All Forum Posts by: Steve Smithy

I don't know why all these people seem ok with a tenant MODIFYING THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM of a unit.  If I have a indoor tomato plant that I want to grow indoors, I don't change the electrical so I can have 24x7 grow lights!  Ignoring the legal issues right now, just thinking about someone growing enough plants that they have to put out tarps, fans, lots of lights, run scaffolding or something from the ceiling to support all these plants, is ridiculous.  I've seen plenty of home remodel shows (holmes on homes has an episode) where the owner came by to  discover an illegal grow operation and the humidity/mold/electrical completely destroyed their unit.  No way in hell would I rent to them, no matter how much extra they were paying.

I am pretty sure you can grow MJ without all that crap, its a plant that grows in the wild so if this was really about just a little for personal use they wouldn't need that junk. DO NOT RENT TO THEM.

My experience is that unless you are doing commercial loans the banks won't want one mortgage for multiple properties.  Find a lender that will lend on the lower purchase price for each and get 2 separate mortgages.  That is what I had to do anyway!

Honestly I wouldn't invest in the Boston area right now, there are so many people that don't have anywhere to park their cash, so they are buying properties with such slim margins.  You'd be better off buying a cheaper place and then investing the money right now.

But yes, this time of year is dead for real estate deals, wait 2 months and it should change!

I don't think the 1031 necessarily matters, if they have the funds and approval and don't need to sell the other property for the loan it wouldn't matter to me.  I'd consider it a solid offer.

If it is a good BRRR there are lots of investors now looking! You should be able to find people as the market was saturated for awhile.

Ok @John Warren that's good to know!  So as long as the bank is ok with me treating it as an investment and not my primary residence it doesn't matter what kind of mortgage.  Thank you!

The previous property was owned in my personal name.  So you are saying that I should not have the replacement with my wife even?  Or is it just OK that it is still in my personal name (but also has her name)?

Can you shed any light on what the bank might care about?  They asked me if it will be primary residence since that is the best rate and I told them no, but otherwise will the IRS care about the mortgage type?

Deals are hard to find.  As long as you aren't cash-poor and have the bandwidth to handle them, the more leads you have the better!  Just don't stretch yourself too thin and work on picking the best of the deals you come across.

Hi Harrison,

It is extremely hard to find any kind of cashflow deal around Boston. The rental markets are very expensive and the 1% rule is nowhere near possible. You might want to consider house-hacking a bit outside 128 and get a home with as many bedrooms/baths as possible and live in that to build equity/cash to start. If you have free time, you could get your REI license and work part-time for a real estate agency for awhile. The easiest way to get some extra cash in Boston real estate is to work for one of the apartment rental companies and see for yourself how the units are and how much they go for. PM me and I can give you more details about some that I know.

You'll never be comfortable, your first deal is the most important just because it starts you off investing!

So they are sending you the leads that they previously would pass on?  So they are giving you leads they consider junk and you can hopefully find someone that can use it as not-junk?

Can you clarify what you need help with?  If your website is going to be receiving lots of leads you need a way to turn them into sales... what was your original plan?  To wholesale these deals?