All Forum Posts by: Corby Goade

If you ever see someone offering terms that are too good to be true, you might as well just post your SS# and banking information on IG. It's always a scam.

A good GC will have their own contract for you to review and you could potentially negotiate from there to see if you can figure out what works for both of you. 

I'm going to go against the grain here- in most, not ALL, cases, credible contractors won't just use the materials you provide. Good contractors want to be able to guarantee their work, and if you are providing them with garbage materials they can't do that. Not to say that you'd pick crappy materials, but contractors with experience have manufacturers and suppliers that they know guarantee their products and that helps them know they can stand behind their work. 

Just food for thought- It's not always in your best interest to provide all of the materials, negotiate too hard, refuse to pay a deposit, etc. In many cases, the contractors who agree to that kind of thing are either inexperienced, desperate or scammers. 

You didn't say anything about whether the lease or local laws actaully allow you to do this. 

Always charge market rents. No one will ever thank their landlord for doing them a favor- at some point, they'll have to pay market rents and you'll be the evil slumlord when that day comes, no matter how nice you've been up until that point. 

Well....what are the numbers? Isn't that what it's all about. 

Side note- you could have a killer satantic ritual themed airbnb. Looks like this one is ready to list now!

 I've been in this situation a billion times- honestly, the answer is very simple. Their personal problem does not effect your contract in any way. One of them can move out, but that doesn't eliminate their responsibility to pay the rent according to the contract they signed. Doesn't effect the deposit either. 

Tell them to figure it out between themselves. They don't need to notify you about anything other than if they want a different roommate to move in. 

If one moves out and you get half of the rent, reject the payment. Rent is paid in full, doesn't matter where it comes from. 

If they want to bring on a new roommate, you screen them like anyone else and if they qualify, great- you can talk about amending the lease at that point, but that is only a courtesty. 

Imagine if landlords did this to tenants (and I know some do...I'm responding to another post like that right now...). You have a personal issue- car engine blows up, so you tell your tenant that they need to pay double the rent for one month so that you can get your car fixed? C'mon. 

Don't make their personal problem YOUR personal problem. Be professional, kind and firm. 

 Exactly. Expensive and desirable aren't synonymous. If you can't get a bank to lend you money on a property, that might be a sign. 

Most lenders don't do HELOCs on rentals, but there are plenty that do. The terms are different, so you might run in to some issues there. 

YMMV, but generally speaking, the LTV for SFH rentals maxes out around 75% and MFH is 65%. If your LOC is close to that now, I would't touch it. You'll also pay about 1% higher interest on an investment HELOC.

Always better to do each loan solo. Closing a new loan right now and the underwriter is making me close a HELOC because of the number of loans I have in my name. We need to go back and refi some just in one of our names in order to free up some space.

There are DTI and underwriting challenges of course, but do the best you can in keeping loans in only ONE person's name.

I agree with OP 200%. It seems like it's less risky because it's cheap. 

But why is it so cheap?

Supply and demand- if there were demand-, it wouldn't be so cheap. If there weren't such a big supply, it wouldn't be so cheap. 

Same on the rental side- demand- will be low, so you have to take on less than desirable tenants, which are costly and time consuming. 

A couple years later, repairs, vacancy and turnover costs and you've actually lost money every month and you've decided to sell and buy in a more desirable area, but the property hasn't appreaciated, you have to fix it up to sell and incur transactional costs and you lose even more money. 

Contrary to popular belief, this is actually an advanced strategy for people with lots of experience and resources, it's a really tough place to start. Most people who start here cash out, lose money and are burnt on rentals and give up. They think LTR doesn't work, but it's really just the strategy and location.

 There's competition everywhere, you won't escape that in any market. 

I think this will be much more of a challenge than you think. Even if you have an excellent team built with plenty of trust, it's really difficult to do this without having lots of face time and rapport building. 

If you already have that where you live, why put those profits at risk? Double down and scale in your own market and lift your current team up.