All Forum Posts by: Kevin Blanchard

American Painting out of Wayne, NJ (he doesn’t only do painting)

GC - RJ Michaels our of East Orange, somewhat costly but they do things right.

@Justin Pencook check out “truth in renting” which I think NJ DCA publishes. It is a good starting point on getting to know more about the specific laws in NJ and it is very readable. I can’t speak to your questions but thought this resource might be helpful if you are just getting started in the PM world.

I came across this property a number of years ago when the seller was trying to sell it for $600,000. It was a new construction project consisting of over 3,700 sq. ft. The interesting thing is that they timed the market wrong and didn't lower the price enough to catch up. Long-story short the seller ended up getting sick and was unable to complete the house. He has basically done everything on the exterior but the interior is only framed and rough electric. They have agreed to seller financing at $150,000. We are still working on the remaining terms but I was thinking I could sweeten the pot by saying I would pay them the balance within x amount of years (Perhaps 10 or so??) by refinancing the property. I am estimating that the property construction will cost about $125,000-$150,000, meaning I will be all in at $300,000 and the ARV will be $400,000.

Believe it or not I am considering this for my own personal residence and not an investment property. However my question is, does anyone have any resources for a Seller Financed Sales contract that they would be willing to share? I haven't reached out to my real estate lawyer yet so I am uncertain if he is familiar with seller financing but I wanted to be able to provide him with at least some type of framework to work off of. 

@John Palatzo No it is not refundable. It is rent. You can also charge a security deposit for the pet as well. I did a $250 pet security deposit. 

@John Palatzo why not charge on ongoing pet rental fee? I have done that in the past almost as a hedge against any damage they may cause. We charged $25 extra per month per pet. 

@Damani Francis I just started investing in northern NJ by closing on my first SFH in Morris County that cash flows $400/mo. I am also looking to scale and am currently looking at 2-4 units. My caution to you is that NJ may not be the best place to look for those types of properties unless you are looking for an appreciation deal. All the MF deals I have come across have little to negative cash flow. Also, not sure if you are aware but most of NJ is seeing a mass migration out of the state. Morris County only had 0.4% growth from 2010, but Bergen County was a little better at 2.4%. All that to say, be cautious. Connect with me if you want to chat more.

@Ronald Mejia i would agree with some of the others and say that you should leverage the property by pulling money out with either a HELOC or other loan to purchase more rentals. Besides the power of leverage you also have to think about liability. Someone who is thinking of suing you and your assets is probably less likely to do so if you have less equity in a property. You are kind of leaving your self own for a lawsuit right now. For example if you own a property worth $100,000 and have $20k of equity they may not go after it because it s not worth their time as opposed to 100k worth of equity for the taking.

@Ashley Gish don't listen to all the hate. Student loans are a necessary evil if you are attending college. I would use as little as possible for a downpayment on a cash flowing property. You would probably want to find something that cash flows at least $250 after all expenses, property management, reserves, etc.

I don't know the market you are looking into but perhaps you could even do a few cash flowing properties. There are some turnkey providers in Tampa, FL where you buy a SFH for $120k and it cash flows about $250/mo. So if you were to put $25k down on each, purchase 6 of them, you would cash flow about $1,500. You could use some of that to pay down your student loans. It doesn't have to be Tampa, FL, but I just used that as an example as I am somewhat familiar with that market

Someone else said househacking which is another great idea to keep your personal living expenses down while you pay off those loans.

@Sean McCluskey I was just approved for a cash out refi, zero points at 3.5%. That is pretty darn good. This was for a single family home. The rates might go down more but they are pretty low now. I don't think you should put off refinancing for a few extra bucks.

I keep hearing how it is a terrible idea to buy at the height of the market. My premise is that if you are doing a buy/hold longterm then it shouldn't really matter if you are buying at the height. In some parts on California you could have gotten a house for $120k at the height of the market, then they went down significantly but but time the 90's and 00's rolled around these same properties are now worth over $1M. That is not a bad deal at all.

Convince me otherwise.