All Forum Posts by: James Letchford

I'm currently financing my primary residence through a VA Loan. It's a jumbo mortgage ~$1.2M (at 3.25%) and it would likely appraise at $~1.5-1.7M. My family and I are currently looking at purchasing another home (that will likely be another jumbo) and renting out my current home.

I also own my first BRRRR rental property that I'm about two weeks away from refinancing. It's leveraged for $105k and will appraise at $180k.

My thought is that I should refinance my current residence under a conventional loan (even though I won't score the same great rate) to free up my VA Loan for my next home purchase. The VA Loan allows me to throw down very little cash relative the purchase price, so I'd love to take advantage of that.

Here's are my questions:  Am I thinking clearly?  Is this the right way? Or is there something better being that I have a small rental? Etc?

Thanks in advance for any help.

@Rosy Bruno I only manage one property in QuickBooks right now, with one in the pipeline. It may outgrow me at some point, but until I'm generating a lot more cash flow and have the need for a more sophisticated system, it's working for me.

@Brandon Baker:  You don't necessarily need to start 'businesses' or LLCs to purchase the properties. Get off to the races immediately by purchasing the properties in one name at a time (if you plan on leveraging mortgages). Both you and your wife can have up to 10 mortgages to your names, each. (Total of 20.)

I know it's been done, but it's very difficult to get a property deeded in an LLC when you're getting started, unless you buy it with all cash.

@Rosy Bruno I use QuickBooks Online. It's pretty simple to use, integrates with all my bank accounts, and I can share a log-in with my CPA. Like @Jay Dean mentioned, the software starts to learn and understand transactions, making it easier as you go along.

I pay a monthly service fee ~$20 for it. (Tax deductible :)

@Carl Gorson:  Welcome to BP. As you're finding out, there's a lot of amazing resources here for you to devour. 

To touch on the hard money question:  It's just like it sounds. If you can find someone who is willing to lend on your deal, it comes with a lot of cost and risk associated with it. With that said, if the deal is right, it could be a very prosperous move.

If you haven't already done so, you need to pick up @Brandon Turner's book The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down. It's an amazing resource for putting your first (and many subsequent) deal(s) together starting from "zero."

Good luck. And holler if you have any questions.

@Andrew Postell and @Lane Kawaoka:  I appreciate you both chipping in here. The consensus is conventional, so I'll stay with that.

I'm coming to the end of my 'seasoning period' on my first BRRRR. Everything has gone very well so far. I.e., I have plenty of equity in the property to pull out my entire cash investment, and probably a little more. I'm looking to replicate as soon as I find another great deal.

Here is my question:  Should I refinance this property into another conventional mortgage or into a portfolio loan (if I can pull it off)?

A couple considerations:

• My family is considering a move in the near future, so I'd like to have any rental properties I own off of my credit and in a portfolio (possibly under my LLC).
• My rentals are a longer term play, so I don't necessarily need the cash flow from them in the immediate.
• I hope to leverage the portfolio I build into bigger moves.

Thanks in advance for any input.

@Sharon Tippett I'm pretty new to the game (in my second deal right now), but I use Redfin.com, Zillow.com, and Realtor.com for MLS listings. There are also online auctions sites like Hubzu and Xome that can be valuable, as well.

For LLC formation, check out BizFilings.com and IncFile.com. I've used both and they're great.

Wow. I spent about an hour on the phone with @Brian Gibbons yesterday about my recent opportunity. All I can say is: What a perfectly invested hour of my life. Let me give the situation:

I was approached by my grandfather about purchasing his property in Southern NJ. He owes $75k on a HELOC (3.25% that matures in 2022) and is ~$5k behind on taxes. He's getting older and just wants out from under it all. He really doesn't have the money to keep up with the home payments and live the life he wants.

He's agreed that the property is mine if I assume the liabilities on the property and allow him to continue to live there indefinitely. From a cash flow standpoint, I'll be able to rent out an already sectored off apartment to cover the overhead while I improve the other parts.

Because I'm essentially 'purchasing' this property for ~40% ARV, I'm going to move on this. Not only would this be a great acquisition, it helps out my grandfather, so it's a no-brainer to me.

Brian gave me so many different perspectives to what was, what seemed to me to be, the perfect SUBJECT TO deal. Brian and I talked about purchasing the property outright (even though, but almost because, it was a family deal), joint-venture purchases, lease purchases, and many other techniques for acquisitions. We came at my situation from so many different angles that I never even considered. I came out with such a different perspective.

The best part about our conversation: Brian emphasized that everything I approached should be a deal that is beneficial for both parties. I.e., make every offer, deal, and opportunity something that helps me and the seller. 

What a nugget.

Thank you, Brian, for your time, and BP for providing the opportunity for me to connect with someone of this caliber.

Semper Fi.

Thanks @Rick Pozos. This one just feels good. And thanks for pointing out the GF = grandfather. That's my fault for the confusion. (Sorry about that @Thomas S.)