All Forum Posts by: Jen Stekkinger

@Terry Alexander can you share with me how you digitally monitor the electric? I have a duplex I pay the utillites on and the electric went up more than 3x normal in 2023. I lost a lot of money when everything went up. I gotta stop the bleeding.

Where are you pulling the HELOC from do you own other property? How much equity do you have in the property?

I have on contract a 4/3 split level home converting to a separate downstairs 1/1 apartment. So we will essential convert to a duplex. I am short on cash to close this deal and wanted to do a creative house hack. I have a partner willing to take the title and buy the property but, she is only interested in the tax benefits from the property. As a former investor retiring, she wants out of property management. She does not want the hassle. Thats where I come in. I want to turn around and rent the top unit as a house hack and get a renter downstairs. I will handle property management, maintenance and needed improvements. My goal is to buy the property eventually by doing a seller carry but how to I shape the deal so I don’t get in trouble if the seller changes the deal after I put in all the work and money to rehab the property? She needs the tax benefits for a little while so the title does need to be in her name for a few years to benefit from tax.

Has anyone done a deal like this or know how to structure such a thing?

FYI: I am hearing some talk about banks tightening up on lending right now and some have even suspended HELOCs becuse of a bank crisis going on with smaller banks. (Main stream media is not reporting this) Many smaller banks willing to do HELOCs are getting bought out or merging with larger banks and this may be impacting lending.

Most banks wont give you a HELOC unless you have over 50K in equity in the property, some require more. Even then, they usually only give you around 70% of that in a line of credit. I have never heard of not doing a HELOC becuse of it being a rental, but all banks have different rules. Try using a credit union or get into one if you can. They offer lower rates and have easier terms for HELOCs. But yes many people use these lines of credit for rehab money. It is generally cheaper and easy, you just need to shop around banks and definitly credit unions.

I would seriuosly think twice before doing business on Facebook. Facebook is not a secured financial platform and NO ONE is vetted for legitimacy. There a tens of thousands of people scammed on Facebook and the media wont talk about it. Most of the time they are Phising scams to gain your personal information and they are really good. They sound legit and have good looking fake websites that disappear as soon as a scam has been played. Be warned.

It would be unwise to think the economy will remain strong while almost every credible leading economist has been shouting as loud as they can that we are on the edge of a pending economic collapse. This past week, we have seen some smaller banks collapse and larger banks like Silvergate fold. I doubt this will be the end of it. In otherwords, the signals we were warned about seem to be slowly unfolding. My question is, as a buy and hold investor, will the continued rise in interest rates and a serious economic downturn effect our future rent prices? Trying to get a feel and understanding of all possible economic impacts that would effect my future rents. I am seeing some rent prices fall dramatically in the past two months in my area. I will be honest if it keeps going this way as a new investor I could go under. Anyone have thoughts or advice?

They were not selling the home as is. They only added this conition when I asked to come down in price due the large amount of upgrades the home needed. 2 things were not disclosed

1. Is there any known water damage to the property - marked no

2. Is there any known issue with plumbing. - marked no

I have under contract a split level 4/3 2400sqft, 1 acre home that can be easily converted into a duplex. This will be my second duplex conversion. I am in inspection phase and my question is whether or not to buy the property. The big ticket items, roof, AC, water heater all new. Got it down to 75K below apraisal value with 2% concessions. The seller agreed only if I took it as is. It needs upgrades and it looked like an easy project until the inspection came. The house was on the market for 4 months, water and heating turned off in freezing tempuratures. Long story short, during inspection, the 2 upstairs baths had a leak that went down the pipes in the walls and all the way below into the downstairs bathroom and flooded the floor. The center walls in the house may all need to be opened up and new piping for all bathrooms. The seller did not disclose any of the water issues and the drywall clearly has been replaced before. Becuse I took the property "as is", and the seller did not disclose the existing problems as well as turned off heating and water that likely damaged the plubming I am not sure if the property is worth buying or who needs to settle the plumbing cost? Would anyone back out on the deal if the seller does not agree to repair or compensate?

A small few lenders will do 2nd position. But I agree with the advice given, its best to put the equity in. Thanks everyone, running this by seasoned investors really helps!