All Forum Posts by: Brett Chandler

@Mathew Wray good thoughts, thanks for the feedback! I've spent some time researching and coming up with a plan to ‘present a case' to my bride. She basically said ‘you're smart, but we're not doing that'. Looks like we'll just be saving up to start on our BRRRR in a few years. It kills me to waste that precious time building up our portfolio, but it beats being single ;)

@Shaun Weekes Fair enough. My plan would be to kick that HELOC to the curb ASAP, but I can see how that could bite you if you hit the repayment period and haven't touched the principal yikes!

@Shaun Weekes thanks for the response. I couldn’t tag you in my reply, but you can see it ^up there^ if you’re interested. Thanks again!

@Alain Labrada thanks for the response. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to ask that question ;)  Yours is a strategy that makes a lot of sense mathematically.

For me, the answer is more personal than mathematical. I don't want to extend myself to the point that I can't afford to pay for all of my liabilities on my monthly income. I also feel more comfortable getting my feet wet as a new investor than completely jumping in, so to speak. Another thing is that if I was going to finance with 20-25% down, the property might not even cash flow. With the interest only HELOC, I would be able to avoid financing costs and the more aggressively I pay down the principal, the more it cash flows and the faster it's paid off. I may be way off base here, that's just how it works in my head.

Hey there! My name is Brett. I have been doing some research in the articles and forums here. This is my first post. I have some questions and ideas about how to get into the investment property game. I’m hoping that some of you experienced folks can offer some guidance, criticism, or just shoot holes in my plan. Let me start with a little background. I’m 32, married with 3 kids (7 months - 7 years), living in the Portland, OR area. I’m a public employee, eligible to retire in 2040. My goal is to build up a portfolio with a handful of rentals by the time I retire to create passive income in retirement to either enjoy, give away, or reinvest to create generational wealth. 

I have some construction background and am fortunate enough to have a work schedule that would allow me to buy a distressed property, flip, and hold. That will be my primary means of investing in the future. I won’t have the time to commit to that for 5ish years (when all the kids are in school). In the meantime, I’m looking at investing in something more “turnkey”. 

My thought is to take out a HELOC on my home (150-200K), and use it to pay "cash" for a 150k condo (150-200k single family homes don't exist in this area without the need for significant TLC). Then, I would use the rental income to cover the HELOC payments and aggressively pay down the principal with my own contributions. Once I have the HELOC at a zero balance, I would repeat the same process, but more quickly with the added rental income of the first unit. Then rinse and repeat until I have the time to commit to a rehab.

Well, that post ended up being a bit longer than I meant for it to. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I would really appreciate any feedback you have. Thanks!