All Forum Posts by: Lisa Hoover

Hi Zach,

I just saw your text.. I think it's great you've been interested for years in real estate.

I'm retired and in Ballantyne..but part of my giving back is to train (help, assist) new investors get started (FREE Ok you can buy me a coffee or coke)

I'm meeting 2 investors today at Panera in Ballantyne Village at 3pm for our first chat.  If you're around you're welcome to join.

I'm mostly a buy and hold investor.

You're already seeing WHY: look at all the effort you'll be putting in to acquiring your next property..

Its a lot of planning and work to acquire it, fix it up, rent it... So keep it!! Don't do all that work so someone else can KEEP It.

In a year you SHOULD be able to pull significant cash out and put it in your pocket TAX FREE in a home equity line without much change in your property's monthly cash flow..  I usually pull out chunks of cash in $20,000 increments...that's the minimum worth my time to meet with a lender. I always leave equity in my properties... Just a common sense rule.

I'd like to be your sounding board regarding your strategy for your next purchase... Buying it as an investor vs buying as owner occupied and renting out your current place. Also... Before you buy anything else... You'll want to OPTIMIZE your current loan(s) on your primary residence. I can give you guidance on that too.

**You can't build wealth if you sell off your assets.**

So I tend to share more ideas along those themes vs Buy/Rehab/Flip and pocket Highly TAXABLE one time income.

ok pm me and Ill share my cell and I'll be glad to keep you posted on my 'classes'.  I still teach Realtors how to work with investors and investors on getting started and strategies for their existing portfolios.

Yep, I am Addicted to real estate. : )

@Tony Kim

In 20 years of property mgmt I have never been stood up-- not even once.

You must improve YOUR screening ** and people / communication skills.

Be very thorough in your ADS with lots of Prop info!!! TMI is a good thing.

TAKE CALL NOTES & KEEP them handy from your discussions so when you answer the phone, you appear to KNOW THE TENANT PROSPECT.

Stay in touch via text right up to when you are getting in your car to head to the property.

**DO YOU KNOW THESE FACTS ABOUT YOUR TENANT PROSPECT?

1. When is your planned move-in date?

2. Why are you moving?

3. WHAT RENT ARE YOU PAYING NOW?

4.Where is your workplace (in relation to property--- a reasonable commute?)

5. Who else needs to see the house to decide?

6.Are these the schools you're interested in?

7.How long a lease are you looking for?

8.Any pets I should know about?

I wasn’t aware that one of my brokers timed me once when I was phone interviewing a tenant prospect.

He said “WOW You learned EVERYTHING you needed to know in less than 5 minutes!”

I’d never thought about it..but

I take the attitude that I don’t want this prospect to WASTE THEIR TIME OR MINE— we have to see asap if this is

might be a good fit.

Hope that helps!

You’re welcome to pm me anytime with questions : )

Lisa

@Matty Foley

There are tax benefits if you hand him say a $2500 DOWNPAYMENT and then owner financing

vs

his SELLING the property outright and taking the income

I would highly suggest you take him out of the loop of any ownership / landlord duties once you sign the contracts and implement the owner financing ..because You Need to learn Property Management AND start incorporating a rental property into your daily life. Then adding properties over the years gets easier.

I know older gentlemen like you're describing. They know people and they know deals. If you approach him with anything other than the absolute truth and your intent-- he will see through it in a snap and think less of you

(because it would be an insult to him)

That's not the case at all. You have a valid genuine proposal and Im sure he

will listen and share his thoughts and knowledge. Forget the "he's hard to read".. just be yourself and respectfully ask straight out.

He will see EVERY PLUS and MINUS in any deal immediately:

Every tax advantage & disadvantage for him and for you.

He may propose adding you to title and you taking over managing the property and splitting the positive cash flow monthly.

That will make executing his estate easier in the future.

I'm 63 and I can tell you that when you get older it's a pain to be the first contact for tenants in multiple properties-- you never REALLY get to relax or be at peace on vacation.

There's always a list of maintenance items to keep up... Move INS & Move OUTS, tenant issues divorce late rents, so I'd think the biggest impact to him would be in transitioning to a silent partner😉. What a wonderful opportunity to learn from an older experienced stable coach.

@Matty Foley

It's fine to say..

"We admire all of your accomplishments and would appreciate u considering allowing us to buy our first prop from you in

January? Feb? Mat?Don't leave it so open)

What kind of terms would you consider?

We are excited and we have so much to learn from you and this is the best way!"

I don't think there's much you can offer him except the thrill of helping a younger couple learn the power of real estate. I'm a retired investor and every week I coach younger people here in Charlotte how to navigate step by step thru their real estate dreams.

It's very emotionally rewarding to me : )

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment in Charlotte.

Purchase price: $320,000
Cash invested: $16,000
Sale price: $560,000

7612 Ballantyne Commons Parkway: I bought this property (NOT in a subdivision) on 1.3 acres of land-as Owner Occupied. That gave me a 5% DOWNPAYMENT, a 30yr term and low interest rate. In 2010 I rezoned from R3 To O.. turning this parcel into a Commercial Property.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
I saw the appreciation potential of this parcel immediately.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I know Charlotte very well. My talent is in spotting undervalued properties with huge appreciation potential. I am a buy and hold investor.

How did you finance this deal?

NC State Employees Credit Union30 yr MTG with 5% dp as owner-occupied. My family and I lived here many years.

How did you add value to the deal?

I REZONED a residential property to COMMERCIAL.

What was the outcome?

As part of my divorce in 2018 (the prop was Joint Titled husband-wife) I sold the prop not for the $1.5 MM AND $1.8MM offers I had (because my ex-wouldn't cooperate) . I sold and closed in 30 days for $560,000.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

$1MM LESSON. Your name ALONE (Or your LLC) will be on TITLE for any property you buy. Anyone can be on the loan. In NC, 1 spouse can buy but it takes BOTH signatures at closing to sell. I advocate staying single and living together! Even a deranged spouse going thru divorce will 'sign off' at closing to get their 50:50 share Of $1MM.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Always recommend utilizing credit unions when you can.

@Jaden Adams

@Mary St.Clair Hi Mary,

Even my Credit Union will let me have 30 Yr mtgs on rentals...

With them I can have 1 primary and 2 rentals (3 total) and rates are the same... No points or MTG INS and very low closing costs.

So if you're in a CU, Check it out!

@Shannon Bullock

Hi Shannon,

Congrats on your decision to start investing : )

To answer your question you have to choose your first goal:

If it's to make a single lump of cash

within ~~2 months AND you can handle the TAX consequences in addition to your W2 Income..

And you have your

pre-approval letter from your a lender (be sure to 'season' the borrowed DOWNPAYMENT money by getting it into your bank acct yesterday or explaining that it's a gift from a parent etc and making sure the lender will allow).

Also.. it takes time and cash to rehab--- paying a mortgage, labor and materials.. if you have all of that:

Then DO a rehab/flip.

If your goal is to MAKE YOUR CURRENT W2 Income BETTER by having tax write-offs!! (You're paycheck can be bigger in Jan 2020 by changing W/H allowances AND you will have some good size IRS 1040 tax credits significantly lowering your overall tax bill in 2020.

* Priv message me and Ill send you a detailed list of rental home property tax deductions you can use as a check off list each year at tax time.

😉

I'm thinking you're in the second goal section-- BRRR- for owing less taxes each year AND making your current paycheck bigger while building a portfolio of appreciating assets and positive cash flow rents monthly.

By far.. the LONG TERM Lifetime money making strategy in investing is BRRR.

(With flips, you get a decent chunk of cash at once..(if all goes well) but it's taxed at a high rate called short-term capital gains.)

To find a BRRR..

Please buy a property that is

--1998 or newer

--cheapest property in the best neighborhood you can afford

with the best schools

--in a desirable area that attracts great renters!

(Personally I would never buy a property that I wouldn't live in!

And that's worked well for me as a female investor/property manager. I don't want to drive into a neighborhood I don't feel safe in AT NIGHT -IF I ever have to check on something at the property or pick up the rent -rare, but happens).

FINDING TGE RIGHT PROPERTY IS KEY.

It is very possible with common sense, research, your personal knowledge of the Raleigh area to FIND a house in great shape (needing only cosmetic touchups and yard work)

that is under-priced and in a highly appreciating section of Raleigh.

My GOLD STANDARD PROPERTY to buy in the past was a minimum:

HOUSE with 3Br 2Ba 2 car garage, 1400 sqft MINIMUM.

But ALL home prices in Charlotte have gone UP. So because of prices..

I bought a move-in ready upscale CONDO here in the BEST PART of CLT in 2018.. I saw the whole complex was UNDERVALUED!!

for the area.

I bought a top floor unit, built in 2006 for $200,000.. it's now

Nov 2019 and Im doing a cash-out refi to lower the interest rate and put TAX FREE CASH IN MY POCKET..

The appraisal came in at $240,000..

So I'm taking out $24,000 cash AND lowering my mortgage by $300/month.

Original purchase $200,000

HOA $266 (incl water)

PITI $1468

Rent $1600 (could have been higher! for this luxury 3Br 2Ba

1501 sqft, top floor unit with all appliances /fireplace/granite countertops, wood floors, large balcony with view of the city skyline-- gated community and secured building with pool and clubhouse)

Now my PITI will drop to $1120..

So I just more than doubled my monthly positive cash flow, put $24k cash in my pocket--tax free --and I still OWN the highly appreciating income producing asset. My BRRR stands for

BUY RIGHT, Rent, Refi, Repeat.

My NC credit union allows me to have 3 mtgs..

1 primary and 2 investor properties. I'm absolutely buying in my own backyard here in Charlotte.

@Shanaya Harris

Hi Shanaya,

I'll be glad to help you decide what's best for you.

I'm in Ballantyne! (Retired , former property mgmt.co owner and New Investor Trainer for 12+ years right here in Charlotte.

So we can meet in person at your convenience... Seems likes it easiest to meet face to face and write down all of the + and -

I know every inch of this city and surrounding areas and have bought, sold, managed great properties in just about every part : )

So I can share with you what your scenarios will look like in 3 years, 5 yrs, 10 yrs. and brainstorm cash flow, tax write-offs and equity strategies with you.

I retired in 2013, so this is pure fun for me. Real Estate in Charlotte changed my life!! So it's a pleasure to volunteer my time helping others learn to help themselves.

Private message me and we can plan.

And Congrats!! That's a great problem to have.

@Jamie Burns

Please keep us posted!

I'd like to see how this turns out.