All Forum Posts by: Brian Miller

@Rania Mutumhe If you are trying to finish and rent out your basement, then there should not be any regulations stopping you from doing that. Unless you have an HOA that does not allow for short term rentals. You could do long term or travel nurses since more HOA's have verbiage not allowing leaves under 30 days long. If you go the LTR rental route, I would recommend having a professional company do a tenant screening process. I've used Landlord Tenant Serices which is a local company and they do excellent work. They cost about $50 and have the applicant pay for it.

I'd recommend having a bathroom, bedroom or open living space, along with a small kitchen so that there is some separation between you and the tenant. 

Hope this helps! 

Hey Lisa, 

I have assisted clients with purchasing STR's here in St. Louis as Air BNB's and travel nurses. I have also ran a property where we did both. I'm happy to connect if you are still looking for a reference!

@Justin Carter

I'm an investor friendly agent who has helped 100+ out of state investors, many from BP, to find investment properties here in STL. Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more about our market, and happy hunting! 

@Samantha Otero, it really depends on the rehab project that you are looking at. If it's a full gut, then $100 a sq ft is a good rule of thumb. If it's a lighter cosmetic rehab then $50 per sq ft usually gets it done. There are items outside of that like roof, electrical panels, HVAC, etc that need to be taken into account for. Those numbers just come from experience or reliable contractors that can give you solid quotes. For closing costs, I would recommend around 8% of your sales price to include agent commissions and your closing costs. I'm not seeing buyers ask for closing costs in this market yet on mid to high level price points. We had a buyer request it on a $135k priced flip, but we raised the sales price by $3k to cover the $6k request. Hope this helps! 

Hey @Lanre Akande, welcome to BP and congrats on starting your RE journey! I have helped 100's of REinvestors invest in the STL market including quite a few house hackers. The process is a bit different than buying a typical home so it's important to work with an agent that understands the process. I would be happy to connect and give some insights on our market and what my clients are currently buying. Let me know if I can be of further assistance! 

@Stephen Williams I use @Chet Hileman with Delmar Financial which is a local bank here in STL. He has helped a majority of my house hacking clients and investors secure loans. He has a great reputation and so does Delmar here locally, which is a big component when facing multiple offer situations. Having a solid pre-approval with a locally trusted lender is crucial. Hope this helps, and let me know if you want to discuss further! 

Hey @Darrius Shepherd, welcome to STL and congrats on the touchdown catch last week! I am a local investor and own/manage some multi families in the St. Louis area. I'm happy to share my knowledge about the market here, along with answer any questions you have. Look forward to connecting! 

@Josh Kliethermes congrats on finishing college! That's a huge step and getting started in RE is a great way to gain financial Independence quickly. I've helped a lot of buyers house hack here in STL and am happy to share info and answer any questions you have. One thing a lot of people look at first is their budget, and then figure out what part of the STL they want to live in. That decision usually depends on where they work, and the type of tenants they want to have living with them in their building. Let me know if there's anything else I can assist with! 

@Joe Mathew I'm from St. Louis and I invest here as do a lot of my clients from Nashville and the coasts. I'm familiar with the areas you mapped out and would be happy to discuss our market if you'd like some additional information? 

@Christopher Wynn With all the red tape that FHA has, it would probably be easier to use a conventional loan. One qualification that you may run into is that the property cannot be bought and then sold to an owner using FHA within 90 days from when the buyer bought it. If you own it and are trying to refi it into an FHA, you would want to speak with a lender who knows their stuff because I have never seen or heard of that done before. Not saying it can't be done, but that it would require some know how to get it to the finish line.