All Forum Posts by: Hema Dasarathy

@Rashad S. typically when a person says they are willing to pay upfront rent for a year, the idea they are conveying is that they have the money to pay rent even if income stream is minimal. If credit score is decent, rent history of having paid on time or mortgage history (if home owner), account showing decent deposits ( esp since she is planning to buy a home later) and willing to a two months security deposit may be a better way to present the client/ family friend as a tenant. 
My 2 cents.

Closing on our 15th home in June, I would say Engineering background is good to have but it is really not the books/education which are going to propel you. You can get stuck analyzing - analysis paralysis can be seen in action. :) Leveraging the good jobs for good rates is a definite plus. 
I majored in Physics and got into RE when searching for our primary home 20 years back. Mesmerized by design, neighborhood and city planning, floor plans- dived right in 17 years back and got my Real Estate license. No turning back professionally! After a personal Duh moment, bought our first investment home in 2014. Husband is an engineer who supported whole heartedly (i think)  once he saw the numbers plus a great job with an IT company helped get us great rates.
A personality of caution but not stuck helps. As a couple risk taker me & a cautious husband, neither on the end of the spectrum of being foolish or stuck. 
Am surrounded by Engineering and Medical professional friends circle. They seem to love the "idea" of RE investment but call to action is at glacial speed. Too much of analysing and straight jacketing IMO.

Update: All your fantastic ideas put to work in the last 6 months!

Happy to share!  Have bought 3 more homes!!!

How we did this: Paid one down. Phew! Seriously felt so good!

This freed up a mortgage on each of our names. ( the max of 10 financed properties limit)
Bought the 11th financing it on my name and the 12th financed by husband. 
Hit the 10 financed property each limit again.

Cash-out refinance-d the property which was coming up on its 5 year ARM on my name, freeing husband from it.

And now got the 13th property financed by him!
So Yaa..3 done in the last few months! 

Game plan is to pay down one more this year and  save save save! Buy our 14th & 15th by 2021!
Wish us luck! 

@Karen Ade have buy and hold in double digits in this area and am also an investor friendly Realtor. Let's connect so I get to know your goals a little better. Great market both for appreciation and cash flow.

@Curtis Harvey Hi! Thanks for getting in touch! I sure will. Please check your DM for further information.

@Ronald Cooperman That's one thing I make sure to check before making an offer for my homes or for my clients. Made a very costly mistake when starting out in RE for a client and we had to cancel contract, The pricing was so outrageous even though the chances of flood was minimal to none. Thanks to all the FEMA maps being redrawn after Katrina.

The one way you could avoid flood insurance if you don't have a mortgage on the property. The lenders will want  you to have one. But you can choose to not have flood insurance if you have paid it down. In case you have that option and can't back out of it...

@David W. You should definitely consider Raleigh and surrounding areas including Durham of NC. Extremely good with the floating population, jobs, rapidly growing suburbs, taxes between 1% in Wake county to 1.39% in Durham ( some areas of Durham at 1.6%). With RTP, Duke, UNC and NC State, and IT hub, Pharma hub, this place is not going to slow down. 

I hold properties in double digits here and growing. Also have many investor clients from CA who have rental properties here. You should definitely consider this place. 

Hope this helps.

@Thaha Mirza

Could you check the resale history of the triplex? How many times has it changed hands and how many days it was in the market at those time. If the industrial company has been there for decades and has not been too bad on the history of this complex, has a good rental history; If that is clear, I would go for it.

If there were delays and problems, I would make a slightly lower offer to compensate for any resale price reduction that might happen when i am ready to sell it in the future. 

Also, I would go to the town development and check if there is any  rezoning plans for the future and how it would affect this property. 

Hope this helps.

Thank you @Caleb Heimsoth. That's the decision I am working on and gathering as many inputs as I can gather. Pay one off or leverage the equity in them to invest in more. Guess it is coming to personal comfort of which hat I would like to wear. 

Thank you so very much for your advice. It helps to know how another would do in a similar situation.

@Account Closed will do that!! Thank you!!