All Forum Posts by: Jill Smith

@Stephen DeThample thanks for the tips!  It does seem like it is ever evolving, I just wasn't sure if I needed to factor my long term strategy into my buying now or just keep scaling up and decide later.  And so cool you are also from ICT!

I'm fairly new to investing, but we are in the Wichita, KS market!  We live in Andover but have one single family home in Park City, 2 in Newton.  Trying to decide what is next as we scale.  I would love to connect with the locals! 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Newton.

Purchase price: $25,000
Cash invested: $6,000

One bed, one bath home, rents for $525 per month.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This house belonged to the mom of a friend of mine. Because my friend had followed my investing on social media, she reached out to me when they were ready to sell! It was a quick negotiation and easy purchase.

How did you finance this deal?

Small local bank, 20% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

New vinyl flooring in kitchen and bath, new paint throughout. Outside to be painted this fall.

What was the outcome?

We just recently got a renter but so far, so good.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It was built in 1900 so definitely our oldest home. I'm sure it will be a learning curve, but for the price, it was worth it so far. Learning about plaster walls and odd plumbing arrangements, etc.

My husband and I just closed on our 3rd rental property.  What are different "end game" options?  I understand how to look for cash flow, things we will need in 5-10 years. However, what are different long term options?   In 20 years when our properties are paid off, do we just live off cash flow? Sell them and take advantage of appreciation?  Right now we both have W2 jobs and are focusing on reinvesting our rental profit into more properties.  However, in 5-10 years we may decide to "retire" from our W2 jobs and have more flexibility. I feel like I'm missing something and need to know what our end game is while we are planning for the near future as well.  If it makes a difference, we live in the midwest (Wichita, KS) - decent cash flow without crazy appreciation.  

Make sure you talk to your bank about this! One credit union we worked with would not allow it to be transferred to our LLC if we purchased it in our personal names. Another small bank did not care.

We are just finishing our 3rd rehab and do a lot of DIY!  We sub out our own specialty stuff (electrical, plumbing, etc) but I like being the GC - a little bit of a control freak, I guess.  Although I'm beginning to think it may be time to sub out more and spend my time on more income producing activities.  It's a tough call....I think after this one is done I will step back and re-evaluate before our next deal.  

Thank you all for the responses. I really appreciate the advice!

I've listened to some of the podcasts about seller financing and think this could be a good strategy for my next deal.  I notice that most of the guests that purchased properties will seller financing state that they later refinanced into conventional financing.  What is the benefit of refinancing later?  What is required to refinance a seller financed deal - is it similar to a regular refi or are there other things to consider?  Thanks for any info!!

How does she currently pay the mortgage?  Does she have social security, etc?  They need to see income, but may not have to be from a "job".  Really the easiest thing to do is start calling banks - local, credit unions, etc.  They should be able to run numbers and give them options.