All Forum Posts by: Josh Splawn

@Andrew Bradley

Thanks guys for the information. I have considered using a heloc in the past for a DP on the recent purchase I made but was turned down because it is a rental. Instead I sold a recently bought motorcycle and tapped into my Roth. Perhaps now that it is paid off it will be a different story. I can come up with 25k of my own saved money if needed. I would like to preserve this capital for the unforeseen issues associated with fix and flip. It would seem that finding the right deal would alleviate some of the stress of the process.

I am wanting to do a fix and flip and curious about financing options. I own an out of state rental, free and clear, valued at around $200k that is taking in just over $1k/month rent with room to go up to around $1300/ month. I have never pulled any cash out of this deal. Also I recently purchased a cabin style home in a mountain town north east of Bakersfield CA. that is almost pulling its weight as a vacation rental on Airbnb. However I am at the point where my debt to income prevents me from moving forward on a flip in Ventura county, CA. where I live, which is where I want to buy. I have considered a hard money loan, I just don't know if that's my only avenue at this point. No one among my family and friends has money to loan, unfortunately. I just want to get feedback from the BP community. I am open to all suggestions!  

Thanks Robert.  Can you give me a few examples of why this strategy would be better than the heloc?  

So far I have just applied, but the loan officer called me and there did not seem to be any red flags. So I'm hoping for the best. The property is all paid for. Maybe this helps?

I put down 6k on a 116k property. This was, however, during the super easy credit, sub-prime lending, pre-real estate market crash era. You will most likely need 20% of the purchase price of the rental property you are interested in.

Hello everybody! I am super excited because I am gearing up to purchase a second property. I purchased a SFR in Idaho 12 years ago and it has been rented out the entire time. I paid it off in July of this year, 18 years early! I threw a ton of my own hard earned cash at it because I am not a fan of debt and I wanted to get cash flow before I bought another one. And yes I realize this is not the greatest wealth building strategy. Not even close. But it was a goal I set for myself and I met the challenge so i'm happy. (Believe it or not I have been excited about real estate since the days of the late-night Tom Vu infomercial!) Now with my rental being in the money, I applied for a HELOC and am currently waiting for approval. I want to purchase a multi family in Oregon. I have been looking on Loopnet and Zillow but I understand that all the good deals have most likely been snatched up before they even make it to those sites. My plan is to find a decent deal, run the numbers through a fine tooth analysis to make sure it is worth making an offer on, put 20% down using the heloc (or find a way to fund the down without using the heloc or my own cash- I need all the advice I can get on this). I am thinking that I do not want the amount of the 20% down heloc repayment to exceed about 90% of the net income from my rental, so that essentially the one pays for the other and I am left with some reserve for maintenance etc., and rents from the multi family should service the primary mortgage. I still feel new at this and I am both excited and nervous. I'm looking for advice on any and all of this because I am sure there is a ton of stuff I have yet to learn! BTW, I LOVE Bigger Pockets! The podcast videos are inspiring and informative. I am sooo appreciative that such a valuable resource like BP is available and geared toward motivating people who are just starting out.

Thanks everybody!

Hello everybody, my name is Josh. I'm 44 and I live and work in southern CA. My interest in real estate goes all the way back to the days of the infamous late night Tom Vu infomercial. I was quite young then and really had no idea what to do or how to do it, but I was very excited about the prospect of making money in RE. All these years later I own one SFR rental that I have had for over 11 years now. Not an illustrious portfolio by any standard, but it has taught me some of the basics of the business and just how powerful a tool RE investing can be. I am now very much interested in expanding my portfolio and my knowledge of the business through hard work and mentoring. Thanks for reading this and I look forward to meeting like minded people who can share what they know with me.