All Forum Posts by: Kevin Martin

 Joe,

I like this strategy...your using both cash and credit to maximize your leverage. When you say "not do rehab" are you saying you prefer turn-key properties or you yourself dont like to do the rehab work? Also, when you do refi and pull your cash out how do you make the payments on the loan? I am assuming rent income but maybe you have another method.

This is a great thread! As the cost of solar continues to decrease and the cost of electricity continues to go up going solar makes more and more sense. Although it's conservative, PVWATTs is a great website that will break all the numbers down for you so you can get a good idea if it makes sense.

We are building solar homes here in Jacksonville and our buyers have been thrilled. The buyers in our first house had an electric bill of 12 bucks in the middle of a Florida summer. We put a 5kw system with a solar hot water heater on this one and it came out with a HERS score of 6. All this gets wrapped into their mortgage so the typical large initial investment is eliminated and they get a sweet tax credit. 

 Ok so basically you use this stradegy to buy with cash so you can get a better deal then you refi and get your cash out. I can see how this is a great way to acquire multiple properties overtime but your still giving your asset or a portion of it to the bank. Why not initially take your cash and buy multiple properties with a bank to maximize your leverage potential?

 Robert,

Yes I have searched this topic but its been awhile and I thought I would start a new thread. I dont have alot of real estate experiece but I do understand numbers and risk. Leverage is good but when are you sticking your neck out too far? 

Ok sorry....change 10% to 6% for the loan option and for the cash option you have 100k to invest and enough cash to cover your living expeses for 1 year if you didnt have any income. 

Question: Is it better to use cash or credit to buy real estate? 

Guidlines:

• Cash: You have enough cash to buy a piece of property outright. 
• Credit: You are taking a loan with 20% down and 10% interest rate fixed. 
• You can only choose one.

I know there are alot of other factors that would lead to the best answer but I just want to see what people think in general (risks/rewards) about these two ways to buy. 

Dagart,

1. Make sure he is liscenced and insured.

2. Ask for multiple references.

3. Have an agreement that includes these basics: scope of work, price, payment schedule.

This should be enough for a small bathroom job that you intend to do. Good Luck!

 I agree, but for someone who doesn’t know what is going on "Learning the code" is not easy and will take loads of time.

Example: Sam determines the correct hanger/ties he needs to use and where to place them. He calls the inspection in and the inspector fails him because he didn’t use the correct nails the manufacture of the hanger specifies. Now he has to rip all the hangers off and do it all over again. Might not be the best example but little things like this might bite you later on.

Sam- you can go this route if your on a tight budget and have plenty of time to figure this out, but even if you were to build everything to code the building department may still want an engineer to sign off on it.

Sam,

For your situation I think it would be best to go through a contractor. They usually have a few structural engineers they work with and they can handle all the communication as to what needs to be done to get it up to code. Also, if the contractor is good, he should know exactly what needs to be done and who to speak with for the building department to approve everything. Good luck!

Great infomation on Jax market here! If you interesting in New Construction; North side by the airport and St Johns County are super hot right now. St Johns county schools are some of the best in the country and they are building a whole new town (Nocatee) right now. The north side is close to the airport/Jax port and is really getting built up with new commercial and residential.