All Forum Posts by: Jaron Walling

@Wendell Godard That's quite a change! Congrats on the purchase. We just got back from a family vacation to Myrtle Beach. We love the Carolinas. 

So it's a LTR until you decide to sell the current home and the move there?

@Wendell Godard From an investment prospective did you view this townhome as a storage of cash (glorified savings), cash-flow to supplement income, or a combination? 

@Blake Bailey "but my main goal since about 2017 has been to eventually become a full time investor." - If you have a paid off primary and $65k cash so why haven't you jumped into a deal?? Who or what's stopping you? What's your why for REI?

You live in Nashville with paid off property. You're already killing it man. That market has exploded with growth and appreciation. You just need to implement strategy, leverage (HELOC?), and then find/buy/create a deal you can't pass up.

If it was easy everyone would do it. You already solved the money step. 

You would need to remodel it into a 3/2 (possible with 1400sqft.) and keep the one or two car garage to achieve an ARV of $340k. That ARV is approaching more desirable locations.

@Kristen Franks What neighborhood is this located? I lived on the east side for 6 years and know the areas. 

It's unlikely the ARV is that high unless it's very near east side and a total gut remodel. Removing the garage can actually hurt your ARV in some cases because Indy is very car centric.

@Amier Tutie You're in a great position! There's plenty of ways to pull equity but most cost you money. It depends on your long term goals with REI. You didn't say anything about selling but have you thought about a 1031 exchange or selling a dud property (if you have one) to capitalize on the next opportunity? Very few investors hold every property forever.

If you don't sell the better option is DSCR loans. The rates are great and it's based on the performance of the property. Not you personally. You can close a DSCR loan quick and seasoning is <3 months for most lenders I see.

I like the saying "just because you can doesn't mean you should". We sold a SFH two years ago with a 3% fixed rate. The future capex and potential for never ending "repairs" as a rental wasn't worth the cash-flow. We used the equity for a DP and bought a way newer property.

Think about your equity position vs. cash-flow. Maybe you choose to sell something and buy a duplex or tri? That can to get you to 10 doors way faster than buying SFH. That's basically where my wife and I are right now. We're aiming for duplexes, or flips for some quick money.

If the wood around the windows starts rotting you'll have a bigger repair bill. I'd get a few quotes and get them replaced ASAP. It's going to protect the property if you plan to hold this one for a long time. 

@Chris Seveney Unemployment went to up to 4.2% also. Data just came out today. This administration is definitely playing with fire, and doesn't care about tariff history. 

@Shan Dey "Delay big investments or development projects" - I could see this happening for number of projects in our market which nobody wants. They just announced a huge renovation project for our downtown mall. These reuse multi-family projects are so important. 

"On the flip side, some analysts believe that the economic uncertainty from the tariffs could lead to lower mortgage rates, which might offset some of the increased costs." - This could be true but unfortunately list prices will go up, offsetting any savings from a buyers prospective. Most of the data is saying we're still millions of units short on housing. Until we build our way out or millions of people choose or get forced to list (recession/job loses) nothing changes. The current US administration doesn't care about the latter. 

I'd plan for increased costs on everything. China just announces a 34% tariff on all US imported goods so... that's not very helpful. Other countries may do the same. This administration is repeating mistakes from the 1930s only this time global trade is even more influential.

@James Hamling "because 10% appreciation on $350k is a hell of a lot more than 10% on $180k. It's about double." - We sold another property (would have cash-flowed minimal) and used the funds to buy our current primary which effectively doubled the real estate prices and chance for appreciation (stronger location). 

 @Nathan Gesner We're on the side of the fence to not sell due to everything you said. Fun question to ask because sometimes I see blunt answers. This market is brutal for finding distressed opportunities. Selling what we have and not having a deal in the pipeline is probably stupid so I appreciate the advice.