All Forum Posts by: Ken Barrett

No problem! Good luck!

Wait... you're a single father with two kids and you quit your job before A) Being financially free or B) Having another job lined up?

That makes absolutely no sense to me.

Why wouldn't you keep your $50k salary and stack cash until the right property comes along? I'm so confused about your strategy, both in real estate and life, right now.

I think you may be misinterpreting the meaning of the e-mail.

"There is a 6 month seasoning requirement on a cash-out refinance. One exception is a “delayed purchase” refi which you can do when you pay cash for the house initially. The catch is you can only refi the amount your paid for the home plus closing costs/title fee’s for the purchase. You cannot include the rehab costs on this program."

The lender is saying that if you want to refinance through their institution that you must wait 6 months.  The only exception to waiting 6 months is if you only want to refinance the purchase price of the home. 

So it sounds like you can still do the BRRRR method like you're imagining with this particular institution, you just have to wait 6 months to do it.

Luis A. the two year time table that I was talking about actually included the 20k on the vehicle loan as well, not just the student loans and the bike! Michael Woodward I'm definitely still open to different investment strategies. I've just found that I find myself leaning towards buy and hold after the reading that I've done... That's not to say though that I won't ever use rehabbing as a source of income. Brian Hoyt it's awesome to see that you think I can handle the investments with my current financial situation. It's very inspiring for me!

Joe Delia that is what I'm using! The properties aren't nearly as readily available though for that kind of cash flow, but I know they're out there! Ann Bellamy Kama Ward I haven't really considered the rehab and sell strategy too much... I've focused more on buy and rent . I have however heard that the profits from flipping a rehabbed home can be more than enough to make up a profit for a down-payment on a future investment... so I may start to look into it a bit more. Luis A. I completely agree with you about making sure I actually have the money to invest first... but I think my financials are pretty strong at this point in my life. I have zero credit card debt, 5k in student loans, 2k on a motorcycle loan, and 20k on a car loan (purchased prior to me really getting into the idea of investing, so don't hold it against me). I am single and I've created two budget schedules that I could follow. One would allow me to have all of my debt paid off in 2 years (per Dave Ramsey's advice), the other would allow me to purchase my first investment property within a year or so (preferably a multi-family that I could move into and rent out the other units).

Joe Delia Thanks for the great advice! I'm still in the process of working out my new strategy, but I'm definitely going to implement the $300 minimum so that I can make sure to account for the items you listed like vacancy. Thanks again for the help!

I'm glad that this topic has been able to benefit others as much as it has me! While I've been reading a ton, working on financial spreadsheets, etc. this questions was still one of the biggest, and as it seems, most simple questions that I needed answered. It's awesome to have such a great community of investors that I can easily reach and communicate ideas and strategies with! Also, it's nice to hear that not only is it solid advice to purchase the investment first, but that several of you were in a very similar situation to me and that was the strategic route that you took and it has paid off for you (I apologize for the run-on sentence). Chris Masons I currently am not working with a broker. I've spoken with a few, but none of them actually are real estate investors themselves. From what I've read, its a good idea to build my team based off of like-minded investors. So as of right now, I'm still searching for an agent that actually invests. However, its not a really big deal for me, because I'm still in the 20% down payment saving stage (but not for long though :)). Joe Delia the $125 per month income that I mentioned would have included PITI, management fees, and a 10% emergency savings fund. Do you think that still isn't enough? If so, I may have to re-work my strategy as far as my finances and how many rentals I would be able to take on per year. Thanks again everyone!

I'm thinking that with the over whelming response of "invest first, buy your own later" I'm going to have to do just that. I especially like the idea that several of you have mentioned about purchasing a multi-family, moving in, and having them pay off the mortgage with their rent payments. I truly have been on the look-out for that opportunity, however, none of risen as of yet. I guess the next question would be, how long should I continue looking/waiting for that multifamily opportunity before deciding on going with a SF?

Thanks for the feedback Kyle Koller! After hearing the responses so far, I'm definitely thinking that buying an investment property first is going to be the way to go, especially in terms of my future. I think I would rather be more of a buy and lease type of investor, in which case the sooner I start, the sooner the property gets paid off and my profit goes from $125/month to $500/month!

Charles Morgan Steve K Thanks so much for the feedback guys! I was thinking the same thing, especially the bit about my probably moving within the next few years. I just wanted to gain some affirmation though, because the advice was given by a successful investor. I would have hated to ignore him just on my own standing only to find out that he was right. Going along the lines of what Raymond B. mentioned, I would love to be able to adopt both philosophies and just move into a multifamily residence, unfortunately the only ones up for sale are in the worst neighborhoods.