All Forum Posts by: Brett Lee

@Steve Vaughan

4.75. Actually one possible thought I have is to refinance that house to 5.1% but take out a lot of equity so I can use that with my other money to try to pay off my primary house sooner. Any thoughts on that?

@Jay Hinrichs

I don't really want to buy rentals in cheaper out of state housing markets. In my housing market it seems they are so incredibly overpriced that there's no money to be had with renting them out. I am not an expert by any means but from what I'm seeing I would have to assume a lot of debt and risk in order to Simply make a hundred or $200 per month I really I really do not want to get burned when the market turns down and have overpaid on very expensive houses. Maybe I am too much of a worrier?

I have a duplex that I owe $135,000 on that currently generates me $1000 per month in passive income.  My primary house has a mortgage of $329,000.  I recently sold our old primary house and I have around $200,000.  I am trying to figure out if I should use some of the money to pay off the duplex and use the rest of the money to pay down our primary house.  

I realize there are tax benefits and deductions for rental houses.  However, it would be nice to bring in closer to $2000 per month in passive income.  If I brought that in as passive income I would plan on tax deferring as much as I can from my job (Teacher) to keep my overall taxes down and also get me in a better position for retirement.  I am 37 but really do not want to teach another 30 years... so any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

What are your thoughts?  Good idea?  Terrible idea?  Please let me know your thoughts.  

I am trying to figure out if I would have to pay Capital Gains on a house. The house when's our primary home and then we rented it out for three years before moving back. So we have lived in the House 2 out of the last five years but they are not consecutive. Can anybody help me out with being able to definitively figure out if we can sell this house without capital gains or not? I would appreciate any insights or input you have. Thank you very much

Does anyone have links to any products that they really like in regards to flipping houses? The types of products that I'm curious what people are using are kitchen and door knobs and Hardware. Also curious what types of large entry lights people are using? I'm pretty familiar with what the big box stores carry and with the very expensive Custom Shop carry... just curious if there are some things online that people really like. Websites or even specific products that seem to stretch a budget and make things a lot nicer for not a ton more money

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Buckley.

Purchase price: $190,000
Cash invested: $20,000

Purchased 2 small BR houses. Converted both to 2 BR units to increase rent and value.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Getting 2 houses for the price of 1.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

online search

How did you finance this deal?

FHA

How did you add value to the deal?

converted the garages to bedrooms

What was the outcome?

Initially I put a lot of sweat equity. However, now both units are in great shape. New roofs, windows, etc. Should be great investments for next 30 years. Rezoning will be occurring soon and I might even be able to subdivide and sell each house separate!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Bremerton.

Purchase price: $55,100
Cash invested: $62,500
Sale price: $185,000

First flip went from an easy 3 month job to a year and a half project!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Just wanting to get my feet wet in flipping a house (sure looked easy on TV!) . Also, I was naive about how difficult it can be to run a successful flip if trusting contractors who make promises but fail to deliver

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

online real estate search

How did you finance this deal?

all cash

How did you add value to the deal?

full gut, complete remodel from top to bottom, new kitchen, refinished floors, lots, deck, etc...

What was the outcome?

We ran out of cash and energy at the end of this. We were desperate to get out. I was ready to list with a real estate agent but she was out of town so I got a hit off a Zillow listing that I had and sold it for full asking price. What a miracle!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I learned to not take on more than I can handle and manage at a time. To not trust contractors even if family ( I was burned on multiple occasions). Lots of dishonesty and shadiness among contractors. I needed to get really hands on to get this job finished but also relied on help from others! Friends from church came through to help and so did family. There was a lot I learned on this job!!

When this job was finished all I could do was praise God for getting me through it!

@Scott D Burrows What i have heard so far is 6 months of seasoning at new house... I have 10% available for purchasing the house i want to flip. Just trying to get access to additional down payment i will need.

@Randy Janoe Thanks Randy... Do you recommend any commercial lenders? Also what do their rates and terms look like? Thanks

@Andrew Postell The house is going to be our primary. However I am not opposed to cleaning it up and flipping it if numbers make sense. I bought with 10% down because putting 20% down would have tapped a lot of my money. Since i have closed i am wanting to tap into equitt to purchase another house. So far i have heard no because of a 6 month seasoning period. My mortgage on this house is 4.75% ( just closed). I am looking at refinancing at 4.25% and getting out of pmi which will save me about $180 per month. To close on house i want to flip i have been told i need to put 25% down... But right now i only have 10% available for down. Do you know of lenders that allow non owner occupied for 10% down?