All Forum Posts by: Wesley C.

I use a local bank.  They require a 25 year loan.  Pretty easy process.  Usually pay little to no origination fees.  Closing costs about 1%.  Just monday they gave me ballpark quote of 4 to 4.5 percent on 25 year.

@Jeff B.undefined

Thanks. That is what I was thinking.  Just haven't had to cross this bridge before.   So far have bought, renovated, and rented all with the same year.  

I've never bought rentals so late in the year, and I would appreciate some brief advice.  I bought two houses in December of this year.  They are intended to be rentals.  One was listed to rent on December 15 but did not have a tenant in 2015.  The other closed on Dec 23 and is just now finishing renovations.  How would I approach both of these houses for 2015 taxes?  Thank you for any help.

Thanks for the reply Vic.  They actually are sending the people directly to me so that they can see the house.  They are using my application and background check.  So I'm guessing I'll screen them as normal.   I assume they'll use my contract as well but we haven't gotten that far yet.  The lady with the agency didn't even know if they smoke or not, so we've got a few things to get straightened out first.  But it buys me three months to get to more favorable renting season, so I'm on board if it is on the up and up.

I just got a call today from a company called Temporary Accommodations (tacares.net).  They want to rent one of my houses for 3 months for an insurance client who has been displaced from their home.  They are willing to pay about 30% higher rent, and I don't mind such a short term lease as its much easier to find tenants in late spring/early summer than it is in January anyway.  My question is, does anyone have any experience with this outfit or similar outfits?  I'd like to hear pros and cons.

Seems to me we are missing a big piece of this puzzle: your tuition costs.  If you are fairly sure your passion for real estate is real, and your schooling is expensive, then I would finish this semester and next semester I would enroll in the cheapest school I could find and get the degree with the highest payout with the least amount of dept.  I'm sure all those telling you to stay in school would change their tone if they found out you were going to have $150K in dept and a psychology degree.   A cheap degree gives you a fall back plan and a way to get some cash flow starting out.  In choosing a degree, I would be looking for degrees that enable you to work one or two days a week if you want.  For example, nurses can pretty much work one day a week or seven if they want.  This is valuable because you can replace work days as your real estate career grows.  This is what I do.  I am a doctor and presently work 3.5 days a week.  This is my primary source of income but I have the freedom to pursue other interests.  As I get older, and my real estate portfolio grows, I will reduce the number of days I "work" because my career allows for it.

First of all, I love this deal for you.  One other consideration that I didn't see addressed in the other responses is refinancing.  Many of us like to buy cheap, rehab, rent,refinance and then use equity to buy again (BRRRRRRR or something like that).  If your partner has deep pockets, this won't be necessary.  If he has a limited amount he wants to invest, you might want to utilize this strategy and work these numbers into your formula so you can achieve your 10% faster and so that your partnership will have more capital to grow faster/bigger.  I might add, if you use this strategy your equity checks at closing with the refi will be directly proportional to your abilities as the "finder/buyer" of properties.  In this case, you might want build in a prorated sliding scale commission for how much equity you are able to extract from each refinance.  I have no idea how to structure that and I'm sure there are lots of holes in my logic, but just food for thought.

The stuff I just referenced is only .155 inch thick, so doesn't really add any thickness at all.  You just butt it up against that door mold and caulk tiny gap.  Would look like a million bucks.

Don't need real bead board, use the 4X8 sheets of the faux stuff and liquid nail it to the tile.  Only adds about 1/4" to thickness.  They are about $20 a sheet. Caulk the seams then paint with white semigloss.  Put a piece of trim around the top and a baseboard at the bottom.  Done this many times.   The stripes run on the vertical 8 ft run, so you can easily cover the tall section as well.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_296727-46498-139___?productId=3031277&pl=1&Ntt=beadboard

@Annette Ammarell

I think it is a great idea because it is affordable to college students all the way to professionals who choose to live that way.  I've considered it here in TN as land is cheap.  But cheap property is also why it probably wouldn't work well here as there isn't really a financial incentive for a tiny home.  Most of the prefab tiny homes are pretty expensive for what they are and a person can buy a one or two bedroom home here with a 3.5% down payment for between $30K and $100K depending upon the condition.  That's cheap with very little skin in the game.  But in the Northeast I can imagine many folks would choose tiny homes for affordability and many would choose form simplification/green purposes as you theorized.   I've always been intrigued by the movement.  I don't fully understand it, but I know there is a great niche market.  I like that you could be as active or passive as you wanted in that you could provide units for rent or you could simply lease space like a campground or trailer park.  I would think such a community would fall under the exact regulations as a campground as that's all most of these homes built on a flat bed trailer really are.  I'd see if you can find a local campground and interview the owner and go from there.  I'm certain someone on biggerpockets has done some research.  Might want to start a new thread.