All Forum Posts by: Lana Lee

Did anyone hear of Fund and Grow? I just watched on Youtube. Can anyone explain me, like I'm 10 years old, how I can use this program to buy RE, what are the benefits and did anyone use it?

You've mentioned that your wife works late hours, that must mean she has some time in the morning. You can get her on board. In my case I am a housewife with 3 small children,  my husband has more than full time job, he is on salary, so work takes up a lot of his time.

So basically, I took it upon myself to listen to BP podcasts, ebooks, reading forums, researching the market in the areas we are interested in, reading landlord/tenant laws, looking through MLS, talking to agents. I don't consider myself an investor, just yet. Nevertheless we managed to buy 3 duplex since 2016. And we do manage them ourselves. I create rental ads, checking credits, reviewing applications dealing with tenants. And my husband does repairs whenever he has time.

And did I mention we both came to America some time ago with a little cash in our pocket, no relatives, no friends. If we could do it you can do it too!!! We are here for any advice you might need. Start small, dream big!!!

 I have already stated my opinion about cash for keys. I think we as landlords are doing disservice to each other using that "strategy". Not only it doesn't leave any negative records on their credit, they lived for free for couple of months in your house and now they are walking away with pocket full of your cash yet to another unfortunate landlord. This has to stop!!!

 Have you found a good PM in Philadelphia eventually ?

Have you ever thought of buying a duplex to occupy one unit and rent the other, this way you don't have to wait for 5 years to become an investor. You can use VA loan or FHA loan for low down payment and low mortgage rate. Besides you can learn how to be a landlord. And down the line you can rent out both units and buy a single family for yourself when your family is bigger.

 Was it difficult to obtain rezoning permit from duplex into triplex? I heard a lot of times the City giving hard times with that.

 What is your intereste rate and do you have to pay mortgage insurance? Do you manage yourself? How are the tenants like in that area? 

 What zip code is your property in and what is your monthly payment like? What is your monthly cash flow? 

How good is your mortgage rate now? We got 3.6 on our primary residence that is why refinancing made no scene for us since the rates are higher now. That's why we decided to go with a HELOC with fixed rate of 3.99, 3 year draw period and 10 years amortization. No closing costs.

 The secret to smoother management is when you first buy a property try to update it as much as possible, so there will be less headache down the line. I am not talking about granite countertops, I am talking about simple things like plumbing hardware. Sure there will be some unexpected things. Make sure you show the tenants who is the owner of the property. Sometimes they tend to  think that if they pay rent they somehow entitled to the property. You need to spell everything in the contract and stay with it. When we purchased our 1 duplex the inherited tenants were always late with rent, that was because it was previously managed by management company who allowed them to and never changed late fee. Now they're always on time, because not only I change late fee, but $10 in addition per every day that they're late. 

Let me tell you, it's not as scary as it sounds once you develop the system and stick with it.