All Forum Posts by: Erica Osborn

Hey Bryan! I love a good buy & hold success story :) That is what it's all about, building that long term passive income.

Can you tell a little more about this deal, please? It is great for people to get down and dirty in these deals!

• Was this your first project?
• By cash, do you mean you purchased it cash and paid for the rehab in cash?
• If all cash, do you plan on refinancing it to pull some/all of your initial cash out of the project, if so what is your timeline for that?
• Were there any unexpected costs during rehab?
• Did you get a contractor to do the work, did you do most yourself, or did you gc for yourself?
• When did you get your property manager involved?
• How many projects did you analyze before you jumped on this one?
• What might you have done differently if you were flipping it vs. keeping it?
• What is your monthly cash flow on this property?

Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Newport News is a great area for rentals :)

@Aya Caliva I am a military spouse as well and the investor in my family, I know what you mean about getting them on board......my husband has this thing of always wanting to be practical 😁. My husband is just along for the ride! Good luck, it's a fun market in and around VB right now!

This is true Christian, good comment! You can have 2 at a time as long as the total is under your eligibility amount. As long as you met the lived in criteria I mentioned above, you should be able get yourself into another VA!

A live in flip! If you have any cash to put into the purchase you could use a different loan product, like an owner occupied FHA loan (3.5% down), there are other options, too! From what it sounds like, hopefully you will have equity from your sale of your current home that you could put into your new purchase. From selling your current house it will open your VA eligibility back up, and in due time after you finish fixing up and selling the new purchase, you could potentially use the VA to do it again before you leave. **being mindful of the fact that you need to intend to live in these "owner occupied" properties for at least a year before selling.

@Leah Simmons

Just one thing to say here. I owned a vacation rental in the Crystal Beach area and I ended up selling (after it appreciated nicely) because I didn't realize buying a vacation rental was actually buying a business. It was very time consuming and I didn't even manage it. I thought it would be like other rentals.....surprise, it's definitely not passive income, but it is a cool way to have a paid off vacation prop in 30 years and if you are aware of the man hours it will take, get your systems in place, and it's your thing, more power to you!!! Good luck!!!

Hey Mike!

My thought process might not be what you are looking for, but here it is! I am not sure your level of experience, so I am just going to blah here!

The questions I would ask myself:

1. Can I get a better return on my 112,500 than 6.6% in another investment? That's quite a bit of cash, you may be able to spread that out into several other investments and get a better return.

2. Is there any value add option here, are the expenses high and you can lower them, can you pass along any expenses to the tenants, are the rents lower than market and there is room to increase at current lease expiration? Anyway to increase my spread between expenses and income?

3. Are all the units actually occupied or are these proforma numbers? If proforma, you may be able to negotiate the price down since you'll have to find the tenant and it would decrease your expenses by decreasing your mortgage payment.

4.  My answer would be more on the yes side if management was included in your expenses, but now you are doing all the management work (calls for toilet plugs, etc. in the middle of the night) and only receiving a 6.6% return on your money. If it was totally passive, I would say maybe depending on your investing goals.

Food for thought even though you've probably eaten all the food for thought analyzing this deal. 

PS: Nice spreadsheet and good luck!

Hey Gabriel!

I'm in the Hampton Roads area and things here are cruising along! There is plenty of potential for someone looking to invest down here, with BRRRRs, flips, and rentals are happening all throughout the seven cities. The market is pretty strong for rentals with the heavy military presence providing a constant turnover and influx of people looking for a place to rest their heads.  You just have to pick an area and throw your hat into the ring :) I'd be happy to chat about what's happening over here in Hampton Roads any time. My partner Melanie McDaniel is very active in the area as well, we can chat it up and get you informed!

Best of luck and I hope to connect with you in the future.

Erica 

Hello Monet! Welcome to Hampton Roads investing :)

I would have to put two names out there; 

1. Shaheen Law Firm, Ben Titter is an excellent closing attorney, lots of experience with investors! They have an office in Newport News, and V Beach!

2. Priority Title, great closing title company. Lots of experience with investor closing, they helped me close my house when we moved into town and do lots of work with the brokerage I'm under.

Best of luck out there, I hope to see you around the investing world!!!

Erica

Welcome!!! As everyone else said :) This is going to be a great base of knowledge for you to meet your re goals. Your goal seems extremely realistic and doable! Sounds like you have the right things in place to start, i.e. a plan, an agent, and a pre qual! Now it's time to find the time and which vehicle within real estate, right? Time being the hardest part! I started investing while working over full time, I get it.

Are you looking at single family houses, residential multi (1-4) units, commercial multi (5+ units)? Do you want your small portfolio of passive income generating assets to be paid off in five years? There are several meetups in the area (again finding the time is the hard part) which you can meet like-minded people who are doing the same thing. Nice thing is, you aren't the first to invent this wheel and learning from others who have done exactly what you want to do is the best way!!!! You are not alone in this journey.

There is a neat group on Facebook called Real Estate Investing for the W2 Employee, which is a wealth of knowledge and a bunch of people who are doing what you want to be!! A great place to seek advice.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/REIforTheW2/

Look for Jay Helms on here!! He runs the group.

Go get 'em!

Hey Zach! Welcome to investing and welcome to Biggerpockets. You certainly have a skill set that many new investors lack. That will be very beneficial to you and provide you something to offer an investment partnership. Maybe partnering with someone who has some experience in the investing world and you bring your inspection experience. I look forward to seeing you around the local investing network!!! There are lots of great events in the local area, get your face out there. PS; investors need inspectors, too. It's a great marketing tool for your inspection business.