All Forum Posts by: Christopher Freeman

Success is not a zero sum game. The beauty of real estate is the ability to create win-win scenarios. As for the people who missed out on the deal, they can either run from it or learn from it. If they learned from it, they still won something.

"Learn to forgive yourself for the things you didn't know before you knew them."

"50 percent of a deal is better than 100 percent of no deal."

"Learn to work on your business, not in your business"

"The best time to buy real estate is now; the best time to sell is never."

@Bradley Tetu, do you happen to know what their max LTV is? We owe 160 and it appraised for 186, so we're currently sitting at 86 percent. I have a decent amount of equity in the primary that I'm currently transitioning out of to house hack this duplex, about 170k owed on a property that's worth 225-235k, so 72-75 there. I'm not sure if we'd qualify for a HELOC on that, though, since it is insured as and partially used as an investment property.

Great, thanks! I will look up these options and reach back out to the lender who financed us through the FHA program in the first place.

Howdy all,

What are some of the best ways to obtain financing for renovations on a property that you already own? I have a duplex in Keene, NH that was purchased with an FHA loan for $163k (appraised for $186k). We're looking to do some fairly extensive rehab, including new windows and siding. We believe that the ARV could be between 220k and 250k, but openly admit that neither of us has much experience calculating this (we're just going off what our agent said and what some other nearby turnkey properties of similar configuration have sold for).

We're open to ideas. One thought I had was to try refinancing into a 203k loan, but I'm not sure of the mechanics of that (or if there's a seasoning period between purchase and refi). I was also wondering if hard money could be used in a rehab/refinance configuration, but this is also beyond my area of knowledge/expertise.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Chris

Whether you've done one deal or a thousand, chances are you've learned something new. Some of that learning is just getting up to speed on investor basics, but other bits of knowledge may be less well known or obvious. During your learning career, what are some tips and tricks you've picked up that you don't think are mainstream? Think broadly: this could range from finding great deals to working with people, financing to building a brand, and anything in between.

I'll start the ball rolling with two of mine:

1. Unless you're closing so many deals that you'd run into scheduling conflicts, a good working knowledge of how your lender determines the timing of your first mortgage payment can help you optimize the benefit from the rental proration (assuming the property is currently cash flowing). Example: On my first deal, I knew that closing on or after the eighth of the month would push my first payment into the second month out (close in JAN, payments start in MAR). Yes, you end up paying for this in the prorations and prepaids, but if the property is cash flowing then you get to carve out more longitudinal margin and build up a little extra cushion by collecting rents on the first of the subsequent month without the cash outflow of a PITI payment.

2. This may not be obscure knowledge, but it blew my mind when a kitchen retailer gave me this tip yesterday: When rehabbing a kitchen, don't replace the cabinet boxes unless they are in bad shape (or you're using a natural wood finish that you won't be able to color match). Instead, just repaint the boxes and replace your doors and hardware.

Alright, BP, let's hear your tips!

I'm closing on a property next Tuesday, and there's some rehab that needs to get done quickly before we place a tenant. What do people recommend for kitchen flooring? I went into Home Depot thinking I wanted ceramic tile, but the associate who helped me seemed to think click-lock vinyl would be a better option. I don't know anything about flooring, and figured I'd just hire it out, but I'm not opposed to DIY if the hourly return is high enough.

gah, accidentally hit enter and can't delete/edit from mobile... Depreciation was on my radar, but I hadn't thought about how it might affect visibility into damage recovery from security deposit withholding.

@Ben Day @Michele B. Thanks! I think I'm going to start off with the Schedule E categories and make some tweaks from there. I definitely need the utilities broken out by category so I can capture seasonality by usage for my budget. Good call on over/under. The need to capitalize large repairs was