All Forum Posts by: Brendan Miller

Congrats Roger, doubled in appreciation is quite the bonus! How many years did it take to double?

@James Barnes, I'm also a local rental investor with properties in Tempe and Gilbert. For me, I'd say it definitely depends on: 1) Your Long Term Goals (i.e. do you want to hold rentals long term), and 2) Does the property cash flow? 

If the property doesn't cash flow (i.e. cover your mortgage payment, insurance, HOA, PM cost, other expenses) then I'd say it probably doesn't make sense to hold long term unless you're expecting that area to appreciate heavily in the future (i.e. future development, etc), especially since you mentioned you're moving back to the Midwest and should be able to find better cash flowing rental properties there. You do have a great long-term mortgage rate though, so as long as you're covering your primary costs mentioned above you'd still be getting the benefits of mortgage paydown over time, appreciation over the long-term (holding through the hypothetical market cycles ahead), and tax benefits.

I would recommend sitting down with a couple of potential Property Mgmt companies about potentially listing your property. They'll be able to provide you details on monthly costs, rental comps, their processes, etc to help you evaluate your decision. If you don't feel comfortable afterward regarding holding your property as a rental, then that might help you make your decision. I have a couple of PM contacts that I can share if you'd like, so feel free to message me directly if so. 

As for AirBnB, I considered it myself for a condo that I own on Tempe Town Lake. I recently decided to go with another long term tenant instead because I wanted more time to research the STR process before I dove in. There are companies that provide turnkey STR management (managing bookings, cleanings, correspondence, etc), so that may be an option to consider as well if the numbers work.

@Doug McVinua, I was born and raised in Storm Lake. Lived there until I went to college at UNI in Cedar Falls.

@Doug McVinua, I’m an Iowa native too and also live in Gilbert!

@Joseph Greer, I also live in Gilbert and am a buy and hold rental property investor. I would recommend doing a primary residency first if you don't already own. You can pick a primary for 3.5% down using an FHA loan. A duplex or multiunit property is a great way to go since you can get a residential loan on properties up to 4-units, but I'm not sure if that works with your family situation.

The other advice I'd give is make sure you are living on a budget and saving up for investment property down payments in the future if you're serious about it. Most lenders will require a 15% down payment on investment properties, and that'll require PMI which is expensive on investment properties, but that highly depends on your personal financial status. Down payments of 20% or more will eliminate PMI. Most lenders will likely require you to carry a reserve account (i.e. 6 months of expenses on hand), my particular lender requires 6 months, which I'd recommend anyways.

As for REIAs, there is a PHX REIA Facebook group that you can join which is a good way to make local connections and staying active like this in the BP forums!

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions or would like to discuss further!

I live in Gilbert and can provide good local input related to location of properties, etc. I use a property management company (On Q Property Management) for two of my local residential investment properties but they also do multifamily. Feel free to PM me if you’d like to discuss in more detail or if I can help you out further in your pursuit.

Without knowing the size of the roof or more detailed scope, at first glance I'd say yes it seems very high and you should shop around. For this size of project, you should get at least 3 quotes and compare them all against each other to ensure they are all pricing the same scope of work. Good luck!

Definitely double-check with your tax professional, but I'd guess that it would depend on how the units are split up in regards to the title on the property. If both units are included under 1 title, then I found imagine it would fall within the rule.