All Forum Posts by: James Call

@Nathan Frost did you find what you were looking for? 

I would think that you would have to just find a website or a google doc to use. 

What did you end up with?

Thanks,
James

@Ian Alvarez,

Welcome to BP from Texas!

Do you have a real estate agent you are working with?  Have you gotten with a lender?

I suggest the following:

1. Go to your bank or credit union and tell them exactly where you are.  Don't over-exaggerate anything.  If there is a skeleton in your "financial closet, share it with them.  They will see it eventually.  

2. Go to 2 other mortgage brokers, banks, or credit unions and do the same thing:

"I have a 732 credit score, I make $65,000 per year, I owe $5k on my credit card, I have $800 in car payments, my rent is $1250 a month, etc... etc...."

3. They will give you a rough idea of the type of money you can borrow from them.  You will need to have some money for a down payment.  Usually about 20% of what they will lend you.  So if they will lend you to buy a $200,000 property, you will need 40k in cash for the down payment. 

4. Once you have some idea what they will lend you, a pre-approval letter, and the down-payment, you are good to go.  The next step is to find a real estate agent who knows investment real estate.  

I have been a full-time Realtor, and have worked with a lot of Realtors and brokers. Many of them focus on personal home purchases.  You can ask around here, or look at websites in SA to see who knows investment real estate.  

5. Start looking.  PATIENTLY.  You may have to wait a few months for a deal to come up that you like.  

I have seen too many people do this list in exactly the opposite order.  I did it when I started.  I found something I liked, went to a Realtor, they sent me to the lender, then I realized I didn't have enough down-payment.  

Good luck and let me know if I can help with anything. 

@Esther Budd,

Welcome to BiggerPockets. 

I agree with @Troy Ramey.  There are real estate investment opportunities everywhere.  Some areas are tough, like St. George Utah, where the market is pretty hot right now. 

The best thing I have seen is to generally purchase properties in areas that close to you or somewhere you want to visit. 

If you are going to be buying big multi-family properties that are far from you like Texas, then that will work too.  To me, buying a 3 bed 2 bath home in Burleson Texas when you live in Salt Lake City Utah, is really just too complicated and expensive. 

If you have family or a beach or some other destination in another state, that can give you a reason to visit your investment and then it isn't so painful when you have to go do something at your rental. 

Let us know what you decide to do!

Best, 

James

@Andrew Zannotti,

It sounds like you have a plan. 

I hear you about doing SOMETHING. 

I was living in Mexico years ago and I really wanted to get into investing.  I went to El Paso TX about every 3-4 weeks and I saw a nice multi-family property that I wanted to buy.  

My wife wasn't cool with that idea, so we didn't do it.  ( I ended up buying some stocks)  

If we would have purchased that property, it would have given us something that would have helped us out as we made a lot of changes in the following 10 years. 

Sometimes it is just good to get going and make something happen.  

Good luck to you.  If I can help out with anything, please let me know.  

Thanks,

James

@Andrew Zannotti, 

I agree with the other comments. That looks like a nice deal if everything works perfectly.  

You have to have a contingency built into any deal.  The biggest ones are you moving AND your manager moving. 

I have a residential rental about 45 minutes from my home, and that works out pretty good because I can get there and back pretty fast.  

I have a commercial rental about 12 hours from my home, and that also works out, because the tenant takes care of everything.  

•  How do you interview new tenants? 
• Who decides who rents your property?  
• How much money does it cost you to get door-to-door from your new home somewhere to this property? 
• How much time does it take to get door-to-door?  

There are always deals that you have an opportunity to make. I would think about this if you know you are going to be in town for some years to get some experience and get some money moving on that deal.  If not, I would probably pass and look for something else. 

Good Luck! Let us know what you decide to do.

James

@Robert Hale welcome!

It looks like @Matthew Deskins has your back on finding properties.  

If you are looking for something in the DFW area we may be able to help out.  We have a network of folks we work with up here. 

I will PM you.  

Thanks,
James

I agree with @Jeff Copeland.

You want to visit with 2 or 3 lenders and make sure they are saying the same thing to you.

My wife and I had been been self-employed for years and we wanted to move to a different part of the country.  We spoke with a referral who was a lender and told us "Sure, you guys are good.  We can get you a loan for a new home."

We ended up having to walk away from this house we had under contract because we couldn't get the financing.  Not only would our buddy not get the loan for us, but none of the lenders in the area wanted to loan us the money.

We were pretty beat up about it, but fast-forward a few years and we ended up buying our current home at a great time and we got a terrific loan.  

Our current home was worth twice as much as the old house we originally wanted to buy.  

Sometimes it is better to wait out a year or two and get your finances in order before jumping at a deal in the beginning.

@Jim Cummings and @Jason Bott, 

I was referring to the non-owner occupied dwelling.   

@lackshay G.

You will want to have LandLord Insurance above and beyond what you carry for your personal home insurance.  

You should get it setup before you go to escrow.  

It is sometimes a little tricky because we get financing on the property as a "second home" or investment, and often the insurance agents will setup a homeowner's policy for you.   We see this happening in Texas where we do landlord-specific insurance. 

What you want to make sure of is that you get "landlord insurance" or "investor insurance".  Just tell your agent that you are looking for this.