All Forum Posts by: Harrison Smith

@Cody DeLong I would use hard money if I had to, calling either Milk St. or Lincoln. A private investor would be ideal but that project may be a hard sell to that type of lender. If you have any capacity with a HELOC or can collateralize a personal LOC with other assets (investment accounts, etc.) those could be options, but ultimately hard money may be the best path to fill that gap and give you some time to stabilize.

One other thought, companies like New Egg and Discover offer personal loans that they sell as "debt consolidation loans." The terms are favorable to you and the cash can be used for anything, so those might be worth exploring. Sometimes you can get $30K - $50K at rates under 6%. 

Best of luck putting the deal together!

@Phil LeNeveu So long as the activity is rental based, generally they can be financed consistent with any investment property. You will likely be subject to 75% LTV due to its nature, rather than the 80% that some lenders will allow, but I still see properties like that being bankable consistently. Residential real estate that will be used for rental activity is something that banks will almost always lend on. I have some great contacts in the area that I would be happy to introduce you to if you have questions around financing.

@Phil LeNeveu Kennebunkport is a great area. I am a Realtor and developer in the area and Kennebunkport is becoming a very lucrative market for either weekly summer rentals or AirBnB. The draw to the beaches, the downtown area, and the area amenities is bringing more people to that area. The effort of AirBnB can be a detractor to that model, but weekly summer rentals are a big market.

Ideally, if you can build some smaller "cottages" (think bunkhouse, 2 big bedrooms with space to sleep 4 in each and a decent living area with kitchenette+), you could rent those all summer for some significant rents and then get winter renters in (either locals or college students) to pay the bills all winter. Those types of properties are inexpensive to build, easy to maintain, and get nearly the same rents as the properties nearer to the ocean.

Best of luck on this project. If you have questions or want to discuss some concepts, I am happy to meet up. 

@Jennifer Darby I agree with @Mike Roy and @John Underwood and @Alex S. on this. We have built 500 apartments around Portland, ME and we did a waterproof, rugged laminate flooring in all rooms except the bedrooms where we put carpet (thinking residents would like this). This has proven problematic as we are replacing or patching carpet more often than we expected and the color and style keeps getting harder to find. We are about to have to start recarpeting if there are any issues since we are on the verge of exhausting the carpet we kept in reserve. The carpet is nice for sound dampening, but we are finding it does not hold up as well as expected. In the future, we will try to avoid carpet. 

@Mindy Jensen I am an agent and investor in the Portland, ME area. I would be happy to help.

@Pavel Fomichenko this is the meeting for this month.

@Randy Forcier

@Pavel Fomichenko this was last month's meeting.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko thanks Dmitriy.

My previous post got removed so I am posting again. I am local to the Scarborough area and would be happy to grab a coffee and talk real estate.

@Randy Forcier

@Matthew Gallacher my pleasure. Best of luck and if I can help further then don't hesitate to reach out.