All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Lee

 Thanks @Kiersten Vance!

We are currently paying $700/mo which is quite comfortable as far as our budget is concerned. There's no certain "timeline" we have to pay off the 25% at this rate but this is part of the reason why I'm considering either cashing out or paying it off sooner than later. As far as borrowing, I'd have to do some recalculations on our budget to see if we would be comfortable moving up to a $400-500k loan etc. But would that be in the case that we would move into another property? I suppose the 'best value' in that case would be to look for a duplex but that probably wouldn't happen here in Irvine! 

So for the 'refinance' option would that pretty much mean increasing the payments to my parents? Or taking out a separate loan, etc? 

 Thanks @Michael Hallahan! So my current equity in the place is roughly around $100k right now including the downpayment. This is pretty much an 'interest-free' loan and I don't recall on the term is but my parents and I just agreed on a more-than-fair payment amount. I honestly don't know what this sort of payment/re-payment scenario would be considered because they've set it up for me just to pay low-rent but in reality it's really just my equity going into the place. For my parents they don't really care because they see it as just that.

As far as the scenario where I relinquish ownership and cash-out yet still continue renting, I'm pretty certain they wouldn't change the amount we are currently paying (especially because they would feel the need to help with a second kid in the picture).

Thanks @Natalie Vane! I have been using the money we've been saving to invest in mutual funds tracking the S&P500, etc so that has definitely been good. But I'm looking to diversify. Another thing is thinking ahead as far as space and what not - it would be nice to eventually get into either a larger townhome, a SFH or perhaps even a duplex. But before we do that, I would want to make real estate investment a bit of a priority, to diversify the portfolio and learn the ropes. In either case, great reminder to maintain an attitude of gratefulness for them helping in this way - they've done similar things for my older brothers too so it's obvious they love us and want to leave us with a lasting legacy.

More details: the condo was purchased for $523k - we're probably around the breakeven point on it now in terms of what the current market value is (no major remodeling has really been done other than having pavers professionally installed in the backyard patio area). It was primarily financed by a 1031 exchange on a vacation property my parents owned that was producing negative cashflow (so they decided to reinvest). Basically, that combined with cash from my parents is what financed the buy and I've taken a  'loan' from them on 25% for my ownership in it.

More details: the home was purchased for $525,000 and they owe roughly $250k'ish on it. Per Zillow (and I don't know how accurate this is), estimate rental rates are $2800-2900 and the estimate of the home value is $575k (so in reality probably $550ish?). It's actually a 4 bed/2 bath home but the room adjacent to the master bedroom does not have a wall - it's basically an open office/den area but it does have it's own closet. I'm assuming making it into a true 4 bed would allow higher rents to be collected?

Hey all,

My in-laws live in 3bed/2bath SFH they procured a loan on back in 2004. The loan was modified several years ago and their rates are much better and affordable for them now but roughly 50% of the mortgage is still owed. In the meantime, they have been renting out 2/3 rooms to single tenants so it definitely helps subsidizing the monthly mortgage payments (at least 50% is paid off for them currently). Of course, we're not sure if this is realistically sustainable long-term and they are also in their 70s. They are currently working long-hours and are never home very much - we don't know when they intend to retire and think that it may take a catastrophic event that forces them to stop working.

Either way, we're not sure what some options are with this home - they could continue living there post-retirement but unless they have tenants, it's going to be very hard to make payments. They currently have a trust and have identified this property as being on it, in which case it would be split 50/50 between my wife and brother-in-law if my in-laws pass on. But it seems like it may not be the best idea for them to keep the home and perhaps they should downsize. It seems like it could make for a great rental property otherwise. 

Is one possibility here that we buy the home off them directly? They have mentioned selling off the home and moving closer to where we are in Orange County, and looking for low-income places to live. That kind of housing seems difficult to procure though especially around here. Or they could take the money from the sale and use it to downsize. Just trying to think of some options here and whether or not there could be a win:win opportunity for both sides.

Hey guys,

Wanted to get some input on my current housing situation and what some options might be. Currently, my wife, son, soon-to-be-born-daughter, and I live in a 3bed/2bath condo (bottom unit) in the Northwood area. I went in with my parents on it back in 2007 - they own 75% and I own 25%. I want to start investing in real estate (in Orange County) and am considering duplexes/multiplexes for starters. 

I like where we live now and we have a nice arrangement with my parents but I don't know if I should relinquish our ownership/stake in the property and cash-out and just rent from them or if we should maintain the current arrangement. Basically, I'm paying them a low 'mortgage' on the 25% ownership per month which helps with our finances but I really need to make a decision to pay off the remainder of it or relinquish it. They intend to split their inheritance (which would include whatever % of their ownership is in the condo) three ways between my brothers and I. 

If we paid off and maintained our 25% ownership (or increased it by continuing to pay them per month), then we would essentially own 50% of it upon inheritance. From there I could buy my brothers out. This is long-term but not sure if that's really the best idea. As the family grows, our needs may also grow. 

On the other hand, relinquishing ownership would make things "cleaner" of course for that 3-way split, and would also allow us to cash-out and potentially use that money to reinvest elsewhere while presumably renting at the same rate we were repaying for our portion of ownership (this has yet TBD of course). 

I'm just not sure if there are any alternatives here or what the most 'beneficial' scenario would be in our case. 

Any thoughts/advice/wisdom would be much appreciated. 

Hey all,

Was just curious if vacation rentals are generally recommended and a good idea for a newbie investor. I've just started listening to the BP podcasts and reading the beginners guide, so I have a ton to learn still. But just trying to get a handle on what type(s) of real estate I might want to invest in. At this point, duplexes/multiplexes seem appealing but I feel pretty limited and choked up as far as ['affordable'] choices are concerned here in Orange County. As I've started reading the beginners guide, I don't recall vacation rentals being something that was listed as a type of 'investment' to consider investing in. Unless I glossed over it - I'm at ch5 now though.

Anyway, one of my friends is about to close on a property in Twentynine Palms, which he says is 'exploding' as far as visitors/tourism is concerned. His intention with that property is to rent it out via Airbnb. The original plan was to buy a place in Joshua Tree and do the same, but he found that it was really competitive and hard to find a place and another issue was with city involvement/coding/ordinance over making certain improvements on property was too restrictive or something along those lines. So Twentynine Palms was the next best place.

It sounds nice up-front but I'm sure there are gotchas I'm not considering here? Or has anyone here done anything like this and is it as "straightforward" as buying some vacation rental property in a 'hot' area, renting it on Airbnb/etc, and anticipating cashflow from it pretty quickly? My friend was saying that he wanted to buy something less expensive so it's more 'affordable' per month but then said it may take some time to gain some traction on it (which I presume to mean cashflow). 

Hey all, I'm new to the forum here and am eager to learn more about real estate investing for the purpose of building longer-term passive income. I'm a complete newbie to the game so I have a lot to learn, even to figure out if this is viable in my situation as far as time is concerned (married solo-earner w/ one kid and another on the way). I currently reside in a condo that I co-own with my parents (75/25 where I'm on the smaller end) which we went in on back in 2007 (back then I was just following along and not really involved in how the process worked). While it's a nice situation to be in, I'd still like to broaden my horizons as far as building income is concerned. I've been reading "Building Wealth One House at a Time" by John Schaub and am currently considering how I could make investing in homes for cash flow and appreciation a reality. And I have just recently begun listening to some BP podcasts. I'm looking forward to meeting like-minded peers and researching various topics here.