All Forum Posts by: Erin Onsager

Any updates on this cost now 10 months later from the last reply?  I'm looking at scraping my house and building from scratch.  I want some custom features (in the kitchen mostly) that will be more costly, and happy to GC certain things on my own (like finishing out the basement).

@Matt H. - thanks!!  I have a feeling you're right.  It just feels overwhelming and unattainable at certain points along the path of weath creation... but I know you're right.

@Anthony Thompson, Thanks!!  It is a good start, but definitely a bit slower going than it seems every guest on the podcast does it...  Alas, maybe that's why they're guests and I'm just a listener.  :-P

@Marci Stein, correct.  I put ~$80K from my 1031 in plus an additional ~$8K of my own money.

I think private money is good advice... I admittedly lack experience in convincing friends and family to invest!  But I guess you don't know if you don't try.

I've listened to the BiggerPockets podcasts and what always seems to evade me is how people go from their first investment (or first few) to the next handful.

I've followed much of the advice (bought my primary residence in Denver, CO in 2012 for $320,500 and have rented out the basement consistently since then effectively living for free - yay house hacking!).

Two years later, in 2014, I bought a $91,000 condo for ~$20,000 down of my own cash, rented it for 2 years, making ~$200 a month.  In a growing market, I sold it 2.5 years later in 2017 and did a 1031 to buy a 3 unit apartment building in Rhode Island for $274,000, with about $8,000 of my own money down.

In 2015, I bought a 4 br/2ba house for $200,000 with a $35,000 HELOC on my primary residence and $15,000 of my own money.

In 2018, I bought a 5 br/2ba house for $335,000 and put about $50,000 into renovating it (including adding a 3rd bathroom). I used a HELOC on my primary residence for the down payment and renovation costs and brought in a 5% partner. I'm in the middle of refinancing it now, although won't get out a TON of cash, some, but not a life-changing amount. I'm creatively renting this place by the room, and making ~$4,000 in rent a month, which I know isn't the 2% rule, but cash flows about $1,500 a month, so I'm happy with that, which I liken to house hacking, but for an investment property.

Here's my question - I've got 4 properties (including my primary residence), which is wonderful, but I feel that I've leveraged the majority of my equity, until I'm able to pay down more of my existing HELOC. I've inquired about getting a HELOC on my 2015 investment property (my interest rate is 3.875% so a cash-out refinance doesn't make sense), but HELOCs on investment properties are ~Prime + 4.5%, which is pricey. I love hearing how quickly people have been able to take one property and transfer it into a small portfolio of 10+ properties, but I'm a bit befuddled as to how to move beyond where I am right now, other than aggressively paying off my HELOC to free up those funds for another down payment.

I'm not a lawyer, but from my understanding, it's your house and so you have all the rights and they have very little.  Technically what you're doing is called boarding, not renting, so the rules are different, and you have far more rights than they do.  If you're worried, it's worth checking with a lawyer though, of course.

Coming from Denver, I feel like it's a steal of a deal.  I couldn't buy a house here for what I can buy 4 doors for in Pawtucket... I hope I'm right that it is a good deal.  Time will tell!

My place has 4 units.  And thanks everyone!

Thanks!  That's what my broker recommended, but wanted to see if there were any other good options.

I'm under contract to buy a small apartment building in Pawtucket.  This purchase is a lot of firsts for me - first multi-family and first out of state purchase.

I'm looking for a property management company and curious if anyone has any recommendations?

Thanks!