All Forum Posts by: Carlos Valencia

Hello Taylor, 

There's many coaching programs out there and many so called real estate gurus lol. I would say to make sure they are doing what they are preaching and not just making money out of their RE coaching. There's also people in the industry that will be willing to teach for free as well. I would say try to see if there's any local Real Estate meetups in your area and start networking with other likeminded people so you can also pick their brain and learn from their mistakes. Another way to find a mentor is to try to offer them help and something of value so you can learn and also help them in return. Paying for a coaching will get you there faster. If you do not find a free or paid mentor you can get there as well but you may run into many expensive hurdles which is ok too but as long as you dont shy away and understand the bigger pictiure that at the end of the day you are learning and gaining that experienced and will be more savy as you continue your journey. At the end of the day you know yourself and you will know what you need to do to make sure you take action. Because people even when paying for coaching or not still don't take action. Don't look at it if you pay you will take action just look at it as if its something you really want to do. This real estate investing is not a race its a journey and it will take time to see any fruits of your labor. If it was easy everyone would do it right? 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hello Benjamin, 

Welcome to BP community. You will definitely find great information and resources here. First thing is to figure out your why? Then try to learn all the different ways you can invest in real estate. There's different strategies when investing in real estate. Long term buy and hold, mid term rentals, short term rentals, fix and flip, wholesale etc... Its almost endless opportunities. Once you learn more about all these different ways then choose the best one that you believe will be the best fit for you that fits your lifestyle and will help you accomplish your goals. Good luck in your journey. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Shari, 

Congratulations on purchasing your first home. Buy and hold strategy is a great way to begin building your real estate portfolio. Since you already bought your current condo the next step is to figure out how much you can rent out your unit upon moving out. The goal is to hopefully make some money upon renting it out or at the very least break even. If once you move out and are negative even $500 per month that's not good. The only good thing is you will have appreciation. The main reason you don't want to be negative upon moving out other than creating cashflow is because it will affect how much you can qualify for on your next home purchase. You don't want to limit yourself unless you have enough liquid cash to cover the difference for what you intend to buy in the future. Just keep that in mind if this will be your strategy moving forward when building your real estate portfolio. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hello Arnold, 

I personally used my 401k to buy my home back in 2017 so I know from experience its a pretty easy process. You simply call your 401k provider and let them know you are trying to borrow money to use as a down payment for your home purchase. There is a limit of how much you can borrow to use it towards a down payment. Typically you can borrow up to 50% of your vested value or up to 50k. I would recommend to check with your 401k bank to make sure. Once you take out the loan you make payments via your payroll every month. What's great about using your 401k is that the payment wont count against your monthly liabilities so it wont affect your borrowing power for a larger mortgage. Hope this helps. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Gabe, 

I am not an experienced flipper but from what I've seen and what I have learned from other experience flippers is that best way to get into real estate investing is by wholesaling. When wholesaling you will learn how to underwrite deals and be able to spot them. The goal for a wholesaler is to find a good deal and bring it to the investor and have the investor buy it and they do all the work while you are able to add your fee as your like the middle man. Depending on how much revenue you are trying to make per deal is how much you will charge. This way you can begin making money in real estate so when your ready to pull the trigger you will already have more knowledge on how to look at a deal and the money to invest in making it happened. One last tip I've heard from flippers is to try to find an experienced flipper/investor that is willing to partner up with you on the deal and use their experience to get the hard money so you can get a lower interest rate so that doesn't eat more into your margin. As a new flipper with no experience Hard money can be really expensive that's why its best to try that approach to partner up. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Joyce, 

Sorry to hear of your current financial situation. Its not easy to be in that position and can be very stressful. Based on your current scenario you would need to qualify to be able to get a HELOC on your home. This requires you to have consistent income because at the end of the day this is a loan you have to pay back. The way the bank looks at your qualification is by looking at your total liabilities including your monthly mortgage payment plus your future payment for the Heloc. If you cannot qualify based on your monthly income to add the Heloc then you wont be able to pull that money out. If your getting unemployment you can use that as your income but again the question is would that be enough income to qualify. Once you get your new job and the lenders reviews your income and sees you can qualify then yes now you can get that Heloc. Just for future advise if you have equity in your home its best to get a heloc ahead of time and just have that credit line open similar to a credit card so you can tap in to it whenever needed weather it be to pay off debt, or invest in your next property or for family emergency. Hope this helps understand more how the process of getting a Heloc works. Last thing I almost forgot to mentioned that lenders can lend you between 75-90% of your loan to value. That is another factor you need to keep in mind. Make sure you have enough equity to pull out compared to how much left is owed on your property. You stated you have about 400k in equity but how much do you still owe?

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

 Remember its loan to Value so that means you can go up to 90% Loan to value. 

Your value is 395k and your loan at 90% to that value is $355,500 - what your current balance remaining is of 325k = $30,500 that is how much your line of equity might be minus closing cost. 

let me know if you still have questions. 

Hi Britney, 

Theres nothing wrong with paying for a coaching course. Coaching will definitely help you expedite your process assuming you are putting everything your learning into play. But if you buy coaching and do not take action then it will be pointless. As long as you know yourself on how you will approach your coaching then find the one that fits best with you and go for it. Another option that can potentially be free is looking for a mentor who is doing what you aspire to do in real estate and see how you can be of value to them so you can learn while helping their business. This would be a win win situation. Or you can try to figure it out on your own but it will be painful process but at least you will have some battle wounds. Take a minute and think about what your overall goal is and write it out like a vision board and find out what it will take to get there. God luck on your journey. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Matthew, 

We can go up to 90% LTV but even at 90% there doesnt seem to be a lot of spread between 90 LTV and what you currently owe. Unless you can do some damage with about 30k which is how much you can potentially get based on your estimated value and remaining loan amount. You may just have to wait until you can get more if you need more. Find out how much you think you need and then run the numbers again to see if it will be enough. Heloc is the best option because even doin a cash out refi your also limited to 70 -80%. Plus you might have a good rate compared to todays market. You might have to consider other sources for your capital to buy your next investment. You can move out of your current and purchase your next property as a primary to get in with low down payment instead of having to put in 20-25% down. If your flexible thats also an option to continue acquiring. Hope this helps you.

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Mitchell, 

Pros is that you can negotiate the price and therefore get a better price on the property. If your buying as owner occupied you can rehab slowly and take your time. Make sure you know you can afford to make the repairs tho because if your buying a fixer and do not have any money left then it will take a longer time to fix it up. 

Con I would say is that you have to do the work or pay someone lol Its a great way to learn about how to rehab properties without having to stress about any timelines. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan