All Forum Posts by: Emily Du Plessis

We have used Old Republic Home Warranty and have had success with them.  We've been able to have some costly items replaced for very little out of our pocket. 

Yes, we pull credit, do employment verification, call individuals for rental history, check their criminal background, and have them list their debts (credit cards, cars, student loans, etc,)

Yes, if you are looking for the investment you could use conventional financing which will require you to put 20% down. 

In terms of what to buy, you have to think about what your goals are as an investor and what you would like to get out of this investment.  Are you looking for positive cash flow each month?  Are you buying it in the hopes of it appreciating and you having the ability to sell in the future for profit?  Once you decide these things you can start thinking about the type of property to pursue.

Have you thought about looking at a duplex, where you could live in one side and rent the other in hopes of you living for free or nearly free now. Then in the future you can hold on to it and earn positive cash flow. Plus, if you live in it then you can use an FHA loan to purchase it and put down much less than 20%.

If you want to buy something to sell later, just be careful that you don't buy something that you can't force any appreciation with.  If there's nothing you can do to make it better and worth more, then you are left having to rely on the housing market to rise and you have little to no control over that.

If you buy a property that you can get under market value and do some updates to it and sell in the future, there's a better chance that you can make some money when you sell and you have a little more control.

Happy Investing!

Congrats on getting started so early! We also live outside of DC (Northern VA area) and have found success in buying rentals in the Winchester area. I recommend checking there, you can get great properties at way more affordable prices than DC while still having higher rents!

The choice is yours but there are pros and cons to both.  Financing it allows you to keep that cash in the bank to put down on more properties in the future.  With not knowing your financials, if you plan on buying more than just 1 property than think about that when deciding to buy with cash.  If this liquidates your cash, then you may have to wait a year or more to buy another.  

I would recommend financing it, but if possible only one of you go on the loan.  My husband and I (also a young couple investing) put the deals in each of our names so that we have the potential to finance more properties.  Most banks will lend on up to 4 properties before you step into the portfolio lending field. So, if you two are able to qualify individually then you could potentially get up to 8 (4 each) before you go to portfolio lending. We've used this strategy and so far it's worked great. 

If you wanted to pay cash, in hopes of getting an even better deal, you could potentially refinance it and take cash out in the future if you needed cash.

My husband and I look in areas that allow us to invest in properties that give us around a 20% ROI give or take. We focus primarily on purchasing properties that generate cash flow each month and that are in an area where home values are increasing (not at a rapid pace but at a steady pace)

In addition, we look for properties that are under market value by anywhere between 15%-25%.  Then we are able to do some light renovations and force appreciation in the first year or two.  

For instance, one of the properties we own we bought (with conventional financing 20% down) at about 17% under market value, put around $5,000 into a light reno, and two years later market value for that same property is around $30-35k more than what we paid.

Like Tim, we have also done a cash out refi on another one of our properties that has allowed us to have cash right now that we are looking to invest in another property. 

Thanks @Karl Pierre for the tip on testing the demand for housing by posting an add.  My husband and I are in the market for a student rental and haven't done this!  We will definitely try it. 

What college/university area do you invest in?

I also think it depends on the area.  I agree with Mark that they typically are not as appealing.  But we have a condo rental and it is highly desired in the area where we bought it.  I would suggest doing some research on the tenant pool and rental market to see how desirable a condo is in that area.

I agree with everyone, be honest with your tenants.  The last thing you want is for them to feel that you are dishonest, they may reciprocate that dishonesty to you.  I've had tenants send the money to my home address.  

However, there are sites out there where they can take care of that.  BP markets the service PayNearMe and there is also Sparkrent.  I haven't used them, but I've heard good things about them.

Hi Keith,

Congrats on deciding to get into real estate investing.  I think it is important for you to start doing some research on the different ways you can invest in RE.  There are multiple ways to make money and if I were you I would take time to think about what your goals are as far as are you looking for active income or passive income.  

You can get into flipping, wholesaling, buy and and hold, mobile homes, I mean there's tons of options.  Once you decide on the way you would like to go, then you can dive into really learning about that particular type of investing and get started!

The forum is a great resource!

Emily