All Forum Posts by: Eddy Dumire

Mattias,

I'm an investor/ agent with Fathom Realty in the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors.   I'm not finding the listings in MRIS even when I search Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  What am I missing?  Do agents there use Sentrilock or combo boxes?

Thanks, 

Eddy

I'm interested in buying student housing for my son and his roommates to occupy while he attends JMU.  I'd love to pick the brains of local experts and I'd be happy to buy you dinner for the privilege.   My wife and I will be there this Saturday looking at properties and ready to make something happen. Please let me know if you can spare a little time. 

@Brian C., I live off 610. I have 4 investment properties and bought my primary residence as an REO also. I've been stuck at 4 for about 2 years now. Everything seems to be getting run up too high. I'd love to hook up and chat.

I have two rentals in North Stafford.   One is rented to a marine that works in Quantico.   His commute is about 15 minutes.   The other works at Belvoir.  She routinely commutes an hour or more.  I think you'll find the highest concentration of military around the 95 corridor between Fredericksburg and Alexandria but skewed more heavily between Stafford and Woodbridge.   Woodbridge has the bonus of being a super easy Pentagon commute with the slug lines that form near PW pkwy commuter lot.  Stafford appeals to those looking for something a little less urban.  Cash flow in Stafford is a little more attainable than it is in Woodbridge.  You can Cash flow in Stafford in B properties where in Woodbridge you'll probably need to go to a C.

Stafford and Fredericksburg can work and will generate about $100-200 per door after vacancy and maintenance.   They run about .8 to .9 rent to purchase on the B- to C properties.   The further south you go the generally better it is.   As usual,  the nicer it is,  the less likely it will cash flow.  I aim for about $200k and lower.  I'm an agent in Stafford.   Hit me up if you have any questions. 

I grew up in Dale City and I'm still a volunteer firefighter there.  My mom and sister both own investment properties there and my sister has entertained selling her house there to get better cash flow in the south.  Lake Ridge is not a bad neighborhood, but you as everyone else mentioned, you need to cash flow before you can consider holding it.  There are some places you can do it in Woodbridge, mainly the older state street areas, but in general, you need to go south of Rt. 234 before it starts to work.  Then, the further south you go, the better it works.  I own four investment properties in Stafford and Fredericksburg in addition to my primary residence that I bought as a very extended live-in flip.  One last thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that you should not think of listing this house until mid-April or so. 

Please let me know if you need any help at all.

@Charan K. They're harder and harder to find all around. Best case scenario right now is about .9% on MLS (at least at list price). I do see that lots of stuff is selling at a discount. Plenty of townhouses I was just looking at were listed at 135k and selling for 120k.

Shawn,

First, welcome brother.  I've been a vollie PWC for 24 years now.  BP podcasts are fantastic and if you didn't start with episode 1, go back to the beginning.  Every single one of them has really valuable information.  Second, are you sure you're correctly calculating what you're cash flowing?  Cash flow is not Rent - Mortgage = Profit.  Be sure you're accounting for capex, maintenance and vacancies.   If all that's true, then $200 isn't a bad start.

I'm a buy and hold guy myself and currently have 4 properties in Stafford and Fredericksburg and I'm looking to increase.  I would say that you're on the right track already and moving back into your townhouse and/or selling it would be a step in the wrong direction.  You want to be accumulating properties, not selling them.  I personally never plan to sell anything (unless I'm doing an 1031 exchange but that's another topic). 

I would also not wait until July to make this decision.  The market has softened a little for the winter so your best price would be over the next 2-3 months before the spring market heats up again.

It is a really fantastic way to build a buy and hold portfolio by getting a new primary residence every 1-2 years.  Your primary residence always has loan terms that are much more favorable than an investment property and you don't have to trade in your loan when you move out and convert it to investment.

Finally, I personally think you're wasting money with PM.  It's really not hard to manage one property and you could probably do it really easily during your off hours, but that's a personal decision for you to make.

Please let me know if I can help you out in any way.

Eddy

 Stafford has worked out great for me.  You can get really close to the 1%  rule here.  Please Let me know if you need any help.

 I'd love to attend also.  I'll be there at 7:00.  Just to be sure everyone is on the same page, this is the one at the intersection of Old Bridge Rd and Prince William Pkwy near Chinn Park.