All Forum Posts by: Chris Lounsbury

Fellow investor in the Charlottesville, Shenandoah Valley region just wanting to say congratulations on the success so far and hope it continues! This is a great place to ensure success and find people that will support and help your jump into the REIT world. Good Luck and feel free to connect with me anytime!

Jon Schoeller the Charlottesville REIA can be found on the Meetup app. There is actually a meeting this upcoming Monday.

Hey Jon, congrats on finally making an account and truly joining the community.  I am new to the Central Virginia area so I don't know how much help I can be in terms of developing connections, but if you have any questions feel free to PM me.  My family and I are currently working on a flip and in the process of closing on another this upcoming week (fingers crossed lol) in the Waynesboro area.  We are always looking for like-minded people to connect with so good luck and hope to meet you at one of the local REIAs!

Hey Jay, Welcome to the area! I recently moved to C'ville as well. Currently working on a fix and flip, and have another under contract, but usually I am more of a buy and hold investor. Good luck in your transition here. Feel free to connect with me anytime!

Hey Blake Brown congratulations on finding this site and getting an interest in real estate investing as early as you have. Definitely don't wait to get started on your real estate education at the very least. The more you learn now, the easier it will be later. Also I would strongly suggest continuing to put money away while you learn, so when you're ready to make the leap you have a great nest egg to get you started. Thats one thing I struggled to do when I went away to college, and it was a little more difficult to buy that first property after I graduated. Charlottesville is a tricky area to find any real value opportunities right now, but look on zillow, trulia, realtor, craigslist daily and you may find something eventually. If you expand your search to 30 minutes outside of Charlottesville, there are a bunch of places begging for investors to fix them up. Also, just looking at properties and running numbers on them will get you far more comfortable with the process and prepare you for when you do find that perfect one. Best of luck to you, and if you ever have any questions or need any help feel free to reach out.

Sounds great @Charlie Guinn , shoot me a PM whenever you're free and we can sit down for some lunch.  

Congrats @Charlie Guinn on getting started here on Bigger Pockets.  I'm a fellow investor that recently moved to the area. I have a couple deals under my belt currently, but still working on my processes and figuring out how to grow into a large scale operation. Sounds like you are on the right path in offering services for gaining knowledge.  There are a few guys, just as Quin said, in the area that are pretty big investors.  

Are you planning on staying in the area after graduation? 

Although I am fairly new (1 year actual experience) in the Investing world, feel free to connect with me and I will help any way I can.  Good luck and keep reading and gaining any knowledge possible!

Welcome Laurie!  

You definitely came to the right place to find information.  This site is packed with info.  Sometimes even too much lol.  

Congrats on getting that first house sold for a profit, even if your intention wasn't to flip the house, you were able to gain some real hands on experience and learn the benefits, and pit falls of REI.

While you're learning and saving up for your first true investment property I would suggest analyzing deals all the time, even if you can't buy them.  That way when you are finally ready you will have a ton of experience looking into the numbers and will know immediately when that deal comes to your attention.  Brandon Turner suggests analyzing three a day.  

Anyways, good luck from a fellow Virginian Investor.  Feel free to reach out with any questions and I will do my best to assist!

Hey @Quin Weidner

I'm investing in the greater Charlottesville, Shenandoah Valley area and I have to agree with @Account Closed in that the market is very hot right now directly inside Charlottesville.  I would extend your reach to some other smaller areas outside the city and you will definitely find some deals.  I'm currently working on a project in Waynesboro and have found some other great small MFH in Staunton, Harrisonburg, etc.  

If C'ville is where your heart is at though don't let me tell you otherwise. I'm sure you can find something with some extra effort and all the more power to you if you do.  Good luck and if you ever want to connect feel free to reach out.

Hey Neil, I'm also fairly new at this but I am going through a cash-out refi right now so maybe I can help shed some light for you. Basically, yes it is a loan, against the property value of your home and equity you have in it. And yes it is possible for your mortgage to increase, although sometimes when someone buys a home from a private lender or hard money lender, their interest rates and short terms might actually be larger than refinancing with a bank at 3-4%. Also, it gives you more cash to do deals. You have equity in this home that is just sitting there, so a cash-out refi allows you to leverage that cash for more deals. You will have to pay back with interest rates at 3-4%, but you're assuming your next deal is going to be a better ROI than that percentage. All in all its just another way to leverage yourself to do more deals at a low interest rate.

Hope that makes any sense/hope I'm right in the way I'm looking at how it works lol.