All Forum Posts by: Mark F.

Will know Monday if we got an offer accepted on our SFR, sounds like it, ending our 5 year house hacking journey. If so, it's a full reno and hope to be moved by end of spring 2025.

Some of the cash we saved HH over 5 years is fuel for our next rental purchase. 4-6 unit in Bergen county (maybe in Passaic county but class B is a must), $1m to $1.5m purchase price. I’d like to be at least under contract by end of 2025, if not purchased. Spend 2026 stabilizing it as I want something with meat on the bone. 

Our other 3 buildings (two duplexes, one 3 unit) are basically stabilized at this point so just continue to maintain them and build the reserves even larger from the cash flow they spit off. Will rent out the unit we’re leaving which covers about 65% of our new mortgage, if we pocketed it but that stays in the rental fund. Few small projects with the 3 but nothing crazy. I’d like to refi the 3 unit if rates drop a point. Doesn’t seem like any vacancies will happen as of now. 

I’ve had this issue multiple times in different rentals and the easiest, the most obvious, and sometimes the only, way to figure out what’s going is to open up the ceiling where it’s leaked. Anyone can do this with simple tools assuming it’s a drywall ceiling. 

So you tell them to open up their ceiling, then they peak around and the source of the leak will become obvious. If not then they coordinate with your tenants to run water to source the leak. IMO, the burden of proof is on them to investigate further and prove it’s coming from your unit. Obviously the chances are that it is your responsibility, but what if it’s a sprinkler line or drain line owned by the condo building? We won’t know until they just open the damn ceiling. 

I would have been less nice and just reply “hey, take 2 minutes, open your ceiling and stick your head up there. Then send me some photos. No one is going to tear apart a bathroom as that’s tracing a leak backwards.” Sounds like your tenants neighbor is an idiot honestly. Email looks fine. 

Quote from @Matthew Holden:

I invest through a company that does group loans to borrowers doing SFH rehabs and flips. Often, I have cash sitting around between opportunities and have looked all over for a bank that will hold the cash in some kind of interest-bearing account. So far I keep hearing about Titan and Solera banks but they only offer checking with no interest. Has anyone heard of a bank that is friendly to Self Directed IRAs and offers interest.

I had Titan (have checkbook control as well) and switched as like you said, they don't pay interest. And personally, their UI was horrible. Way too hard to do simple tasks. I did some research and there didn't seem to be any reason why you'd tell the bank your LLC is owned by your SDIRA. So the money flows from my traditional IRA holder (like Vanguard or Fidelity), to DirectedIRA (my SDIRA custodian), to now Axos bank which is in the name of my LLC.

With this in mind, I went with Axos bank and opened a business account. Haven’t used it much this year but no issues so far and don’t anticipate any. They have an app that works fine and didn’t have any issues with them transferring from Titan to Axos. Also gave me a debit card, not that I plan on using it. No maintenance fees or monthly fees which is nice. I leave a few bucks in the checking account. Reach out if you have any more questions. 

I thought they weren’t paying high interest on their savings account but I checked and I’m almost at 4%. My personal savings accounts are around 4% as well. 

What would be the advantage of switching from apartments.com to Baselane?

Quote from @Krystl Tanouye:

Hi. I will preface this by saying I know nothing about the military so I apologize in advance for this question. I also looked at the old posts and google and haven't had any success with this topic. 

I am having a hard time verifying military employment and pay. I have called multiple supervisors and they all have said they don't know the applicants pay. One even said they were a reservist, but the applicant is claiming they are active duty. How can I verify that they are active duty and getting the amount of pay they claim? Usually with civilians, we call the HR department and they give us that information. I have looked at the DFAS website, and haven't gotten very far because I do not have their SSN. RentRedi "stars" it out, so would it be appropriate to ask the applicant again for their SSN? Their LES (like any other civilian paystub) can be fabricated, so how do you know it is real? Also, how can you confirm that they are going to continue to be in the military for some time, and not going to get kicked out or discharged, or already has been? Same thing like how do you know if a civilian will keep their job? Through employment verification, which I can't seem to do with the military. Any details on how everyone verifies their military applicants would be great! Thank you in advance!

Since Nate gave you a great answer on the LES, I’ll answer the rest. I was in the military for 5.5 years active and 2 reserve.

You can ask them when their discharge date is. Usually enlistments are for 4 years but there’s so many variables after the first enlistment that I would ask them how long they have left. On getting kicked out, you won’t know like you said but most of the time those take months and from my experience, wasn’t super frequent for the military to just boot people out. It’s totally reasonable to ask him/her when they’re due to rotate (as they’d be moving) and when they’re getting discharge. He will know both. 

To add on, usually verification isn’t difficult. You do what Nate said; you find out what base they’re stationed at and call. Never call phone numbers listed. When you call, tell them why you’re calling and who you’re calling about. If it’s a small base you’ll probably won’t have much of an issue getting ahold of someone who knows him/her. If it’s a large base you’ll need some sort of supervisor name/rank or department to get you started and it may be a bit of work. 

On the active duty/reserve bit you said, try and get clarification. They could be a reservist but on active duty orders which is just AD for a time but can be extended. I met guys who were “reservist” but just kept extended AD orders and were retiring soon. Let us know if you have any questions. 

Oh and his supervisors wouldn’t know his exact pay but it’s public record. You need his rank, time in service (you can even guess really, doesn’t vary a ton), and zip code. He’s getting BAH I’d assume since he’s living off base so you find a military pay calculator and bam, there’s his pay. 

#2 #2 #2!!! I don't own any STR but been to plenty of them since 2015. I'm so over paying $200 in cleaning fees in suburbia America to have a list of check out instructions. It's not the middle of the woods in upstate Wyoming, chill the f*ck out. We are starting to pick hotels over Airbnbs because they're becoming ticky tacky for our taste and theres no $$$. I can see why your ratings are so high.

Quote from @Jackson Ebersole:

Hi Piper,It's always smart to flip properties in-state, and I'd like to share some updated insights on why this approach is beneficial, especially in the New Jersey area.Lenders typically feel more comfortable with in-state flips because:

1. You can manage the rehab more easily
2. You have better knowledge of local real estate trends and values
3. You can respond quickly to issues or make decisions faster
4. There's a lower risk of fraud or being taken advantage of by distant partners

I can help you with recommendations for the New Jersey market:

1. North Bergen: Continues to show strong potential, with average profits now around $150,000 per flip and a gross ROI of 85%.
2. Willingboro: While specific flip numbers aren't available, the market remains active with a gross ROI now averaging around 130%.
3. Gloucester City: Still a top performer, with gross ROI hovering around 180-190%, though still on smaller profit margins.
4. Irvington: Home values have continued to rise, with a 20% increase over the past two years.
5. East Orange: Has seen steady growth, with home values up by about 16% since 2022.
6. Paterson: Experienced a 14% increase in home values over the last two years.

Additionally, Jersey City and Newark have emerged as promising markets for flips, with strong appreciation rates and growing demand. Always conduct thorough due diligence before investing.

Let me know if you need any more information or assistance with your flipping strategy. Please connect with me for looking into financing options to make your flips work!

Regards,

Jackson

4. 5. And 6. Are you kidding me, have you been to any of those areas? No, you haven't because you wouldn't last a day in Irvington. If you're not from a market and have no experience, you should keep your opinion to yourself instead of recommending to a NEW flipper to get started in C and D neighborhoods. Did you have chatgpt write this trash?

More I read it the more its just an AI post. Reported. OP please ignore the bots advice. Listen to Jonathan Greene.

Quote from @Travis Timmons:

I lived in Houston for about a dozen years. Galveston sucks. Charles Barkley was right. It's not a great beach destination. HOWEVER, in those dozen years I lived in Houston, the metro area added 1.3M people. That's essentially adding the population of SLC metro or Memphis metro in a short amount of time. You can't argue with Galveston as a growing market based on the insane population growth in Texas. 

@Kumar R. of course you would never get on a plane and fly to Galveston for a vacation; that's not the point that is being argued. Texas has a population of about 30M with a serious up and to the right trend. When TX has a greater population than all of Canada in a few years, those vacation markets are going to thrive from an investment standpoint. It'll still be mediocre wine in Fredericksburg and brown ocean water in Galveston, but there's a massive increase in the pool of people that can hop in the car and go for a weekend. 

I was coming to say this. Lived in Galveston for a couple years, hated it. Gross beaches and just plain sucked. Cruise terminal may help with overnights but downtown sucked. Couldn't pay me to have an STR there though. Doubt you'd get any repeat guests once they realize the water is brown from Rig City.

I just went through this earlier in the year. I bought a 3 unit in a SFR zoned area as it was considered non conforming like someone else mentioned. I had zero issues with my lender so I'd suggest to you to tell the buyers to switch lenders. Closed and am all good, used the new 5% multifamily product that came out last November 

Quote from @Scott Trench:

Austin is increasing multifamily unit supply by 10% year over year, with more on the way next year. 

This does not account for the also large supply of new construction single family inventory hitting the market in 2024 and 2025. 

I don’t care how great the city is, how many companies are moving to it or surrounding areas in Texas, or how much people love it there. 

Rents and prices are going down. 

30 years? Yes, prices will be higher. 

But, this market is getting wrecked, and will continue to get wrecked, as far as the owners of rental property investments are concerned. Hopefully the pain abates in 2025 as the onslaught of new supply slowly abates. 

 I'm sure it's a great time to invest there, in fact I'll get 22% on my money if I go with this syndication! I almost want to join this webinar just to see if anyone will mention all the new supply coming online I've been hearing about. Because according to them, Austin has a supply shortage.

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