All Forum Posts by: Martin Neal

@Patrick M. I respectfully disagree.

@Jordan White

When I was a tenant, I had this done for me and I thought it was awesome! I do it for my tenants now and I do it for their birthdays as well. Not everything in life is about “what’s in it for me??” You create a culture, set standards and set yourself apart from the slumlords of the world. I tally it under customer appreciation. It’s my way of saying “I value you as a customer”. Think of all the big companies that have a customer appreciation of some sort. Besides, is a $25 gift going to send you into foreclosure and break the bank?? Not likely. DO IT!

@Ben Martorano It varies from municipality to municipality but typical yes.

@Portia Bates To answer all your questions:

It depends on the timeframe. If you have a lender already lined up who you want to work with then you can probably have the refi done in little as two months. It also depends on whether or not you have to wait the seasoning period which could be 6-12 months.

But the most important thing you must account for is the order of the BRRRR process buy, rehab, RENT, Refinance, repeat. You want the property generating income before you take on debt. It would not be fun to have a mortgage payment coming in and no income, not to mention the holding cost (gas, electric, taxes, water, etc.)

The quickest way to move the process along is to start working with your lender ASAP. Providing all the necessary documents beforehand helps a lot! The refinance process can take as long as you and your lender make it take. I will be refinancing a property in a week but I started uploading documents months ago to get it out of the way. I’m waiting the 6 month seasoning period. There is also the delayed financing program that @Alexander Felice preaches about. If you put your rehab cost on the closing statement (make sure you listen to podcast 301 and read his article on exactly how to do it) you could get your money back even sooner with no seasoning period. On average, the refi period usually take 30-45 days (as told to me by my lender).

As to the hard money question, that’s up to you.

@Marisa Rowe For me, I am just looking to hit the 4% rule. When I get there, then I will reevaluate whether or not I want more. I want to be able to spend all my time with my family and not have to work so many hours per week.

@Stacey Cook I recommend leaving them as a decorative piece but take away their functionality. Here in the Chicagoland area, they are highly desirable as a decorative focal point of the living rooms.

@Evan Addington I recommend mailing letters to the trust address. Underscore the upside in selling to you directly (i.e. no realtor fees, no repairs, quick closing, etc.). Make it own that you want it and you mean business. IMO of course.

@Jordan Outlaw You can but it’s going to be more expensive. You’re going to have to pay loan charges twice, once for the conventional and another on the refi. Unless it’s a home run deal, probably not worth it.

@Shaun Rothkugel It all depends on your numbers. If you overestimate the ARV by a lot then you could have a lot of money left into the deal but hopefully it's not substantial overestimation. For example, you're all in at $100K and the appraisal comes in at $100K then you got $25K in equity stuck in the deal (which would be like buying with 25% down). But if you overestimated the ARV very high and the property appraises at $75K, then you would be in a poor position. Have good comparables going in and be conservative with your ARV in case the market turns. As long as the market doesn't free fall like it did in 2008, you should still be in a fair position to a decent return on investment.

I love the Rubik’s cube marketing idea. Definitely need to copy that when I got sellers on the fence. @Sterling White This episode has definitely gotten me to up my marketing efforts here in Chicago! Keep up the great work!!