All Forum Posts by: John Paul Whaley

Hello BP,

Hope everyone is having an awesome 2020 so far.

The purpose of this Marketplace post is two fold:

1) To offer my services as a writer, marketer and hard-worker in general.

2) To seek the advice of an investor who is familiar with the Columbia, SC area.

I am a newbie investor from Washington DC, who has traveled down to Columbia, SC many times throughout my life - mostly for Gamecocks football games. I've always been drawn to the area, but am finding myself visiting even more frequently now that my job (I work full time as a commercial construction underwriter) takes me all throughout the Carolinas. I figured that I would start to look more seriously at the Columbia metro area now that I will be down there once every 1-2 months. My problem is that I am obviously unfamiliar with the area and want to avoid a first-time investment in the wrong part of town. I'm looking for some guidance and would love to offer my own services in return.

As for the services I am offering, I've always had strong written and oral communication skills. In high school and college, I gained a rather large following by assisting my peers in writing and editing their essays. Because of my strong writing skills, my services grew quite popular and I kept very busy with my "side hustle". I parlayed those skills into a marketing position at a startup in San Diego shortly after I graduated college. I still head up the marketing department there by orchestrating ad campaigns, coordinating sales meetings and making cold calls. In addition, I am a notoriously hard worker and would love to help a fellow investor out in any way I can.

Look forward to connecting with some fellow RE investors. Please give me a call if you'd like to discuss in more detail - if nothing else, we can get more formally introduced.

Thanks in advance.

JP Whaley

(301) 448-2480

[email protected]

Hello BP,

Hope everyone is having an awesome 2020 so far.

I am reaching out to the forums to offer my services as a writer, marketer and hard-worker in general.

If you need help crafting an advertisement, business plan, or even a simple letter, I would be happy to assist. I am proud to say that I've always had strong written and oral communication skills. In high school and college, I gained a rather large following by assisting my peers in writing and editing their essays. Because of my strong writing skills, my services grew quite popular and I kept very busy with my "side hustle". I parlayed those skills into a marketing position at a startup in San Diego shortly after I graduated college. I still head up the marketing department there by orchestrating ad campaigns, coordinating sales meetings and making cold calls. In addition, I am a notoriously hard worker and would love to help a fellow investor out in any way I can.

Look forward to connecting with some fellow RE investors. Please give me a call if you'd like to discuss in more detail - if nothing else, we can get more formally introduced.

Thanks in advance.

JP Whaley

(301) 448-2480

[email protected]

Hi all,

Trying my best to get creative here.

Wondering if you could take out a 203K loan on a duplex that you plan on living in and rehabbing. I am thinking that since a 203K loan is FHA, that it would be close to impossible to get one on a duplex, but I assume the answer is somewhere closer to - you just need to search hard enough for a lender who will help you out.

Not sure though. Also wondering if anyone has any other creative 203K strategies - the 203K loan intrigues me.

Thanks!

Right now I drive a $30K car. I am thinking of trading it in for a $15K-20K car to put some cash in my pocket to start investing in real estate. 

I am wondering what a lender would prefer to see on an application. Someone with $10K in savings with zero debt, or someone with $20K in savings and a small car payment around $250-$300/month?

Thanks everyone!

I am preparing to offer seller financing on a few potential deals. I went ahead and did some driving for dollars and got some responses, and in the past I’ve basically said, “well I can give you a higher price if you want to carry the financing and I can just pay you the mortgage on a monthly basis (blah, blah, blah)...”

I’ve gotten people interested in it before, but haven’t closed a deal with seller financing yet. Does anyone have any tips on how to make seller financing sound like a great option?

I remember one podcast where a guest mentions how interest on the financing is taxed unfavorably compared to the loan pay-down. Does anyone know anything about this, and how I could use it to my advantage when convincing a seller to carry the financing?

Thanks!

I am currently living in my parents’ old house and not paying rent. I have a good job and am banking every single cent I make. I am also ready to start investing. I have enough down-payment money saved up and have analyzed a few deals that I feel fairly confident about. My strategy would be to put 10-15% down on a primary residence, live in it for a year, fix it up a bit, then start renting it out after one year. I would take out an investment loan but I don’t have 20-25%, as I live in an expensive area (DC).

What should I do? Again, I am ready to start investing, but I have a great thing going on for the time being, living for free. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Continue living for free and saving tons of money, or jump into REI?

Thanks Michael. I will have to do a lot more research before moving forward. 

Does anyone own a rental in a rent controlled state? I am thinking of buying in DC, which I just discovered is rent controlled. 

My plan would be to buy a property with a conventional loan, live in it for one year, then rent it out at the end of that year. There are no restrictions as to the rent I can charge when I first rent the property, right? Only to the increases I can make for an existing tenant thereafter? 

It seems like DC’s rent control ordinance allows for minimal increases justified by increased CPI (Consumer Price Index). Although those increases are slight, you can still increase the rent by up to 10% in some cases annually. 

Let me know if anyone has any advice about investing in a rent controlled area before I dive in head first. 

Thanks!

I am hoping to get pre-approved here in the next week and I am calling various lenders to see what type of product they offer. I have spoken with a few firms who would structure my first few loans as if they were a traditional lender, and then would offer their portfolio product once I hit a certain limit. I think this sounds like the best product for me, as this is for my first investment and I don’t really need a portfolio lender yet, but might at some point down the line.

My question is, how many lenders should I send my application to? Is there any harm in sending it to 5 or 6 different firms? Is there any reason I should keep that number closer to 2 or 3? Any advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks in advance. 

This may be a stupid question, but I want to make sure I am understanding everything correctly.

When you are preparing to BRRRR a property, you have your purchase price, repair costs, holding costs and ARV, amongst other things. You are prepared to rent the property out at your estimated ARV at 70% to 80% LTV (or whatever LTV you prefer), but what if your property appraises for much higher than you expected?

I understand this is a great problem to have, but don't you need to consider the possibility that your property will appraise for much higher than your initially expected ARV? In this case, your mortgage payments could be much higher and there might be a smaller margin for cash flow.

Am I missing something here, or do people not really worry about this problem because an underestimated ARV isn't exactly a "problem".

Thanks!