All Forum Posts by: Josh Braun

Congrats, @Shandria Frame! The Nashville REI group meets the second Monday of every month. It's a great place to network and pitch any deals. Check it out at http://www.reintn.org/

Happy to give you some feedback if you want to connect.

Welcome, @Chase Beck! Check out the local Nashville REIN group. It's a great place to learn and meet new people.

Way to go, @Devan Mcclish!  Great example of creative financing, even in a market where some people say it can't be done.  Loved hearing how this was directly correlated with your long-term goal.  Excellent motivation for the rest of us!

Welcome, @Jimmy Petty!  I've found BiggerPockets to be a great resource and there are plenty of Nashville investors on here.  I take the approach of "find the deal and the money will follow".  

There are plenty of ways to find more capital. Here are a few:

• Increase your W-2 income by asking for a raise, promotion or finding a different or second job
• Offer your services to others:
  • Since you property manage your rentals, offer to property manage other people's rentals for supplemental income
  • Become a real estate agent as you mentioned
  • Wholesale some properties
• One of my mentors says "flip to keep", meaning buy, rehab, resell to then reinvest in properties you want to keep
• Refinance any equity you have in your current rentals
• Refinance or leverage against any equity in your primary residence
• Find a partner to front the capital
• Find a seller financed property

Hope that gives you some additional ideas.  I would highly recommend finding the deal and then figure out the capital after the fact.  Whenever I have a deal on the table, it forces me to think outside the box on how to fund it.  Good luck!

@Chris Modzeleski - I'm intimately familiar with that part of town. It should rent in less than 2 weeks. I'd assume the issue is either your price point is too high or it isn't getting enough marketing. Feel free to PM me if you want some additional advice.

Welcome, @Kendall Luelf! BiggerPockets is a great resource when it comes to Real Estate investing.  These options have worked for me historically (in priority order):

1. Buy personally as an investment property with 20% down. Sounds like this is what you are trying to do and are running into issues, but I wouldn't quit until you have talked with at least 10 banks. Local/regional ones are the best in my opinion and credit unions are good as well. If you have solid W-2 income, 2 years tax history on your current rentals and are under the 36% DTI (total monthly fixed payments), there is a bank out there that will do it. You just have to find the right bank. They will most likely take 75% (after PITI) of the historical rental amount for the new property and include that in the 36% calculation. I've found these rates to be the best and terms at 15, 20 or 30 years.
2. Go the commercial route. If the numbers are profitable, then you shouldn't have a difficult time with this as your second option. Best approach is to have all of your ducks in a row and prepackaged before talking with the lender. My banker loves when I have a summary document prepared with all calculations and ratios already documented. I also have a folder with supporting documentation that I include. Basically put it together on a silver platter for them and all they have to do is say yes. I've found the rates to be within 1% of the personal investment option and terms to be 5/20 ARM.
3. Find a partner. In your scenario, I'd suggest something like the following: You find the deal, the partner funds the downpayment and offset to qualify for the DTI on options 1 or 2 above. You manage the property management and split profits 50/50.
4. Find a private lender. Same scenario as the commercial route, but rates/terms might not be as favorable. There are plenty of folks out there making 1-3% in their IRA and you could offer them something between 5-10% and have them do the self-directed IRA option.
5. Wholesale the deal. If the deal is profitable and you can't line up options 1-4 above, take a cut of the deal and sell it to someone else.   

Hope that gives you some additional color.  I'm somewhat familiar with vacation rentals in mid and east TN if you have any additional questions. Good luck!

It depends on the exact location. Smyrna and Murfreesboro have both, good and bad areas.  I can speak to the good areas (educated opinion), which I classify based on school zones, proximity to retail and access to I-24.  For the standard 2-3 bedroom, 1.5-2.5 bath under 1,500 sq ft, if priced correctly should rent within 2 weeks.  I've been operating at a 0% vacancy rate for past 3 years.  Happy to give you more opinions if you want to provide the location.

Excellent job, @Devan Mcclish.  Great examples of strategies that create wins for everyone involved. Thanks for sharing your success story and for the motivation!

I would never buy anything that automatically has a negative cash flow. I at least use the 1% rule and also like to have a minimum of $200+ per door passive cash flow after expenses and reserves. Betting on appreciation is like gambling in my opinion. I won't do it. For $340k FHA loan, I'd go buy a quadplex in Antioch, Smyrna, Bellevue, or Madison then have about $100k left over. Put it on a 10 year loan and have $3-4k coming back to you passively in 10 years. Easy money and less riskier.

Calling all Nashville, Clarksville, Memphis and Middle TN investors!

Convenient location and would make a great rental or rehab and flip. South of Nashville (Davidson County) and only 9.2 miles to broadway street downtown.

Currently has tenants that are on a month to month agreement. DO NOT DISTURB TENANTS!!! They are unaware of sell and should not be disturbed. 

About the house:

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1 (full) and could easily add a second
Sq ft: 1,700
Lot size: 0.27 acres
Year Built: 1963
Taxes: $1402

Price:

• $129,500 (70% ARV based on comp of $185,000)
• Estimated repairs if kept as a rental: $10,000 (deep cleaning, add 2nd bathroom downstairs, touch up paint/walls)
• Estimated repairs if purchased to rehab/flip: $25,000-$35,000

Preference will first go to cash buyers.  Willing to sell for $132,500 if using commercial financing.

Plenty of pictures available. Send proof of funds and I'll give you a link to pictures.