All Forum Posts by: Elenis Camargo

@Attila M. Yes we will definitely write it all down. Thanks!

Hi everyone. My husband and I currently own one SFH and just got an offer approved on our second one. We live in New York and invest in Florida where we are originally from. My brother, who lives in Florida, really wants to get involved in real estate but he does not have any money and does not own a home yet. He wants to also purchase his own home next year before his wedding, but again has no money for this, actually has a good amount of credit card debt. My husband and I are wanting to get a multi-family and are thinking a great way to get my brother involved is the following:

• My brother would get an FHA loan for a triplex or 4-plex in Florida
• I would put the 3.5% down payment as a co-borrower
• My brother and his fiancé would live in one of the units for a few years rent free so they can save money for a house
• My brother would manage the property by showing units, cleaning them when someone moves out, and as much maintenance as he can handle on his own
• I would handle the finances paying the mortgage using the cash flow and keep the profits since my brother is living rent free
• My brother would move out eventually (2 or 3 years later) and we would refinance into a regular mortgage so that he can get another FHA loan
• We would begin splitting all profits 50/50 once he moves out

My question is, has anyone reading this done this before? I read some of the FHA requirements and I think my brother would qualify. The only thing is he has not been at his job for over two years as he recently got a new job. Another question is, would we have to refinance or would my brother's fiancé be able to get her own FHA loan a few years down the road, even if they are married by that time? Is it allowed for a married couple to each have their own FHA loans or once you're married you can only have one no matter if both names are on it or not?

I thought this was a great way to have him involved and to also help him be able to save money for a SFH that he'd want to live in for the long term. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

@Ryan Keenan Okay I didn't realize you had already gone to court. 3 months...that's terrible! I hope she still has to pay for those 3 months...? Have you tried finding another evictions attorney or is it too late now? The one I used in Florida was super responsive by phone and email. 

PenFed will do the HELOC on it. I spoke with them on the phone a few weeks ago and they were allowing this on rental properties.

@Ryan Keenan Wow!! That is the tenant from hell. Why did you decide to give her a month? Did she pay the September rent? As soon as she fails to pay you can put a 3-Day Pay or Vacate notice and if she doesn’t pay by the 3rd day then you file the eviction. You have to be strict with a tenant like that or they will continue to do these things to you. It also heavily depends on your state laws. I’m sure your evictions attorney can help set expectations on what will happen. Good luck!!

@Stevie Delacruz Yes I think house hacking would be great for you. For anyone actually. I'm dying to do it but I live in Brooklyn and it's extremely overpriced so I'm just investing out of state in Florida.

@Stevie Delacruz Amazing that you're already thinking about this at age 19!! It's never too young, I think. I'm 30 and wish I had thought of this sooner. Take a look at this article: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/house-hacking-la-full-time-student/

@Daniel Tisdale I definitely would not do this. Funny this topic came up though. I started reading Brandon Turner's book today "The Book on Rental Property Investing" and he starts off the book talking about how appreciation or the long-term vision of selling for a much higher profit should be seen as the icing on top, not as the main reason for investing in a rental property. $400 per month is a significant loss on a rental. That's what I make now on my single family property and what many investors would love to make on each of their doors. Also, many investors are talking about the real estate market being at another peak right now, and the data says so as well. So imagine you buy this now then years down the road you can't even get your month back and have to sell at a loss or hold onto it even longer. This happened to many investors during the housing crisis and it can easily happen again. Either bring the price significantly down or walk away. Good luck!

@Omari Heflin Are you looking for a HELOC on the home you live in or for an investment property or another type of line of credit?

@David Simon I haven't tried using those sites for comps but I use Zillow and put "Recently sold" then play with the filters to get something close to the house I'm looking for. It always works for me. Maybe you won't find something in a few blocks radius but there should be at least a few that sold in the past few months in the area. If not, then I would try getting an average price per sqft and trying to come up with a number for the property you want to brrrr.