All Forum Posts by: Luke Tetreault

My Fiancé and I will be wrapping up our 2nd year of investing part time in the next couple of months. And it seems to be getting less clear on where to head. Maybe you guys can help!

In the past two years we have completed over a dozen flips, We are holding 20 rental units self managed and 2 self managed Air BnBs. Yes we tried everything, and Yes I know now that wasn't the best play haha. We are both 28 years old with zero experience prior to getting involved, she works for the business now and I work Blue Collar in the trades. But as of the last 6 or so months I seem to be losing direction. Where to go from here, how do we truly grow. We haven't found that one thing that has really worked great to catch a ride on the momentum. Flips have done good not great, Air Bnbs are going good not great, and rentals all were brrrr'd perfectly but like most cash flow just enough to pay the bills and cover expenses. I feel a loss of direction and that makes it really hard for me to focus and build.

Do we keep at building a portfolio of small multi family (very abundant in my market, very rare to find anything above a triplex for sale), with plans of selling the portfolio and 1031'ing into larger properties? Do we focus on flipping, (currently we have actually been trying to do this, but we physically can't find enough contractors in our smaller market <100K population to do that much work). Do we branch out of our area and try to do bigger deals now? These are just ideas I have been asking myself.

I think if I could just pinpoint a direction I am confident in, it would make things so much easier to focus and really strive toward. When looking at deals, learning, getting better and thinking smarter as an investor. Right now it feels like we are aimlessly investing, and it makes it hard to see the end goal and even harder to see how to get there.   

I know there's a lot of details missing to actually give an accurate answer. But would love to hear some of your Advice and / or Experience anyone has had as they've gone down this investing journey! Thank You!
 

Hey everyone, so I’ve been investing in smaller duplexes, triplexes for the last year and half. No prior experience investing experience, have always just worked a regular w-2 job as a welder. Not high earning 90-120k. 27 years old. 700 credit score. 

I have been really trying to push into bigger deals, I have finally come across a 30-Unit in my area off market, that is a great value add opportunity. I’ve been negotiating seller finance options for the past 3 months, trying anyway to get this closed. Knowing that would be my most realistic way to get a break on such a large purchase price. The sellers came back and shut it down, will not accept anything but a full payment. 

Talking with my local credit unions, they don't look at me like a serious buyer. Not for somthing of this size, I wasn’t taken serious it felt like. The numbers work, but it seems the issue was me as a borrower. I don’t have the money in the bank like they’d like to see, but I have built relationships with investors who would fund everything I would need to get this closed plus renovations. There was pushback from lenders because “I wouldn’t have any skin in the game” if I used investors. I really don’t know where to go from here. I don’t want to just throw in the towel on the deal due to funding. Because I feel like this is one that could take me to the next level. I do understand their reservations, but there has just got to be a way.

Anyone have any input on this situation?How you pulled off your first big deal when you were starting out? Thank you!

Thank you everybody, these have been extremely helpful!

Has anyone had troubles in their early years of investing finding a responsive CPA? I am on my second CPA / Advisor and continually running into the same issues. I do a little bit of everything, flip homes, hold rentals, and have a few air BnB's. I know there are so many different advantages of holding some of these properties and im just not getting any guidance. They have been the send everything in at the end of the year and let me know what my taX bill will be type. I'm looking for more guidance throughout the year, when hired that is what I was told I would be receiving and it's just not happening. And its not because I went with a cheap company, I did the opposite to try and insure quality. I want to stay on top of everything as the year goes on, and if I can make any decisions to help save on taxes. I want to be prepared. There's so many reels on social media explaining so many different loop holes and I feel like I'm missing out on the advantages of real estate. Just wondering if this is a common feeling to have, or any recommendations of CPAs / Advisors who really work with you. Thank you! 

 Thank you for that Nathan, I will have to check and see what this would entail for me then! I run all of my regular flip houses out of my S-Corp, this is just my personal home that I have done a live in flip over the past 2 years. I bought it and fixed it up before I even knew what real estate investing was. Now that I've started investing, I would like to move and do another one.

Thank you for clearing that up Scott! 

I purchased my current primary residence at the end of 2020. I would have about a net 125k cash currently if I were to sell after all closing fees. Thinking about a possible 1031 to my next live in flip? I’ve yet to do one so this is more than likely basic info I’m missing. But it’s my understanding the next piece of real estate needs to be equal or more in value to what you’re selling. Does that mean equal to more on the actual cash you’re moving? Or the actual full sale price of the piece of property? 

For example the house I’m in should sell for 215k on the low end. But I’ll net 125k after the mortgage is paid off. Does my next purchase need to be at or equal to 125k or 215k? Also, would using a mortgage for the next piece affect that at all? If i bought something for 225 with a mortgage and only needed 5% down? Or Would I still take that entire 125 and put it into the house and just finance the remainder? Thank you!

Hey Guys, I'm sure this is a widely talked about subject but I'm curious what types of loans you guys are using when refinancing out of a property that's in an LLC. Ive used HELOCS in the past before I started purchasing in my LLC but have run into feeling like my local credit unions are very conservative when it comes to "Commercial Loans".

This is a duplex grossing 2000 a month, expenses before a mortgage would roughly 450 for tax, cap ex, insurance etc.. I'm all in at 90,000 between purchase and rehab. 145k appraisal. Which I assumed I would be able to pull out around 98,000 after a refi, including closing costs with a 75% LTV. But my local credit union Commercial Loans are coming out to be well below that 80-84k with 65-70% LTVS and what seems to me very high closing costs due to it being a commercial loan. Just curious if there are better options out there or if this is just my new reality now operating within an LLC. Thanks!