All Forum Posts by: Ryan Dickinson

Welcome Eddie!  I'm pretty new to BP myself, great place to network and contribute.

@Amanda Hensley  Thank you for your reply!  I appreciate you taking the time and thank you for your insight.

Yes, I am a little nervous about the thought of tapping the equity in my primary.  It's a calculated risk, no doubt.  We bought our primary at the bottom of the market in 2011, put 20% down at the time, and have paid additional principal on it consistently since.  So, $68K of that equity is actual cash paydown from the original purchase price, which was the lowest value this house has ever been since being built in 2006.  That makes me feel a little more secure in our position, but still nervous at the concept.

My current rental is worth about $165K and it's at 86% LTV right now (it was our former primary that we held onto as a rental because we were underwater on it in 2011). So, no accessible equity there. It has produced cash flow for us for the last 3 years now.

Thanks for the Debt to Income ratio consideration, and the closing cost comparison thought as well.  I'm not sure yet what we will do - mulling it over and hopeful to get some additional input from BPers who have wrestled with the same decision.

Thanks again Amanda.

Best,

Ryan

Hi Everyone,

I'm relatively new to the REI world. I have one rental property now, and I'm looking to acquire another. I could use some experienced insight on my plan.

I would like to use the equity in my primary residence as a down payment for my next rental property. According to my bank's online valuation, the conservative market value of my primary is $306K. Our loan balance is $166K. Knowing I can borrow up to 80% LTV on the primary, I should have up to approx $79K to work with ($306K * 80% - $166K). I'm leaning toward a HELOC to access that equity.

I have some questions on this process:

1. Are lenders generally OK with the down payment coming from a HELOC?

2.  If not, would a cash-out refi on the primary be viewed any differently?

3.  What would you suggest if these are both terrible options?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best,

Ryan

Hi Micah,

I've done a lot of work in Georgia on the default services side of the business for a couple of larger Atlanta area firms.  

Legally, Georgia sales can take place at any time during business hours on the first Tuesday (or Wednesday if the Tuesday is a holiday) of each month, so be prepared to spend some time if you are attending the sale.

Generally speaking, the representative reading the Notice of Sale can represent any number of firms, so be sure you ask which firm (or firms) are being represented.  The good ones will have a list of properties for you to look at on a board or a document.

PLEASE NOTE:  Just because you see a published notice for a property, that does not necessarily mean it's going to be auctioned.  In my experience, about 25% of the properties that publish in a month actually end up going to sale in that month.  Many times the sales are cancelled, or postponed and restarted for the next month.  I recommend calling the firm that is handling the property the day before the sale to be sure it will be auctioned the next day, or you could spend the entire day at the auction for nothing.

You likely know this already, but you will need a cashier's check to turn over to the representative if you win an auction.  Most buyers have cashier's checks drafted to themselves in multiple increments, which they sign over to the firm should they win the auction.  Any excess funds provided are refunded by the firm once the file is received and processed by them.

Thanks and let me know if you have any other questions!

Best of Luck,

Ryan

Very Nice!  Excellent work.  Please let us know how fast it sells.

the Colorado Secretary of state declared a business formation fee holiday beginning July 1, so right now forming a Colorado LLC costs only 1.00 in state fees. Not sure how long the holiday will last, but you can save a little money while it does.

Quicken makes a software package called Rental Property Manager. It's relatively inexpensive and pretty easy to use, especially if you have experience with Quicken or QuickBooks. I don't have a lot of experience with it, but it seems to fit the bill for what you are looking for.  It can handle up to 100 properties. 

Thank you 

Hi Everyone,

Brand new to BP and relatively new to real estate investing. I have owned 1 investment SFR rental for about 3 years now. Looking to get serious and scale up with 2-3 properties over the next 12 months or so.

I wanted to introduce myself and thank everyone for the pool of knowledge here at BP!

Best,

Ryan Dickinson
Dickinson Capital Investments, LLC

Hi Peter,

It looks like FFB insurance has an offering - not as good of coverage as AON's product by the looks of their webpage - but some coverage nonetheless.  I've never dealt with them, but I do have a link:

http://www.ffbinsurance.com/special-programs/tenan...

Good luck and let us know what you find out if you don't mind.