All Forum Posts by: Brian Ristola

Thank you Jon. Appreciated.

Hi Joe,

I used to live next door in Dunbarton...actually bought a place in 02, rehabbed it while living in it till 05 and sold with good profit ( but then again, who didn't during those years). Oddly, we had bought the house from a flipper who'd got the pace at auction.

I havn't checked it out yet - but will soon - The NH Real Estate Investors Association. http://www.nhreia.com/index.html

Some good thoughts.

There is an excellent book which talks about this in an ancient parable-esque way - The Richest Man in Babylon. Two key points are 1) pay yourself first (10% no matter what) and 2) make your money work for you. I think the book was written in the 1920s.

Mike, I think you need to put this in your signature...ha! I have never seen as much brew-ha-ha about an idea stated to help one get a rough idea of the basic profitability of a place.

Ryan's thoughts are pretty on track...as for any adventure where the site isn't critical.

I used to design websites, and had a small biz doing so for a couple years in the early 2000s. I'd take a look at one of the template sites. There is some good stuff out there that won't break the bank and allows you to do your own content management. Probably will be able to put something together quicker that way then working with a designer going through rough drafts.

Be careful living in the place that you are rehabbing. It is surprising how comfy a place without sheetrock and wires coming out of the walls can be. I would think it may be worth the extra money to rent and keep the workspace just that, a workspace.

My wife and I have been living in our home that we have been building for the last two years. Notice the present tense.

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere. Hoping to get info on what to expect in the following situation.

I would like to purchase a rental property (less than 4 units) with cash, fix up and get a mortgage on it.

Will the mortgage companies look at the property as commercial if it is held by a single member LLC?

Can I still get a conventional loan? If not, what can I expect for rates?

This is pretty interesting.

In parts of this industry (REI investing educational products, etc...) we seem to be given a line that is optimistic at best, and typically misleading.

I am happy that this isn't the place for that junk.

Mike and boylank - keep letting us know your experience. A splash of cold water on some of our over-optimism is a good thing. We want to do better than the rest of the investors who are just plodding along only paying off the mortgages on their rentals.

Hi Goodvalley...

I am not much for the stockmarket myself...a little too hand's off for my liking.

Couple thoughts:

Spread it around:
With savings like that, it may behoove you to spread it out over a few places. With $320K, maybe over 7-10 homes. The beauty of real estate investing is getting the benefits (appreciation, rental income) with only having a small amount into the property and not having to own the property outright.

Limiting liability:
If you have a 30K downpayment into a 300K home (LLC) and have a tenant sue you, there isn't much to go after. If you own it outright, that is another thing.

I would agree if you are looking at much of the Boston rentals on the market using the MLS.

Check out some of MikeOH's other posts and you will get a vibe for his approach. Doing the numbers up here in NH, I am seeing that listed pricing for the properties on the MLS are at a cost where you are barely breaking even if you finance 90% and have no major expenses right off the bat. (and that is using the expenses that are provided in the listing - undocumented).

Need to buy lower than market value to make this work....otherwise you are only hoping for appreciation.