All Forum Posts by: Celine Crestin

Odd...I confirmed with my lender that as long as your owner occupying one side FHA is allowed and usable. :) Maybe your lender assumed you'd be renting both sides?

Once you have some working knowledge of investing and know roughly how you wish to proceed, I would suggest connecting with an excellent realtor in your area to help guide you and find you great deals. You can connect with investor savvy agents via bigger pockets and ensure you are working with someone who will be an asset to you.

I am not a loan officer, but I believe as long as you are planning to move to the new property as your primary, you could use FHA again. However, conventional has two loan programs with 3% or 5% down that may also work for you. I would speak with your preferred lender of choice to see what options may be available to you.

Congrats on this new journey for your life! I was dual career for 2 years until I had enough saved to quit and take the leap myself when I first started (I was a single mom). I will tell you what I tell all my new agents - you will get back what you put out. Your success will be completely dependent on how consistent and purposeful you are in your daily work activities. Focus on coming from contribution and creating win-win scenarios and you will see great success. I will say I know agents who had business immediately and others (like myself) who took almost the entire first year to really get ramped up and seeing sales. Feel free to PM me if you ever want to brainstorm or have questions!

I would check with multiple lenders to see if any can make it work. If not, she could also possibly consider buying with a bridge loan and refinancing once she has 2 years of filed tax returns documenting the income. You would need a good lender to ensure she *will* be able to refi when the time comes.

I would encourage you to think about your client base that you are targeting and what works for you as a consumer. Put yourself in their shoes. Would a run of the mill, boring postcard draw your attention and motivate you to call? It wouldn't for me. I often don't even look at postcards unless they are unique/different and draw my eye. Letters *may* be more likely to be opened, but that also depends on how it's done. I get soliciation/direct mail letters and can spot them a mile away usually and just toss them. Sometimes they are very well done and peak my interest, so I'll at least look at them. Is the same true for you? Then ripoff and duplicate what works for you! 

I find the most success when pairing my direct marketing with events and/or gifts. Events are much more memorable and allow you direct interaction with the people you are trying to convert into clients. Especially when you send fun/different postcards; often the consumers bring the postcard with them to the event (which means not only did they read it, they held on to it for weeks!) Small gifts/items are also super memorable - when was the last time you got a gift in the mail or at your door? :)

Hope that helps!

I do fix and flips and the remodel cost will vary wildly based on your area, what and how much you hire out for (vs doing yourself, if anything), what work needs to be done and the finishes you choose. Impossible to give you an estimate without a lot more information. 

I would advise you contact a real estate attorney. There are a variety of ways to structure his ownership interest, but how to handle his funds after the fact creates another factor. 

As mentioned, this is called Arbitrage. I do not recommend this for my clients as it's a huge liability for you as the owner. They just want to profit off short term rentals without purchasing the property themselves. It can be done, but what would be the real benefit to you? 

Great job on saving up and your business endeavors! I think it's really important you reach out to a trusted lender partner that services your area and create a plan. Even if you BRRRR, you'll need to refi and that will require an improved credit score. My lenders here will guide my clients and provide them a step by step action plan to improve their scores. I feel certain a lender in your area can do the same. Good luck!