All Forum Posts by: Bryan O.

I talk about it ALL THE TIME! What I make sure to do is not let it interfere with my work. I still perform above the standard and I have only ever had 1 person (my direct lead) who seems to get all weird, "Expanding the slum, huh?" I think he is moody because he is heavily into stocks/bonds and the traditional way of work until you've "earned" retirement. Maybe I'm reaching above my station because I am many years younger and will retire before his retirement countdown app tells him he can?

I digress... I think it's great to talk about it IF your work culture allows it. I have generated a number of potential lenders or future partners based on finding other interested coworkers, and one I now turn to with tough questions about landlording because he has owned many rentals for many years.

Hi Matt. Welcome to BP! While it is still possible to find deals in the Denver area, there are slim pickings. If you are coming in with cash you have a much better chance of getting your offer accepted. If you are contingent on selling your home then you may have problems competing with all the other buyers out there.

I am in Lakewood currently and you can find property for that price. I can't speak to if you would like to live in the neighborhood or not. If you're coming from Aurora, you probably wouldn't mind  ;)

The market in CoSprings is doing pretty well. They are getting quite a few new jobs (~2,500) to the South end (the airport) over the next couple of years. I expect that values and rents in those areas are going to improve fairly well over the next few years because of that.

If you are planning to live in this property, you really need to decide 2 things:

1) Do I want to live there? This would be your home and Lakewood is pretty far from CoSprings. Do you have work considerations? Personal preferences, etc.?

2) Do the numbers work? You can find properties in both places that work, and you can certainly find those that don't work.

"Do the math and the math will tell you what to do." -Russell Gray (Real Estate Guys Radio Show)

Best of luck and welcome again to BP.

I just closed FHA on a 3-unit. 1-4 unit properties are all "residential" and not "commercial" so your FHA can go up to 4 units.

Best of luck finding a new lender ;)

I pay for a regular VOIP line. It costs $1/month to have my DID (the phone number). Apps for the cell phone are free, so I can make/take calls on it using that number as the caller ID. You can set up ring groups, so if you want all calls to ring to your VOIP phone at home, your cell phone, and your computer, you can do that. Want your voice mail sent to an e-mail address? No problem.

The only difficulty is with texts. They work, but I don't like how they break up larger texts into smaller texts (they come through e-mail). I use voip.ms as my provider and I've never had any difficulty in the 2 years I've been with them. I even have foreign phone numbers and they work like a charm.

I'm with @Skyler Smith on this one. Talk to various loan officers. There are allowed reasons to buy a different unit. Every lender is different, some better than others. I'd steer clear of the cosigning with a friend.

It seems to me like you only need a lending partner. You are doing all the stuff, your partner is just bringing money to the deal.

In this case, I would structure it pretty much like it is: a private money loan to you while you flip a property. He is your lender, secured by the property. You are the flipper.

In this scenario, you would pay him whatever the loan terms are, for example: 14% interest only monthly payments until month 8 where you cash him out after selling your flip.

If you've been living in the double wide for 2 years of the last 5 you will not have to pay taxes on it because it is your residence, not an investment property.

If you plan to do flipping, then sell and buy is probably the better strategy. If you are trying to build wealth, I'd rent it out and use that income to help fund more investment properties. Just make sure that whatever banks you plan to use will allow you to claim the rental income based on lease. Many of them will not allow it until you've been a landlord for 2 years.

Really it will depend on what your long-term strategy is. Both ways have pros and cons; you have to marry that up to your goals.

Check the tenant leases. I've seen a few that say that if the property sells the lease is terminated.

I closed FHA on a 3-unit. The only unit that would fit my family was occupied. I made my offer contingent on the seller incentivizing the current tenant out of their 1-year lease. I wasn't about to eat those costs ;)

I use Mike McCollum or Jeff Wright.

I sent you a message with their phone numbers.

Yes, but what did YOUR attorney tell you? Do you buy a used car because the salesman guarantees that it's in great condition? Or do you have another party look it over?

A lease is a lease. Every situation is different, so there may be reasons to simply bend over for them, but you are enabling and enforcing their behavior and making all the other landlords out there have to work that much harder to compensate.