All Forum Posts by: Clayton Miller

I am looking for an attorney that knows the FHA HUD Real Estate rules/laws/legal everything very well. We are working with the FHA 203k Loan specifically and need to work with someone who knows the in's and out's. Preferably someone who has been to court over interpreting their rules would be the best. Can someone offer me some guidance or a direction to look?

Alright so we are renting out a SF home.  $1,400/mo with 3 Bed and 2 Bath, 1,100sqft.  I've got three candidate, of many, to make a final decision with and I am struggling to make a choice. All have good attribute and bad so here we go.  Please vote A,B, or C and tell me why?  I have been in the landlord game for about 5 years now and am still trying to perfect my tenant selecting abilities. 

A. Chase and Tamika.  Dating for 10 years with a 7 year old and a 12 year old.  They make 3-4 times the rent now due to Tamika picking up a multilevel marketing gig that she has done very well with.  Chase has been working 3 years as a lineman and loves his job. Reference checks out. They are about to break a lease because they were not given a shed that they were promised upon signing of the lease and are now being fined for not putting their items in the shed, that they don't have. 

B. Jacob. Single 26yr old who works as a roof salesman.  He makes 3-4 times rent and has been doing so for 3 years.  His references check out. He is also breaking a lease because there was a shooting at the apartment and he doesn't want to be there anymore.  

C. Brook.  Relationship status is complicated. Will be moving in by herself with her first child on the way in November.  She currently does not work and instead has an inheritance that will pay her 3-4 times rent with the option to have the rent automatically deposited into our account from the financial advisor.  She is moving to a nicer town and was at her previous location for 2 years.  Her BF that "may" move in with her has 4 kids who would be visiting on some weekends.  

As you can see there are very good pieces and some not so good pieces about each.  With all of the Bigger Pockets experience out there can someone please help me decide if I should go with A, B, or C?

thanks,

@Cody Swainston  Ahoy!  I am real estate investor in Columbus, IN and absolutely love it.  Just bought a new 4 Unit off of 31 and Washington and can't wait to buy the next one.  I would agree that Cummins operating as the main power plant for Columbus's employment could be an issue bit you must take into account their community buy in.  Cummins spends money on Columbus's infrastructure to make it a more user friendly town.  They rebuilt the bridge downtown and plan to place a bridge over the train on 46 so that its employee's won't have to wait.  Not to mention the parking garages and health facility they built for company use.  There are indicators to me that Cummins is here to stay.  

What we also see in Columbus are incredibly high rent rates.  3/2's can easily bring in $1200-$1400 in good condition and 2/1's can bring in $800-$1000.  These rates are caused by the large employment and higher overall income of the town.  This makes it a little easier to buy property because you can get away with paying a tad more for them.  

I would, however, suggest that right now is a seller's market.  Sellers are attaining large surpluses at the moment due to the lack of supply in the town.  Might not be the BEST time to buy but if you come across a deal that fits your numbers I would not hesitate.  I am trying to figure out how to buy a pair of 4 units now.  It all comes down to the numbers. 

hope this helps,

I've got a piece of property with a small river/large creek running across the front of it. I need to build a bridge over it in order to build a home but I do not know the cost. Do I go with a culvert or do we use concrete and I beams? Which is more expensive? Which is more durable? How do I know what rules to follow in order not to damn up the river? Does anyone know who I can call near Columbus, IN for help? What kind of company do I call? Thanks.

James Triano Thank you for that feedback. I am going to look into those two positions right now. The financial analyst position sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the suggestion.

My employer won't allow it. I need to maintain the salary income in order to get funding from banks.

Good Morning Everyone,

I am currently a Digital Advertising Sales Manger, helping people with Social, Google, Youtube, Branding, etc... online. I do not hate my job and it so turns out I am pretty good at it. In my evening hours I work with a partner fixing up homes for rent via the BRRR method. I got this job so that I could use the salary for lending purposes and to learn more about marketing online and how it works. Being able to more easily rent or sell homes will be a valuable tool once we have more of them.

To my point...

I love reading about real estate, going to look at homes, putting upgrades on my house, and studying up on how financing and insurance works with all of this.  My goal is to eventually buy, fix, and rent homes 24/7 but need a salary to maintain my debt/income ratio until we get through enough of them.  What is a salary paid job in the real estate/finance world that pays well and will also teach me something that I will use in the future?  I have an Econ degree from Depauw University and I have 2.5 years in management/sales and now another year in sales.  I am going to get my real estate license but I know there is no salary to stand on there, more for convenience and cost savings.  

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

What are the pros and cons to selling my first rehab? So we purchased a place for $25,000 and put $25,000 into it. We currently owe people and a bank $50,000 on this house that appraised for $120k. The end goal is for my partner and I to accumulate as much rental property as possible for the passive income. Here are the two options.... With the market being hot for this price range would it be a better idea to keep the property for rent, $1,300/mo, take a mortgage out on the house to buy and pay for the 2nd home? Or Do we sell this place, pay off the people we owe, pay off the bank, and buy/fix up our new 1st rental($50-60K). Now it is paid in cash, we spend the rest of our sales $'s and take out a mortgage on this new home to buy and fix #2? Does it make a difference? I don't know how to figure this one out. Please and thank you for your responses. If I need to explain more please just ask.

So I'm going to my first home auction tomorrow. Older gentlemen died and his kids are auctioning off the home and everything in it. I want the house of course and need some tips on how the bidding process works. Do we go in and bid our highest right out of the gate? I've already walked through it and know it's a good buy for the right price. Do we wait and bid in 1,000$ increments? Do banks come to these? Do we wait and bid at the end or do we bid early? What are the best ways to go about it? Thanks in advance.

Do you necessarily need to use your own money to get this job done? Three parts to the team; money, operations, office. Figure out which part you are and go find the other two pieces. If you create the right deal the money will follow. Sell, sell, sell.