All Forum Posts by: Jim Huish

@Billy Brown What are the terms on the owner-financing?  And how far out is it from downtown?  Say... Tootsie's?   

Thanks!

Thanks for the response, @Nik Krohn  I'm in St. George, so I've been searching southern Utah and some other spots in the state.  I actually bought my first house in Saratoga springs.  Still own it.  

And one thing I failed to mention is that I immediately rented rooms out in that third house I bought (right in Nashville) for $550/room. So I had a $1,000 mortgage, and $1650 coming in from musician/friend roommates, and I was living for free and living my dream life, working as a musician in Nashville. Man, that's great news that all you need is a signed lease agreement for proof of income! If you have a friend or family member that'll let you crash at their pad for a couple months, I would say rent your house out and rough it for a couple months while you buy a new house. Get it done! 👊🏼

When I first became a landlord, I ran into the same hurdle. I was actually trying to move to Nashville, but I couldn't sell my house in Utah because the market had crashed and I was upside-down on my mortgage. But being stuck with that mortgage wouldn't allow me to get another mortgage due to my poor debt-to-income ratio. But I really wanted to buy another house, and I was determined to make the cross-country move to Music City. So I found renters for my place in Utah and hit the road. When I was searching homes online, my mind was blown by how much lower prices were in Tennessee, compared to Utah. And on top of that, this was 2010 (right at the bottom of the crash). So I took all of my life savings and bought a house (maybe more of a shack) for $18,600. Unfortunately, it was uninhabitable, and I still had to rent a duplex with my friend for a year while I got that paid-off shack livable. Over that year of paying rent at the duplex, I had those Utah tenants paying rent to me every month, and when I was able to prove that income on my tax returns (and when I got a good steady job in TN), I was able to qualify for my second mortgage. But now, instead of buying my second house, I would actually be buying my third. So I got a mortgage and got a house closer to the city, and I rented out that little shack of a house for $700/month. So, though it may not be preferable, you could move into an apartment and rent out your house. Then, once you have a year's rental income on your tax returns, you should be able to get a new mortgage and get out of the apartment and into your second home. But in some instances, a signed lease agreement could possibly be sufficient proof of income also. Not sure what the details are on that. It's always VERY beneficial to talk to lots of different lenders.

Hey Utahns! I just moved back home to Utah after playing music in Nashville for 7 years. Chasing my music dream to Tennessee forced me to become a landlord, and during my first few years in Music City, I was able to acquire a handful of single-family rentals between TN & UT. But then the music career got serious and I was full-time, playing 100's of shows each year and managing some exciting YouTube success. But after going full-speed in entertainment for almost 4 years, the music died (my last Nashville show) on New Year's Eve (2016). So this year, I've been trying to get my real estate going again. After reading lots of new books, listening to a million podcasts, and then applying for HELOC's and Refi's through multiple lenders, I was turned down by everyone. I've been pretty dang discouraged since the start of 2017. But I just found a fantastic mortgage broker in Utah that just approved me for $300,000 (off income from my rentals)!!! So stoked! I really really want to get into multi-family, but this market is rough. Do any of you guys do multi out here? I'm dying for a 4-plex, but is there anything in the state that's still affordable ($300k), and that actually cash flows with conservative estimates? Times have changed since my last investment, and Utah is way different than Tennessee. But man, it's just sooooooo good to be home!!

Not sure if this helps much, but I use Real Property Management in Southern Utah. I think it's a franchised company, so it's probably pretty similar everywhere (like McDonald's). Anyway, I love 'em! I use 3 different management companies, and I definitely don't love all of them. Ha! RPM is streamlined, organized, & professional. I'm trying to add some more properties with them.

Thanks Ken Min . I don't think there should be a problem. There's new paint in most of the house (interior & exterior). And new windows. I just got scared when I started learning more about being a real landlord - not just some dude that bought a rental property and posted a "for rent" ad on Craigslist. I've been a full-time musician these last few years, and I'll admit that I should have been spending more time learning about real estate and property management. Trying to catch up now.

This app struggles. When I hit "Post," it closed down. So I didn't think it worked. Sorry for the double post.

I'm hoping nobody yells at me for being stupid, but I didn't know about the lead-based paint addendum requirements when I found a tenant for my first rental property a few years back. What can I do at this point? Is it too late, or should I still give her the info and ask her to sign an addendum? Or will that possibly just give her the idea to claim that something happened sometime in the last three years since she'll obviously be aware of the situation that I messed up?

I'm hoping nobody yells at me for being stupid, but I didn't know about the lead-based paint addendum requirements when I found a tenant for my first rental property a few years back. What can I do at this point? Is it too late, or should I still give her the info and ask her to sign an addendum? Or will that possibly just give her the idea to claim that something happened sometime in the last three years since she'll obviously be aware of the situation that I messed up?