All Forum Posts by: Greg Jeanfreau

@Evan J. & @Paul Haviland Thanks for the input guys! I'll check out Buildium also.

@Braden Hey, just saw this. Thanks, I'll check them out.

If you decide to proceed now, you should go to the lender that you plan on opening the HELOC with and get them to run your credit and review what they offer for Loan To Value (Most will offer a 70%-75% LTV on a HELOC for you primary residence). You should talk to your agent about the fair market value of your current house to see how much equity you realistically have. For instance, if you own your house out right and it's worth $200k, then Navy Fed or whoever you use should be able to open a $140k-$150k HELOC that you can use as "cash" once you have closed on the HELOC. So if this house is for sale for $100k, then you can purchase it and still have some left over to do repairs if it needs it. So in that example, you should (may) be able to get the person at the bank to write a letter stating that you are pre-approved for a HELOC, but only for the amount of the purchase for the new house. Once you have this in hand, it would not hurt to share the facts of your home with the seller of the new property such as address, square footage, some pictures, and some comps showing that you have equity to work with. Be open with them and do your due diligence and you may be able to pick it up. And, if it is the screaming deal that you think it is, you can do a cash out refinance on it with a private lender / local bank almost immediately or with a Fannie Mae backed loan after 6 months. You should be able to pull most if not all of your cash out, pay down the HELOC to 0 and repeat. But even if you do not get this house, I hope that you will proceed with opening the HELOC to pursue future deals because once it is open, it will remain open for a set time. Mine is a 10 year term and they will extend at the end if you want. I personally have bought numerous houses this way with my HELOC and make cash offers with it. I then make some repairs, pull all my cash out and repeat. And I have gotten some pretty great deals from it. Also, if you work with wholesalers to purchase properties, you will have to have cash to close typically within 30 days and wholesale deals are some of the best these days. Good luck!

Hey BPeeps,

What property management software do you use? Do you like it and why? I'm looking to move from my brain, PayPal and Excel to a more professional system that is more applicable to rental property and can grow organically from a small portfolio to a large scale operation. There are a lot of options out there. Thanks! -Greg in NOLA 

@Braden Smith @Kimberly Jones

Same here...

@Ean Savoy                

No need to rag on New Orleans. Things are pretty good here and many of us are helping our neighbors in BR just as they helped us. Not a time to criticize each other's cities. 

Baton Rouge will come roaring back without a doubt.

@Donald Hendricks

You are the Keyser Soze of BP posts. Seriously, I would totally rent to someone with those stats. All day. You have rental property. You have savings. You have good credit. Saying that you absolutely have to meet the 3X criteria is like someone not buying a property in the heart of San Francisco or NYC that is priced at 50% of the market value, but does not meet the 2% rule as a rental. Rules are guidelines and sometimes you have to use your brain.

@Ean Savoy

I don't think that there is really any reasonable way to remove it since it is between the brick and the studs. I think your best bet is to use Bora-Care on it and the studs, make sure it is fully dry and then paint it and the studs with an oil based mold inhibiting paint for good measure. I guarantee that 99% of the homes in NOLA that had this sheathing did not remove it before rebuilding. I have yet to hear anyone ask about it. The other route is to have it professionally remediated so that your family will have a mold certificate stating that it has been done professionally. This could come in handy if you have any plans to sell the home in the next few years. Good luck! I'll be in B.R. this weekend to join the fun...Lots to do!

@Michael B.

For my rentals, I know that I have not been able to get a Fannie Mae backed loan/refi until I have owned the property for at least 6 months and I am pretty sure the same goes for owner occupied property. I have not gotten past the 10 property Fannie maximum. Did you do the renovations with cash out of pocket? What do you think the value will be after everything is complete? Do you think that you will have 20% equity? If you are still the owner occupant at the time when you refinance, then you can easily refinance with 20% equity (I assume that you meant 20% equity and not 80%). If you have already turned it into a rental, your bank may require 70%-75% Loan To Value (LTV) or 25-30% equity (same thing looked at from different directions). But anyway, you should call your mortgage company. Then you should call other mortgage companies to shop around. Keep in mind that they want you to refinance as they get paid to do it. If you can manage to pull of the 15 year mortgage, I can tell you from my experience that it is fantastic to see that principle chop away every month. At the current interest rates, you start paying more principle than interest in under a year which is nice. I'm not sure if you have to occupy the home for any amount of time after refinancing, but I cannot imagine that if you were to refinance in November (6 months from purchase) and move out next Spring or Summer that you would run into any problems. Honestly, you could probably rent it out the same day you close your refi. Congrats on making moves!

Sounds like a typical New Orleans reno project. Is it in a National Historic District? If so and you plan on holding to the property for a couple of years, you should look into Federal tax credits.