All Forum Posts by: Josh Young

@Jorge Vazquez if interest rates drop prices will accelerate, people are willing to pay what they can afford/qualify for as a monthly payment.  Prices have already started to move up because people are anticipating the drop in rates in hopes of refinancing in the next few years.  Overall housing affordability (as a percentage of income) for renting and buying is a problem and will continue to be because there is a housing supply shortage.  I don't think rents are outpacing mortgages, according to Redfin its more expensive to buy vs rent in every major metro in the US with the exception of Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Houston. But it's normal for it to be more expensive to buy, because you also get principal pay down, tax benefits, appreciation and you can refinance.

@Tony Nuttall you could use as little as possible, like 3-5% down to buy a primary residence and turn your current home into a rental, then do the same thing next year and again the year after that, this will get you three rentals. Or you can go buy one investment property at 20-25% down and have one rental.

@Michael Benton you can rent out the rooms while you are living in it, this will help you save more money in the meantime, but I would not recommend that you spend your reserves on another property, that is when bad things happen, you want to always have 6+ months of PITI payments available. A year might seem like a long time, but it will go by fast, use the time to keep learning, analyzing deals, and saving.

@Evan Hauler I'm glad to see that you took advice from @Steve Vaughan, it's important especially in your first property that you at least go check out the situation yourself and try to fix it yourself. This will help you learn, it will show your tenant you care, and you will be able to see the condition of the unit and any other possible deferred maintenance issues while you are there. Also, it sounds like you have a great tenant if they are willing to pay for clearing drains and duct cleaning.  Yes you should allow her to get the ducts cleaned, she just wants to live in a clean home.

@Gabriella Borukhov I tend to agree with the comments here that this deal might not be a good idea. I would also like to add that rental arbitrage is not real estate investing, it’s owning a business in real estate, you would not actually own the real estate, so you would not get any of the benefits that go along with owning real estate, such as depreciation, loan pay down, and appreciation. Don’t get me wrong if you do rental arbitrage well you can make good cash flow, but it’s a business, it’s not real estate investing. The real estate inventor here is the landlord that you would be paying rent to. I hope this is helpful and I encourage you to look into buying a property to run your short term rental business out of, the long term benefits of owning are much greater than the possibility of the short term cash flow from renting.

@Jason Riddle just type the @ sign and then start typing the name. The IRS is the reason why you need to depreciate, they will make you recapture even if you don't take the depreciation expense, that's the biggest reason, but it's also beneficial because of inflation, the future money you are paying the tax with is worth less than today's money, and you never need to pay the recapture if you do a 1031 exchange and just kick the can down the road until you die and then your kids will get a step up in basis. If you need capital you should do a cash out refinance instead of selling, it's tax free money and you still own the asset, it adds leverage and gives you liquidity.  

@Juliet C. you should reach out to @Doug McVinua, he knows the local market and helps lots of Bigger pockets investors with property management. He is also the President of the local chapter of NARPM.

Prices were up 1.4% in May and up 8.5% YTD in 2023 (Data points pulled directly from ARMLS)

@Jason K. that makes sense at those numbers. $2000 per month is 8% annual rent at $300k, and that seems to be the going rate for class C that has some value add potential, anything nicer is 7-7.5%, even lower in great locations and SFH. When you factor in 20% for expenses (4% vacancy, 4% repairs/maintenance, 4% CapEx, 8% property management) net cash flow is negative $150 per month, which is also typical right now, but refinance in 2 years and small rent increases and it could turn into a great investment, especially with the garage conversion. If I were house hacking I'd run the numbers with only 5% down though, one of the biggest advantages of house hacking is the low down payment because it's a primary residence.

@Ruby Lee ask your lender to quote both options, so you can compare them, the rates might be different and the mortgage insurance will likely be different, also consider the upfront costs of each.  Right now I would probably go with the lowest upfront cost loan with the intention of re-financing in a couple years if/when rates go down, and if equity goes up enough you can drop the mortgage insurance when you refi too.