All Forum Posts by: Chris Piette

Good afternoon BP!

As the title states I am soon to be leaving active duty with the Marine Corps after 8 years and will be moving back the the great state of Wisconsin, Green Bay to be specific.

Scenario:

I have about 8 months left and am looking to finance a duplex using my VA home loan, with the intent of house hacking it..

I recently closed my first conventionally funded investment property in Milwaukee, so currently I don’t have the funds to just run a conventional loan “house hack”.

I have submitted pre approval requests to 4-5 VA loan-friendly lenders and each one is denied for the same reason as the last... They see that I am leaving active duty and immediately say no thank you, call us back 6-12 months after your "change of industries". Fair enough, I can understand that in the eyes of the lender i'm just a dude about to quit his job looking for a loan. However, not only am I not a fan of the "no" word, I'd still very much like to have a home to move back to next summer.

I am curious if there’s anybody out there who has experienced this scenario, and would love to know if anyone has any advice,tips or tricks to get this ball rolling.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks @Dane Peterson, I can identify with that last statement about just getting things done in a timely matter, and not haggling and dealing with the insurance company while managing a project.

@JM Payne If I'm reading it correctly, the "service line coverage" and "equipment breakdown coverage" are an additional 25$ per year total, each with a 500$ deductible.

Neither of which are an astronomical amount, however, how often can i expect a tree root to grow through the waterline or electrical failure to surge out a fridge to justify any extra coverage that wouldn't be covered by my monthly maintenance savings?

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm currently in the process of closing on my first rental property, and am applying for and selecting insurance coverage's. I'm looking for some advice from the seasoned investors and insurance experts.

I've got a quote that actually beat my pro forma, however just like anything they are now offering the "add-ons" and upgraded coverages (service line coverage and equipment break down coverage to be specific).

So my question is, where do you draw the line between coverage's that can save your butt if something were to go wrong, and where can you save a dollar here and there and rely on your Maint/Capex/cash reserves to cover the unforseen issues in owning a rental.

Also if anyone is so inclined, if any, what are THE additional coverage's to get when insuring a rental?

Thanks!

Hey Jesse, I definitely like your thought process and the creative way you're approaching this. I don't see enough information here to determine whether either one or both of these properties would be solid investments, but if you were planning to move forward with this deal I would recommend getting a local contractor in there to get a quote on both the replacement of the roof, and the damage caused by the faulty one. There's no room for arbitrary numbers in this game, and the more precise you can be trying to leverage that information in the form of a seller's credit, discounted price etc.. 

Also, if you were to get a quote on the roof/damage, you may be able to let the seller know "hey, i got a quote and it will cost X to fix the roof, I'll pay you Y for the property if you get the roof fixed" and avoid a headache all together. 

I like to think of purchasing real estate as I would purchase stocks using the "dollar cost averaging" strategy.

For example:

Say your strategy is to purchase 2 homes a year, roughly every 6 months.

You buy one when the market is "high", buy another when the market is "higher", buy another one yet "higher" and BOOM, you were right and the market corrects. But your purchases continue and now your buying houses "low", and then "lower" and then "lowest", and then "higher" etc etc. 

By doing this you remove self doubts about timing the market, which is an outright insane feat to attempt. And of course the assumption is that you're buying your properties correct in the first place, to buy and hold through any storm. 

Just the way I think about it, rock on with anything you feel comfortable with!

I am currently looking to purchase a SFR in very good condition with seller financing for personal use and as a future rental property. I'm looking for any general advice and/or experiences any of you fine ladies and gentleman have to offer on seller financing.

More specifically, I listened to a BP podcast awhile back in which the gentleman discussed bringing 2-3 offers to the seller, but for the life of me I cannot find that episode or material on that concept again. Does anyone have successful experience or examples of how you would strategically give a seller financier "choices" between your offers?

Thanks!

@Dan H. I couldn't agree more on being able to pivot and remain flexible and I believe that applies to all forms of investing, and that's kind of funny that you mention that, I've spent a fair amount of time trying to convince my lady to move up to Alaska to take high paying jobs to stack cash (and enjoy the immense beautiful landscape) while we're relatively young.

@Jake S. Thank you for your perspective, I had a similar thought process on utilizing a job to gain knowledge and credibility within the RE realm, and with a background in and knack for construction am leaning  towards becoming a licensed contractor.

I've got an interesting question for investors of all experience levels. 

This time next year i will be exiting the military after 8 years and will not only be starting into my strategy of buy and hold investing with the ultimate goal of financial freedom, but beginning my career path outside of the military. I have a healthy amount of capital saved to begin investing, and will be using this next year to keep building my funds and continue my research and learning process.

So my question is this:

If you could start over (or are already using this approach), would you choose a real estate related profession to give you an edge with your investing? Or is it ultimately irrelevant and just being an active investor will give you all the know-how and edge that you need?

Examples: Becoming a licensed contractor, working as an agent or property manager, working at a bank in the loan department...