All Forum Posts by: Greg Cooksey

Thanks for posting this! I will be available, and I'm going to see if I can get my wife to make it as well. We are in the middle of purchasing our first property right now, so it's a great time to talk to other investors!

Hmmm well I don't have a lot of personal experience with this, but my initial opinion is that it's basically a deterrent to having pets on the property - in which case, if you are trying to discourage tenants with pets, just don't allow them. 

If I'm reading that right, it's not a pet deposit, but it's basically $820/year to have a pet whether it's a beta fish in a bowl or a dog or cat. If you don't want pets in the house, this might open you up to a lot of people trying to hide them from you. 

Have you had your RE attorney look this over? Again, I don't have a lot of experience here, but can you charge an annual "deposit" that is non-refundable in your state, and can you use the original security deposit to repair damage caused by a pet which you collected a separate "deposit" for?

I think at least in my state (Washington) if you call it a deposit it has to be refundable under certain circumstances, otherwise it's a fee. 

Welcome to BP! This site is so full of information that I often find myself spending hours reading posts that are months and even years old... Having said that, I suggest you start looking into the term that was coined by BP's own Brandon Turner - BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat). There are a number of posts on this that will go more in to depth about financing more properties.

BP Podcast #177 is only the most recent podcast on this subject, and I know they touch a little bit on your exact question - financing more than 4 properties. You are going to find that there are a number of options. Portfolio lenders; private lenders; hard money loans etc... That podcast should get you started, and you can listen to that one (and all of the rest) for FREE on iTunes if you want. There is a LOT of good information on them. 

I also highly suggest signing up to receive notifications for the free BP webinars that Brandon and Josh do weekly. They are full of good information as well, and PRO members get access to a web archive of all of the previous webinars. 

Hey there BP! My wife and I have been very distracted with work and life, but we finally decided it's time to make time for REI. We are tired of renting, and tired of making excuses for why we haven't bought our first deal yet.

Originally we were going to use my VA loan for a 4-plex, but when we thought long and hard about it we decided it's not realistic for us to move into one unit of a 4-plex right now for various reasons. We are now thinking SFH is right for this first deal.

What we do think is a good first deal for us is a live in flip.. a house hack... live in BRRRRR! We are excited, and I'm going to do a lot of the analysis myself on properties, but we have never done this before.

Should I contact an agent first? Get pre-approved for a mortgage first? Do I go to a bank, or a mortgage company? 

We have $50k cash to put down on this property, and I have a VA loan to use if it would work better than other options. I understand that it's a seller's market right now, but I am wiling to put in the work to find a property that needs moderate rehab and then get it done. We are going to be looking primarily in Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Lacey and Olympia Washington. We like these areas because they are close to work for us, and we feel like we can target the JBLM (Joint Base Lewis McChord) rental market in a year or so when we continue on with BRRRRR and move out to a new home.

EDIT: I 

The simple fact is that I feel like I could get a 500k mortgage and have mortgage payments equal to what I'm paying in rent right now.. what a waste of money!

@Corey Smith, congrats! I'm heavily considering going the route you went. Please let us know when you find a brokerage you like. 

My wife and I have been busy and distracted lately, but we are ready to do our first deal. We loved meeting people at the Lakewood meet up, and we want to make it out to the next one. I HIGHLY recommend going to them whenever possible - they put on a great event. 

Thanks for the heads up... It's on my calendar, but I'm gonna have to move some things around. I'll try my best to make it! 

And I will also echo @Alex Chin - don't trust the seller's numbers. 

I definitely agree with building up the reserve. And who's to say that you can't pay extra towards your principal every month on a 30 year instead of minimum payments on a 15 year? Does your loan have penalties for early payoff? If not, I would rather have the option to pay more if I could - but not be required to so I could keep cash flowing.

Edit to add: I read your post closer and saw your details on the loan. Looks like a conventional loan.