say you? Invest in my own backyard since I'm new at this or go grab my " cheeseburger in Paradise"?

Depends on what your priority is. If you want true "passive" income, airbnbs/STRs are NOT it, they can be a full time job. I highly suggest staying local for your first deal, it will be far less stressful than making the long term thing work. When it goes well and you learn the ropes, then branch out into your dream beach town. An option I would consider is a midterm rental in the DMV area, it's less management than a STR but affords you more cash flow than long term. Theres a lot of demand for ~90 days-6 month rentals due to hospitals and gov't positions. Plus its good training wheels for your beach house STR

1 Vote

Washington, DC

What type of investment are you looking to buy?

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Guka Kagu:

I'm so confused. I watched so many you tube videos but still I haven't gotten the answer. Is there any specific book that would answer the following questions?

1. How does investors use leverage to buy rental properties? I always hear people saying mortgage debt is good. Don't use your own money. How? Homes are so expensive plus interest rate is so high. Rent isn't that much.

2. Investors/wealthy people don't take out salary. They take out loan. How does that work? Let's say their business is $1 million, they take out $100,000 loan (income), what do they do the next year?

Let's say you have $500,000. Which one is the best option and why?

1.Buy 1 property for $400,000 cash (no mortgage, positive cash flow after expenses)

2. Buy 2 properties 400k each with 225k down for each property (interest rates are so high - it will eat up all the rent).

3. Buy $950,000 home, pay $450,000 cash, $450,000 mortgage. LTR will cover the mortgage and other expenses. STR might be profitable.

Lots to go over here. I'll answer a portion of it -- in general a lot of the cookie cutter advice you see on BP does not apply to all markets. It takes about a 47% down payment to realize cash flow in the Washington DC area. I also like to ignore people saying to use other people's money when it's your first deal. Other than your parents, what person in their right mind would give a brand new investor tens of thousands and expect to get it back? Once you get a few deals under your belt and have a proven track record, then it becomes attainable to invest with less $ out of your own pocket.

Interest rates arent as much of a factor as much as the high cost of homes. Rents are increasing they just arent outpacing home prices. Benefit to buying and holding right now is appreciation vs cash flow. Rates might drop, but home value continues to climb. So (as a roundabout answer), mortgage debt IS good in the way that when you pay it down, you're basically putting your money into a savings account that has a higher yield than a traditional market account.

1 Vote

Washington, DC

Quote from @Paul Georgia:

That's not good at all. PG County is horrible!

Are there exceptions for things like traveling nurses?

Baltimore City has the same laws. I rent mine on a MTR basis and love it. Typical nursing contract is 13 weeks so 90 day requirement is fine

5 Votes

Washington, DC

You'll want to avoid non-warrantable condos, but if it is, then might be worth considering. Also, I see its less than 500 feet so you really wouldn't be able to add extra bedrooms, etc. BUT it's not impossible to do renovations in condos in general. Just need board approval. I know investors who buy large one bedroom units and add bedrooms.

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Our team hosts a meetup quarterly: https://www.meetup.com/DC-REI-Rockstars/

Hope to see you at the next one!

1 Vote

Washington, DC

All Forum Posts by: Sara Frank

Sara Frank has started 15 posts and replied 248 times.

Post: Looking for a Mentor

Post: Renting by the bedroom to 2x unrelated tenants in the same unit? Thoughts?

Post: $40K Suggestions on Investing

Post: LLC in different states for rental property

Post: Invest in my own backyard or another state?

Post: Looking to build my team

Post: Real Estate Leverage

Post: Short term vs longer term rentals in Prince George's County MD

Post: Condo Purchase Opportunity; Hesitant on Purchasing

Post: DC, Maryland, Virginia Area Rentals