All Forum Posts by: John Underwood

Ring cameras and doorbell.

I had someone fall on the side of the house where signs say to stay away from. I have since added a ring camera and solar cell to monitor this off limits area.

Quote from @Jeffrey Hodges:

Quote from @John Underwood:

VRBO does everything I need. All the typical messages go out when needed. 

My rental agreement gets digitally agreed to.

They have free built in price automation.

They have built in analytics to look at supply, demand and pricing of your competition.

This all allows minimal time spend to maintain the listing and VRBO keeps my calendar full.

 Thank you John. I probably will be using both Air B&B and VRBO so i will need to do some research on each sites tools. your information is very helpful.

I use Airbnb also and they will sync with each other. I just don't get many bookings from Airbnb.

VRBO does everything I need. All the typical messages go out when needed. 

My rental agreement gets digitally agreed to.

They have free built in price automation.

They have built in analytics to look at supply, demand and pricing of your competition.

This all allows minimal time spend to maintain the listing and VRBO keeps my calendar full.

Quote from @Collin Hays:

Quote from @Justin Melton:

We own one str in the Midwest (small college town) and it has done very well.  We actually purchased it for a place for my parents to stay occasionally but they are going to purchase something else.  Anyway, we are wondering about buying #2.  There is a house for sale in the same market that is for sale for about $120k.   AirDNA says $40k.  Rabbu says $17k.  Knowing the market Im confidently saying conservatively $25k and optimistic would be $35k annual revenue.  We self managed and my teenage daughters clean it.  It is proximate to a university and hospital.    

We aren’t flush wish cash right now for a down payment.  We could probably swing 10%. Any advice on down payment options with low down payment?  Thanks in advance!  

If it sounds like a decent deal, you need $15K-ish to close. Borrow it from your 401K. I did this once to buy a cabin.  Borrowed $50K if I recall correctly.  Early withdraw it from your iRA. Yeah, you pay taxes and penalty on it, but you're going to eventually pay taxes on it anyway. The only thing you are getting hung with is a 10 percent penalty.  In the scheme of life, $1500 isn't going to make any difference.  Sell a car and use the proceeds, or get a loan against your car if it's paid off.  Or do a cash out refi on your existing property and use the equity to buy the house.

You could put that small amount on a CC.
Alwayd ask the owner if they will owner finance the whole property. The answer might surprise you. They could also take back a 2nd mortgage for the down payment amount.
You could ask for an allowance from the sellers for upgrades or repairs and use some of that towards the down payment.

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Quote from @Jason Wray:

The 5% Down is a Second Home/Vacation home loan which is great to buy as a vacation home and still rent it out to help cover the mortgage. You can always transition this into a full time investment in 6-12 months if the equity is atleast 90% LTV. This loan is for Single family homes, condo's or Townhomes. No prepayment penalty so its a bit easier to transition.

Right, I get that but I have never seen a lender do a 5% down 2nd home loan. Is this something you offer? What are the details? Points? Interest rates?

I have seen 10% down but never 5% unless it was FHA but that isn't for 2nd homes.

 I'm skeptical that this exists also.

@Jason Wray PM'd me and told me he has several programs with different things in mind. 7.75% on the 5% down (plus a point) with no pre-payment penalty.

Worth giving him a call to run it down. 

So you have to pay a point.
Sounds like a person would be over leveraged at higher interest rates that they have been.

Hey if the numbers work while being highly leveraged that's great. I would recommend a large cash safety net.

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Quote from @Jason Wray:

The 5% Down is a Second Home/Vacation home loan which is great to buy as a vacation home and still rent it out to help cover the mortgage. You can always transition this into a full time investment in 6-12 months if the equity is atleast 90% LTV. This loan is for Single family homes, condo's or Townhomes. No prepayment penalty so its a bit easier to transition.

Right, I get that but I have never seen a lender do a 5% down 2nd home loan. Is this something you offer? What are the details? Points? Interest rates?

I have seen 10% down but never 5% unless it was FHA but that isn't for 2nd homes.

 I'm skeptical that this exists also.

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @William Blaker, you should have a cleaner already by the time you close on your STR. That is your most important person. If the house is in good shape then handyperson is next up.

Photos should be done when the entire place is setup, not before.

Do you have the place yet? Where are you looking? Do you have a budget for setup?

There is a ton of things to get rolling on now. Do you have space to store items you find on sale that you can use in the house?

Lot's to do. 

 I agree with Michael. Get your cleaner lined up right before you need them. You may go through  a couple cleaners before you find the one that is a keeper. Your cleaner is the most important part of your team so you'll need a great one.

That's a great question. My thoughts are it's still a second home loan no matter what you have paid the loan down to.

I would check with some mortgage brokers and see what they say. Preferably the mortgage company that you would use for the loan.

So I couldn't read all this as it was too long.

What I can tell you is that I never used a STR for sale search engine. I used the MLS.

One of my STR houses was not a previous STR, I made it into a STR.

For the most part SFR houses are valued based on comps and not projected STR income.

You could get your listing published with good enough photos and then immediately go the Airbnb photographer route.

Maybe find listings in your area with great photos and ask the owner if they would share who their photographer is?