All Forum Posts by: Kelly Bellini

@Andrew Syrios--My fingers are crossed that you are correct, Andrew.  I'm hoping we tapped into a good, little market.  I'm keeping an eye on a couple of properties that went up for rent yesterday and today.  If they go quickly, I think we are in good shape.  I just hate the waiting!  I'm so impatient about this stuff.  I suppose it doesn't help that the holidays are here...slowing everybody down.

@Derrick E.--Thanks, Derek!  Will definitely check out that site!

@Johnna Randazzo--thanks so much, Johnna.  I'm so excited about this venture into real estate!  Your area sounds great, albeit competitive!  I'm going to contact a local agent today, and keep my fingers crossed.

@Aaron K.--thanks so much for the insight.  The town is about 20 minutes from a bigger city, and about 50 minutes from Atlanta.  I'm hoping that's close enough to warrant needing rentals!

I ask because my husband and I bought our first investment property, which we are currently rehabbing. We planned to flip this one, but have now decided to hold it as a rental. Now, there’s another house nearby that we’re interested in purchasing, as another rental. Here’s my concern though: the town where these houses are located is lower/middle income. Houses sell for around 110k-130k, give or take. We’re looking to get around 1100 in rent. But as I research what other people are charging for rent, I’m not really finding anything that’s actually FOR RENT. So, I’m left wondering if this is bad news or great news. Does this mean nobody rents in this area? Or does it mean this area is in dire need of rental units? I’m baffled. I would think that in a lower-ish income area, there would HAVE to be renters, but maybe I’m way off base. Please give me your thoughts :)

@Mike McCarthy and @Matthew Drouin - Thank you so much for taking the time to give me some opinions. First, I put up a picture (thanks, Matthew). Second, I was pretty much leaning in the direction of renting, so it's good to hear others confirm that that may be the way to go. Since we're already 2.5 months in on renovating (again, doing it ourselves), and the holidays are around the corner, waiting a full 6 months to get the loan is really no big deal. And I suppose we can get renters in ASAP. Do either of you know much about getting a loan after paying cash on a property? If I wait 6 months, will I be able to get 80% of the ARV?

Hoping for some opinions/advice:  My husband and I bought our first investment property with the intent to flip it.  We knew off the bat that we wouldn't make a ton of money off of it, but we wanted to use it as a learning experience, to get our feet wet.  As for the numbers: We paid cash, $89,000.  We're on track to spend about $13,000 fixing it up (most of the work has been done ourselves).  We should be able to sell it for $125-135K.

As I said, our plan was to flip it, BUT after listening to a ton of BP podcasts, I've been getting really excited about the idea of rental properties, as an investment in our future.  So, now we're wondering if we would be better off using this property as a rental instead.  We would likely be able to get $1200/month for it.  We did pay cash, though, and I don't want that money tied up, so I'd need to get a loan on it (I've read a bit about that, and I know it's possible, but I'm not sure of the logistics.).

Any advice is greatly welcome!!!

@Antoine Martel--I hope that's true!  As far as proving it, I've been wondering if email correspondence counts.  It has to nowadays, right?

@Phil G.--thanks, Phil!  Frustrating, indeed.  I actually do like your advice.  I'm definitely venting here, but I always try to go about things the nice way, first.  But deep inside, situations like this can really make my blood boil.  I guess it's because it just FEELS like they're trying to take advantage and cheat me.  But you're right in that there's a huge lack of efficiency and probably incompetence.  I'm glad you were able to spell out for me the different players, because it has been confusing, trying to understand who information is coming from.  It seems as though the asset manager keeps approving things, and then down the road, the bank says no.  Then, of course, the listing agent admitted to our agent that he had only "scanned over" the email he had received from the asset manager, and that's why information was left out.  Talk about inefficient incompetency!  I was certainly curious about what part the escrow company takes as far as doling out the money/earnest money.  It gives me some relief to know that they need instruction from both parties (I'm reading that right?), or a court order.  We're going to start out nicely, calmly, and hopefully, we won't need to go any further.  Being new to investing, I know that one of the main things I need to do is delete the emotion that goes with buying and selling :)

@Brandon Battle--thank you so much for your reply!  Seeing as I am dying to give someone a piece of my mind, in person, I love your idea.  I'm definitely going to do this after hearing what the escrow/title company says to my agent tomorrow.  I'd love to walk right into the seller's office as well (the bank), but unfortunately, they are in Texas.  That's a bit of a drive...