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All Forum Posts by: Eric Lyles

Eric Lyles has started 4 posts and replied 5 times.

Post: A friend in need

Eric LylesPosted
  • Investor
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Posts 5
  • Votes 5

Hello,

I’m looking for other real estate investors to connect with and bounce ideas off of. I have an apartment building and don’t have many friends that are in this realm to vent to. It’s quite a struggle when you’re just getting by on your own. If anyone would like to connect on a friend level and share experiences that would be awesome. Two eyes and ears are better than one when dealt with certain challenges. 

Thanks

Post: Recommended CPAs/Accountants Taxes

Eric LylesPosted
  • Investor
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Posts 5
  • Votes 5

Hello BP!

Excited to reach out to you all in regards to my real estate journey. I've come a long way and have reached a point where building a long term relationship with a CPA or accountant would be a worth while connection when dealing with taxes and decisions I may make during the year. I met and connected with many individuals on BP and I do appreciate the resources that is provided to me from them and on here. I have my W-2 job, and own my primary residence along with a commercial MFH that I acquired 1/2022 out of state. I use to do my own taxes but I don't think this is a good idea taking on IRS codes dealing with a Commercial MFH in my own LLC out of state. If anyone can recommend an accountant or CPA that would be willing to talk throughout the year who has experience with this type of situation, that would be amazing.

Thank you so much 


Eric 

Post: Needing guidance in real eslate investing

Eric LylesPosted
  • Investor
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Posts 5
  • Votes 5

Hello Everyone,

My name is Eric and I've posted here once before back in 2017.....so let's fast forward to today. I've been working hard and really putting in the hours at work to get ahead and build a business in real estate. The people here on bigger pockets are just amazing! Very informative, very intelligent, and inspiring. I've listened and read from individuals here on bigger pockets and it has helped me alot. On December 19th 2018 I purchased my first house(new developement) it's a 3/2.5 in Sacramento using an conventional loan with 5 percent down, 30 years at 4.87percent bringing my payment to 2,575 a month with everything included. Purchase price was $374,900. I immediately turned it into a house hack, renting out 2 bedrooms and living in the Master bedroom the first day I moved in. I actually don't mind having roommates and that's the strategy I want to stick with each time I buy a house so I can save money faster, until I have a kid In the future. It's not easy having roommates but I can handle it. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work a lot of overtime at my job which enables me to save a down payment quicker. I work on the utility poles which is referred to as a lineman. I want to be as transparent with you guys with my plans, finances and mistakes because I'm stuck with where I want to invest my money I save at the end of the year. I created a groundflor account because I was going to dump money into that but I realized I like being hands on, I like using my hands and fixing stuff when it breaks or even upgrading it. I have so much energy not to be hands on. I bring in approximately 110k(including OT) a year. I try to save half or more by budgeting my finances. Now that I have roommates paying me rent thats an extra 18k which goes into savings so as you see here I have capital at the end of the year to invest just don't want to see it go to waste. What I would like to do is rent out my house next year but the problem is the average rent for this house Is $2,200 from what the comps tell me. My mortgage is $2,500. I have no positive cash flow and I won't be able to rent it out and buy another property. Should I use the capital at the end of the year to recast my loan to bring the payment down to get it with in rent prices, which is going to cost me approximately 40-50k. Should I use that money as a 20 percent down for property I would like to fix up and keep long term and continue to live in the primary residence? Every property I buy I would like to keep for long term usIng the BRRRR stragety. I'm not interested in fix and flip at the moment. I also see real state as a business for me so I want to make sure I manage it properly or have a great property management company to manage it because as of right now I love my job and I don't plan on leaving it anytime soon. Another cool opportunity I get to have is that I respond to outages at different times of the day while I'm driving and I scope out distressed/vacant properties and write them down. I get to view the neighborhoods at 10pm or 2am or even 4pm because I cover all of Sacramento. The sub market I would like to focus on is North Oak Park which is in Sacramento. I understand Sacramento is a tough market but i don't want to give up on it. My dream is to partner with someone to help me learn the ropes. I just don't want to waste money. If that means me helping someone so they can help me I'm totally for it. Going half on a property just to get my feet wet. I'm currently reading "The ABCs of real estate investing" I have no credit card debt but have 101k In available credit, I pay my credit cards off full each month. I have an emergency fund. I do have a car loan which is 10k with a payment of 230/month and that's it. Before the house my credit scores were above 800. I love finance and paying bills, running numbers really gets me excited!

Are there any investors I can take out for tea or coffee here in Sacramento? 😊

If you were in this situation what would “YOU” do?

The money I collect from the tenants should I claim that on my taxes which affects my DTI?

Should I borrow money from a private lender to get started on my own.

I read so much on bigger pockets that I’m not sure what direction I should go with my particular situation.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I appreciate it.

Post: First Time Home Buyer Advice

Eric LylesPosted
  • Investor
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Posts 5
  • Votes 5

@Andrew Postell Thank you for your prompt response, I really do appreciate it. As you stated in your post you recommended that I invest into my 401k with my company and build an emergency fund before I start investing in real estate. The cool thing is I actually do have a company match and i'm contributing 10 percent into my 401k (company match+ my contributions). It was automatically set up when I first joined the company. Second, my emergency fund is in the process of meeting its goal. Thank you for the helpful information that you provided It definitely gave me some assurance that i'm on the right track. I do have a question, FHA loans include PMI should that be a concern when house hacking a multi family as a first time home buyer?

@Chris Mason Thank you for your prompt response, I really do appreciate it. Yes, I agree. The payment is hurting me and I'm trying to tackle it so it doesn't hurt me anymore. When looking at the numbers that you provided, It's crazy how a car loan can make a huge difference when buying property. The car situation is a little more complicated than It looks, it involves negative equality from the previous car I got out of. Getting out the car isn't going to happen anytime soon. I gave myself 2 years or less to pay off the car with the amount of overtime I've been working without burning myself out. If I calculated right I will turn a 6 year loan into a 3 year loan, so by June 2018(28 years old) my car loan with be paid off. My goal is to have 2 MFH by 30 years old. I've cut my expenses in half , and I stopped buying expensive aftermarket parts for my car, that will help with my savings and knock down my car loan so i can refinance it. My current interest rate on the car loan is 2.99%. The nice car I have is more for me, I didn't get it for the attention but more to help out if stress is present, It's just something that I can connect to.  After my experience with car loans, I've learned a lot and hope to not make a mistake like that in the real estate world.

@Derek Jones Thank you for the welcoming, It is much appreciated. I agree saving is a must and I'm glad to make it a top priority! =) Thank you for your words of wisdom.

@Wes Blackwell Adding to what I said to @Chris Mason, the car payment is definitely hurting me but I was looking into refinancing it and lowering the car payment, could it possibly help with my first property and what i could buy, maybe? Only professionals like you guys would know. My goal is to have 2 MFH by 30 years old. Does it seem to much like a dream? The car hobby is still a part of me but right now I have put it off to the side while I focus on real estate and my job. I really do appreciate the feedback that you have given me it really did help out with my questions and concerns.

@Casey Murray Thank you Casey, the advice is amazing and I'm definitely taking it into consideration as I move forward, as much as I would like to get out of the car, I don't think i can at the moment. I'm trying to pay off the negative equity. The car loan doesn't match the kelly blue book value, you would think by looking at the car it would be worth 30k-40k, but like everyone has stated, cars depreciate so fast....maybe I can leave it outside and let a tree hit it and then I'd be free haha. 

@Jake Weir Thank you for your prompt response and the great information that you provided to me. It is really appreciated. I do have a question about the Sacramento market. I understand it is very competitive, how does a first time home buyer that is interested in buying a MFH achieve that when going against all cash buyers. Any type of strategy that is used if the individual keeps getting out bought my an all cash buyer. I work in the field and I cover Downtown Sacramento, Midtown, South Land Park, Land Park, Oak Park, East Sacramento, Mckinely Park, Tahoe Park, Rancho Cordova, and Arden. I see a lot of properties for sale that I don't see on Zillow etc. I see the atmosphere through out the day because of the work I do, would it be easier to buy a MFH in a class D or C(less competition) area compared to an A or B, if i'm just looking for cash flow. I will not park my nice car where its visible, Ill probably store it in the garage, and buy a cheap pick-up(daily driver) for hauling stuff etc. Then as the year goes by Ill start looking for my second MFH is a little bit nicer safer area. 

@Amy Beth Thank you for your prompt response, it is much appreciated. I understand that not having the car would make things so much easier. I wish it was as easy as it sounds, but the car situation is more complicated than it sounds as I stated to the other members. I've been working Holidays and overtime these past few months to really get out the negative equity and try to re evaluate the situation and maybe refinance it if it will help me towards real estate. Thank you again for your advice.

Post: First Time Home Buyer Advice

Eric LylesPosted
  • Investor
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Posts 5
  • Votes 5

Hello Everyone,

I'm 26 years old. I'm from Sacramento, CA, and I am new to Real Estate Investing. I've been reading and listening to multiple topics here on "Bigger Pockets;" it's amazing how knowledgeable individuals are and how much they're willing to share to help the next new upcoming investor. That's a huge reason why I decided to make a profile after many days and nights looking over the information that is provided. This community makes a huge difference and definitely sets up the individual for success. I was hoping to get words of wisdom as I move forward in purchasing my first property. I'm an open book and I believe that giving you the details of my financial situation will let you see the whole picture. I'm currently unmarried with no kids. I work at Comcast Corporation as a full-time employee, and my annual salary is approximately 60k-70k (overtime included). I've been working at my company for 3 years now, and have a lot of room for growth. I will continue to work at my company while investing in real estate, considering my work schedule is a set 4 day 10 hour shift(Sun-Wed). I have a lot of time on my hands when I'm not working or volunteering for overtime at work. I think it helps in a way with real estate.

I've always been on top of my finances, it's something that I enjoy doing actually...yes..I like paying bills haha. It's just an OCD thing that I have when it comes to sorting out the bills. I have 5 credit cards to my name, all of them have a zero balance because I pay them off monthly. Each of them have a purpose to my life which includes; gas, groceries, restaurants/bars and emergency. I've been told that a high available credit limit could look bad on my part when applying for a loan. Here are the cards and limits for each one, will I be okay? Amex( Unlimited), Amex (5,000), Discover (23,400), Golden1 (8,000 oldest), Chevron (3,000). I also have an installment loan to my name, which was one of the biggest financial mistakes I have ever made which couldn't potentially prevent me from getting approved for a loan. Its a 35,000 dollar car loan that I'm aggressively paying down. My monthly payment is 580, but I just started paying 1,000k a month because I realized buying aftermarket parts for the car isn't giving me any type of return, it's just a hobby. Performance cars have set me back to where I threw away 25k within 3 years, which could have been invested in real estate. I try not to beat myself up about it, I've learned, and now I'm here to invest it into real estate which matters. I would also like to add that I track my credit score weekly: my Equifax (767), Transunion (764) Experian (760). Aside from my Revolving and Installment payment, the only other monthly expenses I have is rent which is 786 along with my utilities. I just started building my savings account with a total of 5,000 dollars as of today. This is the overall picture of my finances.

As stated in the subject, I am a first-time home buyer and my goal is to buy a multi-family as my first property. After looking at every aspect of real estate, I've been attracted to the cash flow side of it. I'm hoping you guys can guide me in the right direction before making a decision on buying property. Is there anything I need to work on? Is there something I said above that could possibly prevent me from accomplishing my goal? Is Sacramento not a good area for what I'm trying to achieve? I have so many questions, and I never know who to ask, but now I know where to go =)

Thanks to the Bigger Pockets Community!!!