All Forum Posts by: Brennen McConnell

I'm wondering if it would make sense to source modular homes in China and have them shipped to and assembled in markets like Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham. Did anybody on this thread look into that? After poking around on Alibaba, the modular homes made in China seem to be very reasonably priced, especially the ones that are made using old containers. There would be a lot of work in making sure they are up to code, but after looking at the Memphis Unified Development Code, for example, nothing jumped out at me immediately that would prevent you from doing this if you have a vacant lot, zoned residential, with utilities. 

Thank you @Joel Owens . We were never planning on using 100% financing but then the offer was made to us and we pursued it until this point when it became evident they are scammers. Luckily we didn't pay the lender any of their fees so this was a very valuable learning experience instead. 

@Odie Ayaga @Jay Hinrichs Thank you both! This is my first time using hard money so glad to have avoided a potentially nasty scenario. 

@Jeff S. Very helpful feedback. Thank you. They were asking to pay 2 points up front and did not want to close through a title company. This helps confirm what I suspected as it was different than what all the other lenders I had been speaking to were requesting. Here is the alleged spammer for others to avoid: B.T.S. Investment LLC https://btsinvestmentllc.com/ . They may also reach out to you through LinkedIn profile for a George Mark which I suspect is fake: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-mark-49536a199/

I am talking to a few different hard money lenders to close on some properties that we will be doing a BRRRR on, and one of them is offering very attractive terms with 100% financing of both the purchase price and rehab budget. It seems a little bit too good to be true and now it seems my suspicions are being confirmed as they are asking me to pay their 2 points up front instead of using a title company to close. Is this abnormal for a hard money lender to ask this?

@Chace Fraser @Melissa Kirchhoff Thank you both very much for your valuable advice.   

Thank you very much @Melissa Kirchhoff for sharing your thoughts! I should have mentioned my target price, which is between $50,000 - $100,000. More specifically, I'm trying to find a market where a "house hack" would easily work on a duplex/triplex/fourplex, generating positive cash flow with owner occupied financing at 5% down. I agree with all of your points regarding markets with universities and large employers, but am trying to narrow down to some ideal markets that would more easily allow entry at an optimal rent to value ratio that would cover the mortgage and generate positive cash flow even with only 5% down. 

I will be moving back to the US from overseas next year. I have a "location-independent" job, so I can work from any location in the US. So I want to move to a city where I can find the best deals to employ the "Buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat" (BRRRR) strategy. I'd be curious to hear from others if they could move anywhere in the US to find BRRRR deals, where would it be?

Hi All,

My name is Brennen and I have just recently joined BiggerPockets. I joined because I am looking to expand my knowledge and network in the world of property investing in order to take it to the next level. You see, over the past year I have invested in 3 very modest but positive cash flowing single family homes in 3 different states. I like the extra monthly cash flow, but it certainly isn't enough to claim "financial freedom". I plan to refinance those 3 properties in 3-5 years and hopefully acquire 3 more properties with the proceeds, which will of course increase my cash flow even more and get me a step closer to financial freedom. But I don't want to wait that long before putting things into a higher gear. So I guess my main motivation for joining this site is to find ways to continue investing in property, despite having put most of my free cash on hand into these 3 investment properties. 

I am looking forward to joining discussions and exploring the great resources this site has to offer in order to find some solutions!

Brennen