All Forum Posts by: Ken Wicks

The good news is that you generally don't need to classify LBP material from a residential home as hazardous waste.  One of the few things the government got right as it avoids red tape to get the materiel out of the buildings.

I am a big fan of power ranking things and I would like some feedback on my assessments.  This one will be of red flags when buying a house.  These are based on difficulty and cost fixing.  Does not include location.

1. Former meth lab

2. Liens

3. Flood plane

4. Foundation

5. Roof

6. Structural beams

7. Rotting floors

8. HVAC

9. Electric

10. Landscaping

11. Appliances

If you know you can pull this off then by all means yes it would be a good idea.  I still wouldn't because IMO retirement is the 1% goal of doing any of this and you are putting that at risk by using your 401k as an ATM, I liken this to all of the home equity loans back in the 2000s except of losing your home you would be losing your retirement savings.  I am not familiar with the acquisition of construction loans nor the refinancing rules, but I still think the risk outweighs the reward.  Depends on your experience and confidence. 

The fact that you're asking hints that you may not have the confidence to KNOW that your rental is going to kick out cash.  I am also assuming that you don't have many additional cash options because a loan like that is pretty extreme and low on the totem pole.   Without additional free cash you would be somewhat exposed with a lack of funds if any major expenses came along with the rental home.  You will lose the capital gains from the funds taken out of your 401k (market average 10% a year).  You will have to pay interest back to yourself on something that you aren't entirely sure will work.  You will also be looking at paying income tax on your already depleted funds along with a 10% penalty to the government if your rental does not work out.

You could take out a 401k loan to finance a rental.  You could also think that fantastic 4 was a good movie.  My advice is don't screw around with your retirement funds, over a long enough time frame the market will ALWAYS go up.

I would like being investing real estate in and around the Atlanta, Georgia area with rentals and flips. I have been noticing (obsessively reading articles) money trends of the people who will be in the market for buying a first home 25-35 year olds are simply unable to. I am very responsible with money and have an engineering job which pays well, but i felt that I had to scratch and claw to get a down payment together. From what I have seen with friends and colleagues they are having difficulty as well and most are unable or don't want to do it (YOLO or FOMO spending is what I call it). My thoughts are that the lack of funds paired with the fear that was placed into everyone seeing their parents lose home value they don't want to jump, making the rental housing market prime to work. Also with the only major construction really seen in the midtown and Buckhead area with A+ rentals I believe there is a market for homes where you get more bang for your buck rather than shelling out to live in a VERY car friendly city. I actually left my apartment because I was tired of the constant upgrades that were forced and then charged for. Add in the fact that the major universities in the area Georgia Tech having a somewhat tame student base with substantial scholarship funds and Emory with a typically affluent base the student housing market in the area could provide opportunities as well.

Am I correct in my assessment in the opportunities here? I would really like some advice with someone familiar with the area. I also have some thoughts on the flipping market in the area and I will be including this on a later post if my analysis on this topic proves to be accurate.

A little about me, I graduated from graduate school six years ago and recently purchased my first home. I believe now that I have done the big scary home buying process I can successfully pull off investing with enough experience and education. I have significant experience overseeing construction projects and dealing with subcontracting companies which would be an asset in a flipping environment. I invest actively and intelligently with equities and believe that investing in real estate has several similarities. I have enough liquid assets to begin investing immediately, however, I am currently raising cash to purchase a rental in the area within the next 12 months or so, sooner if possible as I learn more. I have a background in engineering and experience with property condition assessment reports (mainly for multi-family residential) so I am not going into this blind.