All Forum Posts by: Kate Barry

@Patrick Liska I'm considering doing a HELOC on my 4 unit multi to be able to make down payments on 2 more investment properties, is that the same concept?

Hi back @Mitch Messer ! 
So I knew that there was a shortage in traveling nurse housing because my main market is Brattleboro Vermont, where I live, work as a realtor, and own a 4 unit multi family.  Brattleboro has a hospital as well as The Retreat, which is an in-patient hospital for mental health.  There are ALWAYS traveling nurses in need of housing for both hospitals and we have very low inventory.  So even though our unit is 35 minute commute to the hospital, the nurses we found (through Furnished Finder btw) were more than happy to rent from us at $1200 per month, because a similar set up in Brattleboro is currently running more than $1600 per month.  We are in a very interesting market.  The goal is to buy a duplex or triplex next in Brattleboro, to capitalize on the long-term market here

Investment Info:

Condo other investment in Dover.

Cash invested: $10,000

Condo unit owned outright, was inherited from my husband's mother. Its at the base of Mt. Snow so we Airbnb it as a ski pad during the ski season (late November to April 1st) and during the off-season we rent it out to traveling nurses on 3 month contracts

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The opportunity of Airbnb rentals with location to the mountain. It took about 6 weeks to renovate (basics- flooring, propane fireplace, new appliances) and we have had steady income ever since. It rents for about $2500 per month during the season (November-April) and $1200 on the off-season

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Husband owned it outright as an inheritance, I convinced him to invest our money to make it into a passive income that funded our 6 month trip to Tahoe

How did you add value to the deal?

Replaced the flooring, installed a new propane fireplace, installed wi-fi and TV with Netflix/Hulu/Prim

What was the outcome?

Excellent - its been a very steady source of income for us. We market it as a crash/ski pad and guests are very happy. Hope to become a superhost this winter

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Airbnb learning curve was tough at first. Have to really make sure things like linens, towels, and amenities are on the nicer side. Got an excellent cleaner and that made a big difference in our reviews

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I'm a licensed realtor in VT and NH

Hi all -

I'm in a bit of a strange situation, and we really want to buy a single family right now but I am coming into road block after road block. Thought this forum might be the best place to try and bounce and gather ideas.  

The Story:

When the pandemic hit, we moved out of our house-hack multi family to live with my grandmother who needs full time care. We rented out our apt for STR. Long story short - Oma needs a lot more care than we can provide, and we need to move back to our own place so a full time nurse can move in here. The kicker is we have no unit left to move to, all the units are rented out, and quite honestly we don't really want to move back there because now our 4 unit MF is cash flowing beautifully.

The Goal:  

Purchase a home that will be our primary residence and has an income-generating aspect to it.  The current home we are looking at is a single family on 11.5 pastured acres with a 5 stall heated horse barn.  Rough-boarding alone we could generate $1500 per month income.

The Situation:

I have poor credit, 614 but working on it and hoping to have it at 650 by the end of the year.  I earn decent income - around $5400 net per month from real estate commissions. We have income from our 4 unit multi family that grosses $5,000 monthly and after regular expenses and maintenance and paying our mortgage, we cash flow $500 per month. We have done significant cap expenditures on it this year though, which I'm sure will hurt us.

$6,000 to fill in the old pool, $5400 to repaint the garage and get our EMP up to code, $11,900 blown in-insulation. We were thinking about replacing the furnace and adding a boiler this year as well, since its at the end of its life and heating a 100 year old multi family in Vermont is not cheap nor easy.  $8,000.  All in $31,300 in cap expenditures this year....

We Airbnb our studio condo that is at the base of a ski resort and have been renting that to traveling nurses on the off season. We own this outright, no mortgage, just paying HOA and expenses which are pretty minimal. We gross $1000 per month off-season, and gross $5,000 from Dec-April. Expenses vary for those months but generally speaking we are cash flowing $600 off-season and $2500 in-season.

I have large and cumbersome student debt - $125,000 federal student loan debt.  Non in forbearance as far as I know, I recently paid off a $5000 debt to George Washington which I believe was in collections, I only paid that off in May of this year. I pay around $250 per month towards the loans.  

Husband  - Great credit, he's above 700 - No income, stay at home dad. - No debt- Has a secured credit card he keeps at 30%

Currently we are living rent free with my grandmother, taking care of her during this pandemic crisis. But this is a temporary situation for us and we are wanting to figure out how we can buy a single family home in Vermont.

Our multi family we have a 20 year mortgage on at 5% interest with seller financing.  Monthly payments are $1979.  The principal balance is $267,000, current market value is $430,000.  I cannot qualify for a refinance or a cash out with my current credit score, even with the income from the rental.  The problem is my husband has the credit score, but not the income.  

So that's our story.  The property that we want to buy is listed at $230,000.  

How do we do this? 

My sisters and I are inheriting my grandmother's home. She's been here for almost 50 years, its beautiful and has great bones and is in a great location.  We will be doing a lot of work to the land as well - clearing trees for a view, landscaping and rebuilding the gardens and stone walls, etc.  The interior needs to be completely updated, and the layout needs to be changed too.  The basement is a walkout and would be great to finish as possible second unit.  We want the property to have a lot of options.

I really want to learn how to design rooms, in terms of structurally and functionality as well as aesthetic.  What is a good course to start this journey?  I don't have any background in building or art but I'm kind of looking at a winter holed up on top of a mountain and would like to try something totally new and outside my comfort zone just to see if I can do it!

Hey everyone - 

Been searching forums on the topic of property management platforms and online tools but I can't seem to find one that is specifically for a tenant that needs to submit a repair request.  

You don't need to read the following but just providing context on our situation:

Long backstory:We own one 4-unit multi family that we were house-hacking by living in one of the units.  We decided to 4HWW our lives and take a mini retirement to California for the winter season by renting out our unit as furnished for Traveling Nurse Program.  We also own a 450 sq foot condo at the base of a Ski Mountain resort that we have successfully Airbnbed this season. Our plan/goal for the next 2-3 years is to purchase our next investment property, so we decided to spend the summer in the condo and rent out our apartment in the multi family to save money.  But next season we will do the same thing and travel somewhere.  During this experiment we have hired people to take care of the house and condo while we are gone, but I am starting to get overwhelmed with trying to manage an unexpected apartment turn while being so far away.   

Ultimately what I'm trying to find is some sort of online platform where our tenants can submit non-emergency repair requests which can be sent directly to our property manager.  That way I can have someone who is on-site and on-call who can take care of the issues that cause me a lot of time, energy and headache trying to sort out remotely.  

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) private money loan investment.

Purchase price: $300,000
Cash invested: $25,000

We are currently house-hacking a 4 unit Colonial. For the other three units, all utilities included are in the rent and many amenities including laundry room, exercise room and in-ground pool as well as extra storage above the two car garage. We Airbnb our unit during the winter so that we can travel.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We didn't have to put any money down, nor pay for our own closing costs

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Our landlord approached us, and I brokered the deal from start to finish. This is how I got started in real estate, the following year I got my license in VT and NH and haven't looked back!

How did you finance this deal?

Seller Financing - $0 down, no closing costs $15,000 seller concession at closing to cover repair costs for plumbing, electric and heating upgrades and for replacing the pool deck. Negotiated a 20 year note at 5% fixed rate

How did you add value to the deal?

I created the terms, and I negotiated the closing costs and seller concession after doing home inspections but also demonstrating how I saved him 6% by not going through a realtor. I learned everything I could about real estate in a super short amount of time, we both left the deal feeling like we had won

What was the outcome?

3 years in we are breaking even on all 3 units, but we are creating positive cash flow by Airbnbing our apartment when we travel or when we stay at our condo that we inherited but are also currently renovating. We will be putting that unit on Airbnb this winter which should finance our travels if not create even more positive cash flow

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lesson I learned immediately after the closing - when we hired our first contractor to do the work of replacing the pool deck , I had no idea how to vet these guys and I had no idea how to read a quote or invoice. We ended up getting pretty screwed, and $8,000 we had a destroyed yard and no deck. My husband went to YouTube and learned how to lay pavers and it took the entire summer but we finished it and it looks amazing. Big lesson learned

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) private money loan investment.

Purchase price: $300,000
Cash invested: $25,000

4 Unit Multi family and we live in one of the units.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Our former landlord wanted to sell but didn't want to deal with a realtor. He offered to have us buy it and in lieu of realtor fees he would pay for the closing costs and also write us a check for $15,000 at closing to cover the cost of some necessary repairs.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

My landlord approached us, we always paid rent on time and kept everything clean and he noted that he thought we were extremely hard-working and would be good at property management. It ended up sparking my love of real estate and I got my license the next year. Been pretty successful at it, $2mil in sales my first year and on track for $4.5mil this year!

How did you finance this deal?

We weren't able to get a mortgage this way so I did some research and learned about owner financing. I pitched the idea and then brokered the deal, we ended up with a 15 year fixed rate mortgage at 5%. We put no money down, then put $15,000 into repairs (electric, plumbing, pool deck) and over the past two years put another $10,000 into it (insulation, heating system, new windows)

How did you add value to the deal?

I did most of the legwork - I organized the home inspection, the attorneys (necessary for a closing in VT), researched the financing options and wrote all of the terms

What was the outcome?

We closed and its been going really well. All of our expenses are covered along with the mortgage, and we are able to put any additional income that we can into further upgrading it. We are hoping to refinance once we have 20% equity, hopefully in the next 2-3 years.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned a GC lesson the hard way, and on our first big project. Got burned really badly and lost $6,000 out of the $15,000 we were given at closing because we trusted a friend who took advantage of us. My husband took it upon himself to learn how to finish the rest of the deck and he completed the project. Luckily we already had the materials and now it looks fantastic

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes, me!