All Forum Posts by: Dane Franta

I used a TSP general purpose loan in 2016 at 1.5% interest on half my portfolio, as mentioned above. I was able to get $26K over 5-year repayment which costs me <$4/month in interest and the repayment comes from my paycheck so I never miss it. I can work that amount of interest into my cash-flow calculations rather easily. Current rate is 2.875% plus $50 filing fee.

I also use the account in my reserve calculations as mentioned and when showing my personal financial statement in prep for a loan I show the most recent month's closing position and then take 60% of that amount.  I also include all other IRAs and stock brokerage accounts to demonstrate solvency and ability to cover debts for 6-months.

@Arthur C. Reserves on-hand depend on the lender you work with. The lender we've worked with in VA Beach only required reserves for us (2 nice W-2 jobs) after 4 mortgages. The requirement was for 6-months (mortgage, taxes, insurance (PITI) and any association (POA/HOA) dues) on-hand. We use either our TSP account or IRA individual accounts as the "reserve" assets to meet the lender's requirement. The lender's calculation is not $1 dollar invested in a IRA = $1 dollar in reserve however. Usually on retirement accounts (IRAs, TSP, 401Ks, etc.), used as the reserve, when calculating the loan officer/underwriter will "discount" our holdings to ~70% of the current value, again depending on the lender. This affords room for market fluctuations and the fact that taxes would apply should the "reserves" need to be tapped to help pay bills. The "reserves" don't have to be in a savings account waiting for the day, just an account you outline during your loan app as "reserves" so they understand your financial footing.

What usually helps most is buying correctly. If you've run your numbers and they check out to afford you covering PITI, property mgmt, HOA dues, and withholds for regular repairs, CAP-EX, and vacancy and you're left with an acceptable cashflow and CoC ROI then you're probably setup for your first couple of deals. Things like reserves come into play later on as "on paper" you start to look less viable in regards to debt-to-income.

Hi, just moved to the KC area a few weeks ago. Looking forward to attending 9 July!

I've been searching for 3 months now for the right app to manage and analyze and I've come to realize it's probably too much to ask in one app.  Also, I began to realize the way I want to log expenses and income in my tracking probably will keep me tied to a computer vice jamming in data on a iPad.  What I've decided I need is a quick tool to analyze potential properties when driving for dollars.  Normally I just take pics and then do math back at the realtor's office.  This will cut-down my analysis time as my co-pilot wife or I can analyze while the other drives.

My experiences thus far:

For quick analysis I had tried RE Analyst and then PropertyBuddy.  RE Analyst was just that, a summary level tool to help you analyze deals.  Some of it's math seemed a little too automatic and locked me into figures that weren't what happened on actual deals.  Perhaps if I upgraded to the paid version I could have more manual control, but the interface was 90% user friendly to a pretty solid MS Excel type mind.

PropertyBuddy is a hybrid tool that is geared more towards property management than deal analysis, but it's expense logging and data export/report features are decent.  The analysis side is basic and geared more towards once the property is in your portfolio.  I've communicated with the team on this and they're giving it thought for future upgrades, but it seems a lot of developers probably had to focus on that whole iOS 9 thing recently and dropbox.

The one I just downloaded (and I love my first 10 minutes with it) for quick analysis is DealCheck: Rentals by Fortnoff Financial LLC. You can input your data quickly and set criteria for your investing style. I'm amped to use this in the future for quick analysis when out touring properties vice carrying my laptop and logging my data in Excel.

Long story to say I'll be keeping my expense log in my spreadsheet with pivot tables (possibly switch to an accounting software later) and use this analysis tool when scanning the neighborhoods.

I'm not even close to knowing how to develop an app, but what I've seen lately...

I've been scanning the iTunes store the last few days and stumbled upon Property Buddy that is close to what I'd like to see in an app to track investments.  It seems a lot of apps go one way or the other.  Either they are focused on being calculators to help you determine if a deal will pencil out ok in terms of math or are entirely focused on being used as property management trackers in terms of tenant management. 

I want something I can load the loan details into and track expenses against income to really hone in my cash-on-cash ROI.