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All Forum Posts by: Edward Stephens

Edward Stephens has started 29 posts and replied 146 times.

Post: Refinancing & Cash Flow

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

@Leanna Nixon you can tell your lender how much cash you want to take out when you cash-out refi.  If you’re worried about your cashflow becoming negative, you might want to take out less cash.  If you have additional questions, feel free to DM me on this.

Post: Death/drug use on a property

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

I would avoid.  Some cultures are VERY disturbed by any death that has occurred in the home. I have had many buyer clients turn down many perfectly fine homes because of this one fact.  The question is typically raised if the home is being sold in the name of a trust or if the property is being sold by several owners with different last names and the property is extremely dated with dated furniture (like an elderly person has lived there). 

When it comes to the drug houses, I would talk to an insurance provider about this.  You might find out the home is uninsurable or has a staggeringly high deductible.  Even after the rehab you might try to sell it to buyers who struggle to find affordable insurance on the home and then can't close or can't get the property sold at the price you want.  Insurance companies probably don't have as much of a forgiving attitude as some uninformed first time home buyer.

Post: What is House Hacking exactly?

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

Hey @Wilexis Ventura-Matos, it means that you buy a property and live in part of it and rent the other part out to make some income.  It's popular with first time home buyers who might struggle to pay a house payment all by themselves.  I've house hacked myself, in three separate ways.
1) Bought a duplex and lived in one unit while the other unit was rented to another family.

2) Within the unit I lived in, I got a roommate that I rented a room to.

3) I rented my basement of my unit to someone who needed a place to store their belongings (it was cheaper for them to rent from me than to rent a storage unit)

It's a little extreme the way I did it, but any of those individually would classify as househacking by themselves :)

Hope that makes sense.  Message me privately and we can talk about how to get started if you need help.

Post: Request opinions and direction on whether to sell or rent out my condo

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

@Jose Lucina thanks for the question.  It might be helpful to look at this from a worst case scenario and then make up your mind. 

What happens if the real estate prices comes down in 3 years, you've held onto the property and you need to refinance it? And interet rates went up...they're not 7% anymore, they're 9%. (No one knows where rates will be in 3 years, just taking a wild guess).  Also, you've rented it to three years to someone who abused the property and so it's not in good condition anymore.  Your cashflow of $750/mo x 36 months = $27,000 is a drop in the bucket to the money you could lose if rates go up and the market dips and a tenant has a field day in your property.  

If you're as risk averse as you seem in your post, I'd sell it and move to the next property.  

P.S. - An additional risk factor with condos is the prospect of them becoming non-warrantable due things like a pending lawsuit against the association, or a high % of rentals in the building.  This makes financing tougher for prospective buyers and results in a loss in value.  If you have questions bout this, DM and we can have a call about it.  Also, what happens if there is an assessment?  What happens if the condo fees are raised? Those things can not only eat away your cashflow while you're renting it, but could scare off buyers if you're going to sell it to someone.

Good luck, message me if you'd like to discuss further by DM or phone.

Post: CPA in Charlotte

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

Just D/M'd you info

Post: Is this the right method to finance

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

@Fallon Gilbert great question.  First, I wouldn't worry about "what the threshold is for a lot of lenders."  Find a good lender that wants your business and they'll come through for you.  Sometimes they'll do it b/c they have a relationship with the agent involved.  Ask your agent to come through for you on this...it's their job.

I would recommend putting  the minimum down to buy the property (probably 20%), and then saving the rest of your cash for the next property.  In this case, I would avoid personal loans if you can take a loan against real estate, because the interest rate you pay on a personal loan will (almost always) be higher than a loan you take against real estate. 

You could put each property into it's own LLC and if you get an attorney they can do that for you after closing.

What are you trying to achieve by getting all of these properties into one loan?

Post: Owner finance, no interest, owned outright, large down payment

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

Just DM'd you.  I can help you work this out.

Post: Estimating rehab costs before or after inspections?

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

@Patrick Zepeda ideally you know what your best bid is going to be before you write the offer.  That way you're not wasting the seller's time, the agents time, and most importantly your time.  It's also bad for your reputation if you're running around town making $200,000 offers on homes and then after inspections trying to renegotiate to $170,000 because you didn't understand the cost of repainting the interior of the home or installing granite countertops before you made your offer.  Your professional reputation is paramount and should be protected.

You will have an inspection on the home, and that inspector might find that, for example, the roof needs replaced or the furnace needs replaced, but the inspector won't be telling you how much it costs to lay hardwood floors or how much to change out a kitchen backsplash with something more stylish.  If something is mechanically wrong with the home, something not disclosed and couldn't have been reasonably discovered before your offer was made, then it's fair game to renegotiate after inspections.

If you have add'l questions feel free to DM me.  Good luck!

Post: Qualifying the End Buyer

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

@Damian Walker, if you have any hunch at all that the Proof of Funds is fake, you should first think about whether or not you even want to do business with these people.  After you've decided you still want to deal with them, call the financial institution that provided the proof of funds to the buyer.  It could have been written by an attorney and you could call that attorney, as one example.  You should google the name of WHATEVER institution appears on the proof of funds letterhead also.  Just to see if that company even exists or if it's a scam that's been going around the internet.

Are you a wholesaler trying to find out if your cash buyers are for real?

Post: Should I use my HELOC to purchase my first investment property?

Edward StephensPosted
  • Realtor and Investor
  • Leawood, KS
  • Posts 165
  • Votes 78

Miraka I am helping another BP member with this exact issue right now and would be happy to help you.  You can DM me directly.