All Forum Posts by: Colleen Goldstein

@Wendy Leeman

Used them for a 1031, so smooth and very knowledgeable. Located on Charlotte and money is insured.

Angela N. Lizarazo

Assistant Vice President | Exchanger Officer | Old Republic Exchange Company

@Marie Rufty

Congrats on taking the first step and diving in! Charlotte is an awesome market, happy to be a resource for you on the journey.

- Deposits - I don't do application fees. I pre screen and only do background credit once I have selected them as the tenant. Cuts out the headache and having to meet a ton of people IMO. Business account is good but fine to deposit in any account UNLESS you are an LLC. Then comingling funds is a big No No and definitely set that up before depositing anything.

- I do long terms in Charlotte but have a short term in the mountains. Short term is a lot more work, overhead expense, and volatility. You are subject to HOA (be careful here), town regulation, and neighbors. It is a job in itself and hospitality which is a different skill set. Long term rental is up front work on the screening but more set/forget/ad hoc than managing a hospitality business. Less expense as well as you're not supplying consumables, paying cleaning, paying for broken furniture glasses, etc.

- Rental policy is required. Umbrella is nice to have. With only one property, it depends what else you have to insulate from it in case of liability. Can't hurt to have umbrella, state farm has good rates and if it makes you sleep better it's well worth it IMO. If you're an LLC others choose that instead of an umbrella sometimes depending on risk aversion and assets.

- Use a standard real estate lease, follow fair housing laws. A better question is what clauses should you add to standard lease. I would have a inhabitable clause that terminates lease.

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@Brandon Tran

Single family is likely best way to go in CLT for your first. Ideally, if you can househack with roommates would be good or buy something with a basement that you can finish and Airbnb. Multi especially small is so overpriced it doesn't make sense in Charlotte.

@Alexander Clark

Hey Alex, happy to network and connect. I'm a seasoned real estate investor primarily in Matthews / Indian Trail area. Interested to hear about your expirience with social media as may be able to leverage that otherwise - we have four projects going on now - 2 turnovers, 2 new purchase + rehabs that you're free to swing on by to lend a hand / get an idea of process. Feel free to connect PM me and we can chat or reach out once you get to town. Thanks!

@Salvatore Lentini how'd you make the jump from single families to multi/commercial? Did your structure, financing, partnership change? Can you expand on how you navigated that transition and adapted / evaluated deals. If partnering on larger projects, how you determined who to partner with and the deal split? Thanks!

@Greg Powell Hey Greg, assuming you're interested in selling your primary I would say it is a wonderful time to do so. That being said, it really only makes sense if you plan on downsizing for the time being and maybe look forward to re entering assuming the market cools down in the next few years. The benefits of selling now are obviously the appreciation and on your primary capital gains free money. For investing, you're somewhat limited in inventory options to invest at the moment but could turn that lump sum into several properties to cash flow for you (maybe even a downpayment on a commercial loan to go bigger). Personally, I would sell but I am also not attached to our primary. If it was a particularly special property - location, parking, etc. and you plan to move back because you like it later - that would likely skew me the opposite direction. Hope this helps, and wish you all the best!

@Gilvina Stephanie If you were in college before, they will consider that employment so it's not a barrier to getting a mortgage. First home would recommend 5% FHA. Mobile homes may not be able to go through a standard mortgage company depending on how old they are. There are independent companies that may finance older ones, but rates and loan products vary

@Zack Elaroussi I'd clean and sell as is. If you're not expirienced in rehab / improvements, it will likely cost you more than anticipated. Once you start, you never know what you'll find. In addition, not having the funds is a major obstacle and I would never touch 401k to gamble on the higher sale price. That being said, portion of materials purchased can be done so on a 12 month interest free credit card. However, if time and money are constraints do the minimum lipstick and list it. With the market like it is - it'll likely end up going for more and the headache is enough to steer clear of project given your limited resources. Hope this helps!

@Matthew Jackson

To recap, you're sitting on $28k in equity

1. Did you put 20% down on the original purchase (if not that's an issue for your cash out as lenders typically only do 70% LTV)

2. Can you qualify for a multi family AND you primary? You should speak to a lender before doing ANYTHING. I know they can sometimes offset the debt when you have a signed lease and deposited first month check, may be able to offset the multifamily if units are leases (however, not sure if they use the rents to offset if youre getting a primary home loan vs. investment) Also, there may be limitations for who they can do this for - they may want you to have history as a landlord for at least 2 years to do this.

3. Is 28k LESS cash out refi fees ($2-$4k depending) worthwhile to pull out? Will your mortgage payment go down as well? What's the interest rate difference / monthly payment difference?

4. Multi families - Do properties exist in the price range you would have once you do a cashout? I simply ask because there are very slim and all overpriced small multi families in the Charlotte area - usually not great investments. Asheville market is different but the small multi family in Charlotte typically isn't a good path which would make me question if you've been looking and run numbers on the deals you could get after your refi.

5. Lastly, I would caution to keep reserves high when doing this move. Inevitably there will be issues once you buy and having 5 units off the bat can have unexpected costs all at once. If you're stretched too thin to get the property just make sure you have contingency plans once you buy or other funds you can access in a pinch. For us, this is 401k, brokerage, IRA, or even no interest credit cards that we open as we buy a new property (free 12-18 mo loan) **don't open a credit card before loan is funded and deal had closed**

@Brandon Despras Would love this information as well!