All Forum Posts by: Louise A.

@Todd Ellis

Hey Todd.  Depends what area of town you're buying in and what type of property you need managed. PM with more specifics.  I use Moynahan Williams on something larger and Athena Property Management for my small multi families close to downtown.  I also have a good friend managing higher end single family homes.  Let me know what you're looking for!  

@Sonya Hansell 

Hey!  We've met at WIRE, right?  I can send you the MIBOR lease if you'd like.  Its a little long, but has definitely already been reviewed by lots of lawyers.  No need to pay lawyers yet unless you really need to!  

@Tyler Markvluwer

Two thumbs up for hacking over out of state investing.  Although I agree with @Ciprian L. that you need to be at least break even so that when the market crashes in 1 year (as I'm hoping) you can hold onto the property after moving and not have negative cash flow.  

I'm in Indianapolis, and we have lots of out of state investors.  It is not easy to make a lot of money in real estate, and its even harder to make money in real estate if you're not there to keep an eye on it.  Especially at the beginning when you don't know what you're doing.  Let me know if you have more specific questions!  My husband and I are house hacking and I'm a big fan of the strategy.  

@Matthew Ryan

In my experience, the way you make money in real estate is by dealing with sticky situations! If it was easy, everyone would do it, right? The answer to the question regarding leases and FHA mortgages is going to be answered by your lender. Each state has different tenancy laws, and the lender will be able to tell you what you need to do to satisfy FHA if there are tenants in both sides. In Indiana, where I am, you have to honor the current lease, but if the tenant is month to month, you can get them out with 30 days notice. I'm not sure how the TAW rules will work in MA, but I'm thinking that FHA will lend to you if you say you will occupy the property within a certain time (giving you time to get one of the units vacated. Let me know if you have other specific questions. My husband and I are house hacking and I think its the only way to go!

@Lemaris Edwards

Aaron Adams at Alpine runs a good meetup too.  You can find Alpine on meetup.com.  Looking forward to meeting you!  

@Nathaniel Green

Hey! My husband and I are house hacking and doing well in the 'treacherous REI world'! If you educate yourself its not treacherous! Just wanted to mention that if you're looking to house hack and then keep the property after moving into a larger home, make sure that you run your numbers as if you aren't living there to make sure that you're cash flowing or breaking even after you move. I use 10% vacancy, 10% management and 15% maintenance when I'm analyzing. Those are conservative numbers, but I want to make sure that I'm cash flowing no matter what! Also, I would stay under 4 units for your first few properties as you can use 30 year fixed rate financing. 5+ units you will be using a commercial loan and the terms are MUCH worse. Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck!

@Stephen Seaberry

Hey!  Congrats on taking action to get started!  Analyzing properties is key.  You have to analyze a lot so that you know how to tell a good deal when you see it.  That can take a lot of properties!  

I'm investing in Indianapolis and on my smaller properties (2-4 units ~ no single families), I use a 10% vacancy expense, 10% management fee, and 15% for repairs and maintenance.  I don't use a cap ex number on the small properties, so that 15% has to cover everything.  Insurance is really dependent on the property and type of coverage.  If you end up buying here in Indy, I can put you in touch with good insurance brokers here.  Best of luck!  

@Matthew Schroeder

Seconding Matt's recommendation!  I've done some commercial purchase and sale agreements with Jynell and she's been great ~ very good advice and reasonably priced.  

@Nazir Hassan

Hey! Good luck with the triplex! Sounds like a great play. And you should be able to get an owner occupied FHA loan for the 3.5% down. You will be responsible for additional mortgage insurance premiums, so make sure to ask the loan officer for a full cost/fee breakdown on those monthly payments. I would call the big banks as well as your local credit unions to see who is most interested in lending to you. Dialing for dollars! We all do it!

@Nazir Hassan

@Drew Cameron

All the advice on this thread is great.  I am house hacking right now and living for free.  Its a great thing to not have that monthly rent or mortgage payment coming out of your paycheck!  Definitely use conservative numbers for maintenance and vacancy etc.  If you want me to look at numbers of you, just let me know!  Good luck!