All Forum Posts by: Christine Glasner

Hi @Clayton J. and welcome to BP. To help answer your questions, here are my thoughts:

1. If you have the cash or investor partner to do a flip first, that's great. Family/friends may be able to provide funding for a flip. Otherwise, the buy and hold is a great way to increase cash flow and save up for a flip.

2. My husband is very handy and likes to care of things himself to save money. However, as @Chris Pastrana pointed out, it is often faster to higher someone done just because you won't be always be available to get it done in a timely manner. If you want to learn, one suggestion to get started is to go to Home Depot. They always have classes on diffferent DIY projects and if they don't have one on what you want, just ask. They have always been very helpful to me in understanding how to do some of the smaller projects on our rentals.

3. I think this is a good idea. My husband is thinking of doing the same thing even though he is fairly good at being able to identify problems already. In my opinion, education is never a bad thing.

4. The first place to look for a mentor is usually your local REI as @J Martin suggested. You might also be able to connect with someone here who can help you out. In the meantime, you can always ask any question you have on the forums and there is always someone who can help with an answer.

Another helpful tip is for you to upload a picture. It helps people identify and connect with you better.

Best of Luck!

Hi @Qulia Brunson . I'm north of you in Statesville. My husband & I do buy and hold up here, it's a great market for it. Let us know if you need any help or if you have something we might be interested in.

Best of Luck!

@Aleksey Vinogradov this can be a tricky situation. Do you know what your expenses are? Is there positive cash flow now? You need to consider the area of the units and likelyhood of re-renting quickly at higher prices.

One the one hand, if you have good tenants, they keep the property in decent condition and pay on time, then you may want to keep them (even with lower rents). Good long term tenants sometimes beat out high turnover when you try to raise rents (just my opinion). We have one rental that is a 2/1 and charge only $350/month (we could get $450). However, we like the tenant, he takes great care of the property and even helps us with repairs on some of our other units.

On the other hand, I definitely see the appeal to raising the rents if equivalent units are renting for $300 higher per month. If you do decide to raise the rents, I would probably give them a lease for say 3-6 months at their current rent and let them know that you intend to raise rent after that. If they want to stay, then have them fill out an application so you can verify that they can afford the higher rate and require a deposit. At least this way they have time to find something else and gives you time before a mass move out to save some money to cover expenses while units are empty.

I'm sure others will have other ideas and opinions but I hope this helps.

Best of Luck!

@Kerry Smith Welcome and thank you. As you can see, there is a ton of support on BP for new and experienced alike. Sounds like you are your way to great passive income. We currently have 8 rentals in Iredell county. I would love to do a flip too, but don't quite ready. Can't wait to hear about your future success!

@Bill Gulley thanks. You made great points about experience and getting in the way of the contractor. With 8 rental units, we have done several different types of jobs ourselves, but I do want to let a contractor do the majority of the work.

@Gautam Venkatesan thanks for the link. I'll check that out shortly.

@Jeff Onofrio I know what you mean about DIY not always being done on time. That is definitely something to take into account.

@Wayne Brooks So are you saying it's an either/or situation? They are either licensed and insured or 203k certified?

Thanks

I hope I'm putting this in the right forum. My husband & I looked at a house this weekend that we are very interested in for ourselves. It needs work and we would like to do a 203k loan. I asked a contractor I know if he could come out and look at it and give a cost estimate. He said he would but he is not a licensed contractor and doesn't think he will be allowed to do the work after it's purchased.

I went to the HUD site and couldn't find anywhere where it requires this. Did I miss it? My friend does a lot of rehab work for the bank foreclosures, but says he hasn't been able to do the work for the new owners and I should double check on the requirements. He has given the name of another licensed contractor in case I can't use him.

It does say homeowners can do work themselves. My friend does have a licensed electrician that he uses and someone for AC & plumbing. What is your experience with this type of loan and who can do the work?

Thanks so much for the input!

Hi @Andy DeFruscio and welcome to BP. My husband and I both landlords but still have full time regular jobs. We have 2 duplexes 3 SFH and our home with a basement apartment that we rent out. If you're not a member of an REIA yet, I know Charlotte has a very active group.

Best of Luck!

Welcome to BP @Adrian DeGraff

This is a great place to start. There's tons of information in the resource area, forums and podcasts. Everyone here is extremely helpful and I'm sure there is someone around to answer any type of question you may have as you start on your REI journey.

Best of Luck!

@Andrew Syrios and @Rodney Wehr make good points. The condo will association fees that could put you in the red with that deal. The fourplex could provide enough income for you to pay off the student loan and then you would still have that income to either pay off the mortgage faster or save and use to buy another property. On the surface, I would go for the fourplex, but I would a bit more research on the numbers first.

Best of Luck!