All Forum Posts by: Christine Bellish

Wondering the same as @Victor Carvajal!

Hey @Jack B. sorry to hear about the current challenges in your personal life, but it's great to hear you are working on taking control of that as much as possible to make changes that will make you happier :)

I agree with @Mike Reynolds that it sounds like if you really want to be done with everything you should sell your properties except for the one you may want to live in..if you were going to buy another property I would focus on picking something that you would enjoy having, like a vacation home or two that you can use occasionally and AirBNB through a property manager the rest of the time. It sounds like you need to infuse more things into your life that make you happy, so maybe a vacation home might help with that. Just a thought.

Besides that, have you considered passively investing in real estate syndications? If what you're looking for is 100% passive income without worrying about property management or needing to be in close proximity to the properties you are invested in - this could be a great option for you. Totally hands-off. No work required from you. This would allow you more time freedom to do things you like doing (or figure out what you like doing). To a few other people's points - you may get bored doing nothing, but that doesn't mean you have to stay in a job you despise in the meantime. Especially given the health scares you've experienced - I'm sure you feel strongly that life is about living, and tomorrow's not promised, so we should do our best to make the most of today. Although, if you decide you want to personally buy more properties and are getting loans on them, you may want to stay at your job until you do so because lenders like W2s.

Let's say you decide to keep your current rentals, but you just took the $300K you were talking about investing into 2 more properties and put it into syndications instead, you could probably make 10% in cash flow from it (depending on the deals you get involved with), which would be $30K a year/$2500 a month...plus more from appreciation once they are sold, and you get tax write offs from depreciation the same way you do with rentals you personally own..sometimes on an even larger scale because of cost segs and bonus depreciation. You can use the write-offs from syndication against the returns you get from investing in them, and you can also use them against the other rental income you collect on your existing properties if you decide to keep them.

We're all rooting for you!! Hope you keep us updated when you make your decision - would love to hear what route you decide to go in.

Hey @Alex Deters I messaged this back to you, but wanted to post publicly to help others as well:

I'm not sure what you mean by "we don't qualify for it." Do you mean that you are not accredited?It's a pretty common misconception that you have to be accredited to invest in syndications, but that's not the case. I think most people are misinformed because the syndication deals that are advertised are open to accredited people only - these are called 506c syndications, but there are also 506b syndications which are are open to both accredited and non-accredited investors.

Not as many people are aware of 506b opportunities because they can't be advertised - you have to network and have a personal connection with the people who are running the deal.

If you invest in a syndication you do have equity in the deal and benefit from cash flow and appreciation as well as write offs from depreciation, but I totally understand if you want to be more hands-on and buy some rental properties for yourself :)

Hey @Alex Deters - First off, congrats! That is awesome. Such an exciting time for you. As a few others mentioned, since you don't have much experience or knowledge about real estate investing yet syndication could be a great avenue for you to learn without too much risk...it's like getting paid to get an education. (You invest and make a return and get to learn from the syndicator at the same time) Part of mitigating the risk is finding someone way more experienced than you with a track record of success to invest with - the chances of them successfully executing a real estate investing strategy are higher than you since you have no experience yet, and since you said your hands are pretty full with your kids, this sounds like it could be a good option for you. If you are willing to invest 1/3 or 1/4 of the $1M you could get involved in 4 or 5 different syndication deals depending on the minimums (the average minimum I usually see is $50K, but there are deals that have lower and higher minimums too of course).

If your main goal is to learn and potentially be more hands-on down the line, and maybe become a syndicator yourself, this is a great way to learn. You get the inside access to how these deals are put together, markets are selected, underwriting is done, etc without having all the responsibility and success of the deal on your shoulders.

Also just want to mention that syndications provide tax benefits from depreciation the same way owning your own rental properties would. 

You may want to consider doing a combination of both buying a few smaller rental properties yourself and getting involved in some syndications. Depending on how involved you want to be or not. Just some food for thought!

Hey Daniel - congrats!! If you are looking for truly passive income (no landlording necessary) you should look into real estate syndication - you can diversify into a bunch of deals with the $300K you already have saved up, and can use your returns to keep investing. You won't have to put the same time, effort, or energy into your real estate investments if you choose the syndication route, versus if you were buying rental properties yourself. Doesn't sound like you need or want to deal with the headaches right now, so that's why I think you'd be happy as limited partner (passive investor) in real estate syndications. You get nice returns and tax benefits without having to do any of the heavy lifting. The only thing you really need to do is make sure you do your research and invest with experienced operators who have a track record of success, and once you find people you like and trust to invest with, you have to vet the deals they are working on and make sure the meet your investing goals. 

Hey DongHui - have you considered partnering with any of the syndicators you invested passively with? Assuming you have already built rapport with them, so to me it seems like they are the low hanging fruit - they already have the team and the deals. This might be one way to get your foot in the door and get some experience on the GP side of things without having the operational experience already or access to the deals.

Hey Jordan! Congrats on your early real estate investing success - wish I had 23 units by 24!! That is very impressive! It's great that you have this hands-on experience owning some rentals yourself, but if you haven't participated in any syndications before, I think the best way to break into the syndication space is to invest passively yourself.  A couple of reasons why: 1) you can learn from more experienced syndicators and build relationships with them (maybe they will be your future partners) 2) it will help you gain credibility with vendors (lenders, brokers, etc) 3) it will help you gain credibility with people who may invest with you passively in the future - if you've never invested passively before you can't relate to their experience, and I think this relatability is especially key when you're starting out - when you go to raise money from people for the first time it'll go a long way when you say, "Hey, I understand how you feel, the questions you are asking, and the concerns you're raising. I've been in your shoes before." Like @Josh Edwards said, finding these larger deals is challenging - the best deals are getting looked at by more experienced syndicators first, so it may be your best bet to team up with someone who's already syndicating deals - work on building rapport with them in the hopes of teaming up with them on the GP side of things one day - that's what my husband and I did!

Hey Nikki - if you are looking for truly passive income, you should consider investing in real estate syndications too. You can partner with experienced real estate investors who do all the work, you just help fund the project - your investment is used for down payment, closing costs, renovations, reserves, etc and you are paid returns from cash flow and appreciation depending on the type of deal. You get tax benefits the same way you would from owning rental property yourself, but it requires no work from you. Only thing you have to do is be sure to vet whoever you are investing with to make sure they have a track record of success, as well as the deals you are getting involved with to make sure they meet your investing goals.

Personally think you should sell the place in NY and reinvest the profits! If it's your primary residence you don't have to pay capital gains on $250K profit if you are single or $500K profit if you are married...regardless even if you do have to pay gains, worrying about maintenance and capital expenditures for up-keeping an old house when you're trying to enjoy the sunshine in FL just doesn't seem worth it. Not to mention NY is not landlord friendly at all.

Totally understand your dad's way of thinking paying off the house in Tampa - growing up my parents taught me the same thing, but it is an old school way of thinking - you have to consider the opportunity cost...meaning, if you can use that money to make you money rather than just pay off your house - it's definitely something you should consider. If you aren't going to actually invest then pay the house off. 

If you just aren't really looking to be a landlord and would prefer something with less headaches and management needed maybe consider passively investing in a few real estate syndications.

Personally out of those 2 options I would definitely opt for 3 properties all with mortgages because like @Emily And Eric Erickson said, your cash on cash will be higher using leverage, and buying 3 properties instead of 1 will spread your risk - if you buy 1 property and something goes wrong all your eggs are in that basket, but if you have 3, the success of your investment isn't only tied to 1 property. That being said, you are also going to have to deal with 3x the tenants, and 3x the expenses in some cases (3 roofs, 3 heating systems, etc).

Not a tax professional, but pretty sure you can write off the mortgage interest you pay, which is another benefit to getting a mortgage v buying in cash.