All Forum Posts by: David E.

@Kevin Harrison = I will check into that. Thanks.

@Andrew Banta - Thanks. I might have thought about that once or twice. The only reason I am keeping the land in Little Rock is that it makes more cash flow than my 2 houses. Right now I have a tentant who is paying rent mostly on time. I think I will give the tentant the oppunity to buy the propery but for cash only, maybe I can find some ways for him to buy it easily. Hum.. I will give it some thought.

@Bill Gulley - Your right. I do have a plan but I wanted to see what other people thought and how they would handle the situtation just incase I was making a mistake or still on path. Sorta like an Audit on my self. Who knows something might have been suggested that I never knew. Sorry I am just new and want to learn. :) If I can learn from mistakes from others then I am better off for it.. Kinda why I am here. :) But still you give great advice.

@John Powell - I currently live in a trailer that's paid off just out side of the city limits of Beebe(Land(C)). I have 2 Houses in Beebe near Twin Lake Appartments.

@Douglas Skipworth

I would love to have more rentals, but with such a low inventory if I have 4 houses and 4 move outs and I need income from my day job to support them..  Not sure I could support 4 mortgages.

Currently I am renting both houses @ $750 each and a mortgage of ($725 each) I pay about $1400 a year in taxes for both.  So I am not quite in the Positive Cash Flow on these.

These are really nice houses, and I have rented them out for $825 in the past but renters would not stay long.  Since I dropped down to $750 I have 2 renters that's been there 2+ years now.

Both of these houses were new builds. That was my first mistake.  

I am now seeing houses that are almost as nice or nicer than my house go for 45,000 - 65,000 that just need a bit of work..  I am kicking my self now days..  I kinda feel trapped while I see deals I would buy and hold for my self.

Is it not the goal to pay off the houses you have before you look at buying another one ?

Right now, I currently have a credit score of 650 because I have a Tax Lien that's paid off but I can't seem to remove from my credit report.  That was my second mistake, understanding when taxes were due. :)

Thanks.

@James Wise

House(A) started out at 6.5% interest by my local bank on a 3 year balloon note.  It was extended for another 2 years at 5.0% and just a few months ago the bank extend this note for 5 years at 2.5%  I have never been late and always over pay.

House (B) was financed by Chase and they don't like it when I pay on principal, one year they sent $6,000+ back to me.  I want to get out of Chase  once the local bank is paid off and refi with them.  Or that was my thinking.

Thanks.

@Douglas Skipworth

Well I am 40 now and I would like to have more rentals but I don't want to jump into more rental houses because I am afraid that I might get out of control with it.  I like to pay off the 2 houses and buy more houses.  But I can't seem to get this first one paid off fast enough.  In the mean time, my wife is getting kind of board with not having any extra income.

When I  read so many success stories on BP, I wonder if I am taking the right road.

So far I have made a ton of mistakes, but I love Land Lording.  I would like to have 20+ units some day.  

I was really hoping to get some advice on what others would do in my situation. Or some positive reinforcement to stay the course.

I currently have 15 years in my current job,  I hope I stay another 8 years but I might be forced out after 5 due to cut backs, but for now I am just weighing my options.

Thanks.

I currently have 2 very nice 3 bed 1300 sq ft houses that I paid full retail mortgage for of $110,000 each 5 years ago. My idea was to buy and hold the 2 properties by paying extra on principal on one and the very minimal on the other. Once 1 property was paid off I planed to make double payments on the other.

House (A) I currently owe about $61,000 with a 2.5% fixed interest rate with a 5 year balloon note I just refinanced into.

House (B) I currently owe $102,000 at 5.0% fixed interest rate at 30 years.

I own 5 acres of land(C) free and clear in Beebe Arkansas that I am currently living on that's tied up in House(A) worth about $25,000. (it's in the country, out side the city limit)

I own 1.5 acres of commercial land(D) in Little Rock, Arkansas (1 hour away) free and clear and it's worth about $22,000 (it's in the city) that I am currently renting the land to a business for $150 a month where they sell portable buildings. I sold this property in the past on payments for $300 down and $300 a month, but ended up taking the land back because the tenant would go 30 to 60 days without payments.  The current renter is payment $150 a month, I took this low of offer just because I don't feel like mowing it.  My current renter wants to buy the property at $150-$200 a month.  I am not sure how I feel about this.

I have about $800 - $1200 extra income per month after paying all the bills and assuming that I don't have any move outs or get fired from my day job :)

Currently I am taking all my extra money and paying about $1000 a month in principal only on House (A).   

Should I stay the course and keep paying $1000 a month when I can on the principal on House (A) for another 5 years ? Or Do I have options that I don't see ?

Thanks in advance. 

Ok.

I have been focused on paying almost everything I could to the 110 property.. I will start building my reserve account for future unknowns.

Thanks,

David

Hi Everyone,

Let it first be known that I am very new to BP and learning all the time. I guess I am just looking for validation on the approach that I am currently taking in my buy and hold strategy.

In 2009 I had $15,000 and 5 acres of paid off land (worth $15,000) to play with. While looking for advice I made friends with a local real estate agent and told him that I was looking to buy rentals and wanted to know my options. He showed me a few houses that would make great rentals but they all needed a bit of work.

In 2009 I bought a very nice brick (3 bed 2 bath 1200 sq) house as it was being completed for $115,000 in a very nice neighbor hood for $.50 (cents) down secured by a 4% VA loan. My Plan was to pay extra on it and pay it off early then rent it out. Let's call this house 108 Somewhere St.

In 2010 my plans changed when my real estate friend had just built another house right next door for a client that backed out on him and he was wondering if I wanted to buy the house for a deal. I bought my second house in 2010 for $110,000 that was was identical to my first house. I paid $10,000 + put up my land for collateral with agreement that my collateral would be released after 20% was reached. This was put in a 6.5% 5 year balloon note and would not be reported to my credit agency from a local home town bank. Le'ts call this house 110 Somewhere St.

Over the last 4 years I have been putting what I could extra into my 110 Somewhere St property since it has my land tied up and its on a balloon note. It rents for $825 and my mortgage payment is $733, My yearly Taxes are $950 and my Renter's Insurance is $725. The area is very nice up and coming area. They just build a new Wal-Mart about 5 miles away and the house has never been vacant for more than 10 days. I manage the property my self. My balloon note expires in 2015 and the bank has already agreed to refinance me as long as I keep up good payments like I have been.

Currently I owe the following on both properties.

110 Somewhere St = $79,800

108 Somewhere St = $104,000

My new plan was to put all the extra money I can into the 110 Somewhere St property and pay it off. By the end of 2014 I plan to have it down to $70,000

My goal is to pay off the 110 Somewhere Street Property. Once 110 Somewhere St is paid off I plan double up on payments + plus all the extra I have been putting in on the 108 Somewhere St Property.

Once both properties are paid off I can either get another loan using the equity from 110 or and 108 or get another VA loan move it the new home and pay it off via triple payments.

Currently I hold $5,000 in a separate account to account for the unknowns.

I feel that started off very slow compared to other stories on BP but I am thinking hoping that the snow ball effect will continue to grow.

What are your thoughts?

Hello my name is David Eaton, I live in Arkansas. I am very new to real estate investing and have been looking for a great resource to learn more about what I can do as a investor who does not have much to work with.

I think I am more into the buy and hold method but I think I may have started the wrong way, but that is where the learning comes in to play. Hopefully I can learn from other peoples mistakes from this site. Currently I have 2 units with very good tenants so far. I have been a landlord for 3 years and only have 1 horror story so far.

I am looking forward to visiting with you all and I am open to learning.