All Forum Posts by: David Chappell

Another thumbs up for @Rob Drum, he has been great so far! I worked with him on a few properties and he has been helpful, friendly, responsive, and most importantly has looked at our deals from an investor mindset first before worrying about commission.

@Jeremiah Goodpaster that’s awesome! What market?

Hopefully not hijacking this thread :) I am most likely purchasing an off market property in Bham. Is there a place online where it will tell me if fire/trash dues are required? I want to make sure and include that in my numbers. Zip is 35127. Thanks!

@Nathan Williams good to see another Austinite! Did you have any success finding a rental property in Birmingham?

@Samuel Garrett congrats on your success! I am a new investor from Austin, TX and Hunstville is on my short list of markets to visit in the next few months. I will be looking for BRRRR opps to hold long term, hoping to learn alot on my next few properties :) I will send you a DM asking for connections to your Core 4. Thank you!

Congrats @Jun Wang! Wishing you best of luck in this big first step!

Hi John,

that does make sense indeed, Im trying not to get ahead of myself but also trying to find that balance of planning ahead as well! Most properties in the Houston area that am looking at are $70-140 with rehab included, so I would be able to cover all of it with my HELOC. Just makes me nervous putting most of my available funds into one deal. That was really the only reason of using a HELOC for the down payment and then securing traditional fincancing.

I did hear from SWBC that they are only offerings cash out refi for the money invested into the detail. Do you think that is a limitation of their lending program, or is that something that is the post COVID standard?

Hi Everyone,

I just secured my HELOC ($140k) and I am ready to start putting my money to work for me. I was hoping for some guidance from everyone on which is the better strategy, and maybe point out some things I may have missed.

Here are my goals:
- purchase 2-3 properties a year to hold and rent
- appreciation is nice but not a must have, focusing on cash flow and debt paydown as the benefits
- open to possible rehabs/light cosmetic 
- I want to start slow with my first property, but if things go smoothly I would be ready to rinse and repeat when the right deal becomes available

SCENARIO A
- use HELOC for the 20% down payment and then take out a traditional mortgage for the rest
- POSSIBLE DRAWBACKS - not sure where to get $$ for the rehab if needed. I am assuming a bank would only loan 80% of the appraised value which may not leave $$ for improvements.
- use hard money loan for the rehab work
- refinance into a new 30 yr mortgage to pay off the HELOC plus HARD MONEY? Or keep the HELOC money in the property?
DRAWBACKS - extra fees since I would be paying closing costs twice (for originally mortgage and then the refi). Low odds of getting HELOC money back to put into another deal

SCENARIO B
- use HELOC for full purchase price + rehab
- hopefully refinance after rehab to get the majority of the $$ from HELOC back
- DRAWBACKS - seasoning period of 6 months would only allow me to do a BRRRR every 6 months or so, maybe a little less. Anything else?

Am I missing anything? Those look to be my 2 options so far right now, but I am 10000% open to hearing any other strategies I should be looking at. I just want to make sure I am using my HELOC funds to my advantage.

Thanks so much for the help everyone, this community has been amazing for the short time I have been a part of it. Hoping to gain some knowledge and be able to give back some day!

@Sean York since I am working on building my network, I am looking at the MLS which is where I found this one. I am working with a realtor and let her know what I am looking for, and I have been added to one wholesale investor list that emails out properties when they are available. After I get my first SFH locked down, I would like to start looking at duplex/triplexes.

@Whitney Hutten I just listened to your episode on the podcast, it was great! Congrats on all of your success :)
I was given a 2% vacancy right by the company that manages a few other properties in that neighborhood and then I doubled it just to be safe. But with everything going on, it makes sense to add a little buffer to be extra safe. The house is about 15 years old, without a major rehab, what #s would you use for Capex/Maint?