All Forum Posts by: Jennipher Jess

Quote from @Colleen F.:

@Jennipher Jess the first thing you need to do is assess demand in your area for furnished rentals. Look at furnished finder and look at what is on airbnb before you furnish. Add the costs including utilitlies and furnishing it and see if you will get a bigger net by MTR. Remember it isn't about the rent, it is what you net at the end of the day. Also is STR a possibility because that will likely net more. What is the size of the unit? Is renting more long term by the room a possibility? Look at all your options by the numbers before you make up your mind.

Hello Colleen, 

It is a 3/2.5 townhome with 1691 sqft. Renting by the room is not allowed by the HOA. I just reached out to current owners of properties on Furnished Finder and they said things are slow/to break even. Both said nothing has come up for them on Furnished Finder at all. I will reach out to a few on Air BNB and VRBO now :) 

That would be a big loss. However, they are building shops, restaurants, and an amphitheater right across the street from the townhome and those should be done in 2-3 years. So hoping that will help with some of the property value over there 

Once done, I think a mid-term rental may work better. 

Hello BP,

I really need help and opinions! My husband and I need some assistance. We just closed (literally) on a 3/2 townhome (1691 sqft) in Iron Horse Village in Mesquite, TX. Since we put a deposit down on the property, the rental rate has dropped significantly, due to the fact that several investors purchased townhomes at the same time, driving prices down. They sold to a pool of 20 investors (which we were not a part of) and in a month prices that were looking like $2700-2800 are now looking like $2200-$2400.

Note - The Iron Horse Community is currently building shops, restaurants, green space for dogs, an amphitheater, and more right across the street from our unit (and the other townhomes as well). Those should be completed in 2-3 years (which is when we would consider selling).

When we originally went in on the deal we were looking to sell in a few years, as they are building a community of shops/restaurants across the street from the townhome and just take a loss until then, but these numbers are dramatically lower than anticipated around $700/month in losses.

All this said we CAN take the loss and find a renter for a 12-month lease at say $2400/month OR we were considering a mid-term rental in the area and furnishing the townhome. This is all new to both of us and we are looking for any and all advice from the best places to furnish the MTR if we go that route, to the best options with leasing.

Thank you in advance :)

Jen

Hello BP, 

I really need help and opinions! My husband and I need some assistance. We just closed (literally) on a townhome in Iron Horse Village in Mesquite, TX. Since we put a deposit down on the property, the rental rate has dropped significantly, due to the fact that several investors purchased townhomes at the same time, driving prices down. They sold to a pool of 20 investors (which we were not a part of) and in a month prices that were looking like $2700-2800 are now looking like $2200-$2400. 

When we originally went in on the deal we were looking to sell in a few years, as they are building a community of shops/restaurants across the street from the townhome and just take a loss until then, but these numbers are dramatically lower than anticipated around $700/month in losses. 

All this said we CAN take the loss and find a renter for a 12-month lease at say $2400/month OR we were considering a mid-term rental in the area and furnishing the townhome. This is all new to both of us and we are looking for any and all advice from the best places to furnish the MTR if we go that route, to the best options with leasing. 

Thank you in advance :) 

Jen

Quote from @Jennifer Volek:

Hey! I did MTR in Arlington and I manage them myself. I also manage my LTR. Let me know if you need any help!

Hello Jennifer,

I saw your post and had some questions if you're willing to guide a newbie :)

We just closed on our first investment property and the numbers for rental rates dropped in the Mesquite area since we put our deposit down. It is a new construction townhome in Iron Horse Village. That said, I am unsure how to even get started in doing this and any tips would be massively appreciated.

Quote from @Jill Addison:

@Jennipher Jess we inherited our first rental from my father-in-law who lived in Pflugerville, a suburb just outside Austin. It's done well and appreciated a ton in the last 10 years. So I was looking for "another Pflugerville" couple years ago, since now those prices are too high to make it cash flow, and I moved up the road about an hour to Temple Texas and bought a couple SFR rentals there. They have also cash flowed okay. But then I started investing in Knoxville, TN, and realized how ridiculous property taxes are in Texas. They're 2 to 4 times what you pay in Knoxville, even though both Tennessee and Texas have no state income taxes. Texas has some of the very highest property taxes in the nation, and it just kills your cash flow. My rental in Pflugerville just doubled the property taxes and cut my cash flow in half there. For that reason I will not be investing in Texas anymore.

Thank you for this information. Would you have any contacts in the Knoxville area to share? Like a realtor? 

Hello Dallas Area :) 

I am getting started on receiving funding for our first investment. Currently taking out a home equity loan on the house for 8.03% and debating whether to take $150,000 out or $300,000.

That said, we are going to be looking in the area for an investment property but we're unsure where to start in the great state of Texas. We are currently in the Dallas area and are looking here, however open. We weren't sure if going out further would be easy to do. 

Any advice or tips are welcome :) 

Thank you!

Quote from @Max Ferguson:

Sounds like a great deal with being able to change the rate to lock in. I would say if you find the perfect property then go for it. The property has to at least make the mortgage and service the Heloc but that shouldn't be too big of a problem. Getting creative with Short term or Medium term could up your cashflow depending on area. I would reach out to the best investment Realtor in the area and see what kind of numbers a property could produce using the HELOC you have as a down payment. Put it into an excel spreadsheet and see if it works. If it does, pull the trigger, if not, wait a little bit longer.

There are always good deals and bad deals in every market. You cannot time it. In general, the best time to buy is today with proper due diligence. Let us know what you figure out! Good luck!

Thank you for your response. Curious, about your spreadsheet comment. What are some of the main indicators of a good deal? Or what percentage of cash flow would be what people are looking for?

Quote from @Jay Hurst:

Quote from @Jennipher Jess:

Hello, 

I live in the Dallas area and currently have the option to take out $150,000 - $374000 on our home in a type of HELOC at a fixed rate of 8.03% on an 18

-year term. Would it be wise to take out the min or the max (or any) right now at that rate? This money would be used for several down payments on properties. 

I am hearing to hold on moves

in the housing marketing right now (unless it's an amazing deal), which we can do, but fear when things get better for buyers I will lose equity in our home (less money to take out in the HELOC). Plus, I wanted to make sure we were ready when things start to shift. The plan is to take out the funds and put them in a high-yield savings account for now and then hold on to it until things shift.

NOTE - 

- We can pay $200 to change our rate if the prime rate lowers to lock that new rate in over the 18-year term. 

- We don't want to rent/sell our current home

- We don't want to get a refinance because we have a 2.125% interest rate on our primary 

Thank you!

 @Jennipher Jess It seems like you are describing a home equity loan as compared to a HELOC. The difference being that a home equity loan will give you the funds in a lump sum at closing as compared to a HELOC which does not require you to draw the funds until you use them. Also, home equity loans tend to be fixed where HELOC's tend to be variable. Finally, HELOC's can be paid back and then used again where home equity loans are called closed end which means you pay down your balance you cannot tap it again.

Thank you for the explanation. However, the input didn't answer the question in the post. Either way, the terminology of how the bank represents its product doesn't change the interest, term, or inquiry of the original post. 

Hello, 

I live in the Dallas area and currently have the option to take out $150,000 - $374000 on our home in a type of HELOC at a fixed rate of 8.03% on an 18

-year term. Would it be wise to take out the min or the max (or any) right now at that rate? This money would be used for several down payments on properties. 

I am hearing to hold on moves

in the housing marketing right now (unless it's an amazing deal), which we can do, but fear when things get better for buyers I will lose equity in our home (less money to take out in the HELOC). Plus, I wanted to make sure we were ready when things start to shift. The plan is to take out the funds and put them in a high-yield savings account for now and then hold on to it until things shift.

NOTE - 

- We can pay $200 to change our rate if the prime rate lowers to lock that new rate in over the 18-year term. 

- We don't want to rent/sell our current home

- We don't want to get a refinance because we have a 2.125% interest rate on our primary 

Thank you!