All Forum Posts by: Matt Castle

@Justin Ramirez Very admirable! I would suggest talking to a VA lender to see if you can purchase a home with a family member substituting as you (the owner occupant).

There are set criteria to meet, including owner occupancy at or soon after closing, but in your case, they may allow a family member to count as the owner occupant. What may also hurt you is going from active duty with income to leavingand becoming a student with little/no income. 

Tough situation for you as a new landlord but sounds like you handled it well and kept your composure. Well done. 

For onsite situations like this where evictions (either soft or hard), I prefer to have someone as back up. You're basically walking into a trapped situation, and these days, you never know what someone is going to do. Factor in their anger and your options only get worse. 

I would also suggest making cash4keys offers in writing or, at the very least, submit a written notice to vacate to the tenant(s) with a final move out date and space for their signature. That way, at the very least, you can say your tenant(s) were served with written notice to vacate. If you had to formally evict them, such documents become invaluable in court. Verbal agreements don't mean squat. 

In your case, I would have even included within the notice to vacate that the only reason you're requiring them to vacate is to comply with your loan. 

If tenant refuses to sign, give them a copy of the notice to vacate or post it to the door then take a picture. Go print a 2nd copy, sign it yourself with a date and time, then under the tenant's signature line, write in "tenant refused to sign" with the date & time.

All single family homes. I think one has a basement but don't know for certain. 

No one in the group I mentioned is renting rooms. 

Only one bought for a semi-fast flip, but he's single, no kids, etc. He can be more mobile than most others. He will be in & out within a year. 

One family bought b/c they could buy more house for less money. Cosmetic rehab only. They intend to flip it after 2 years to avoid short term capital gains taxes. Probably do it again but want to get into a top school district. 

One bought b/c he and his wife are DIY folks and love weekend projects. Last I heard they were putting up a back deck. 

We have duplexes but the inventory is tight. If you see something you like, probably best to put in an offer quickly. 

I know several people. Most are taking it slow, doing projects on the weekends and/or when time permits. Knoxville has a large inventory of house hacking potentials... from minor cosmetic rehabs to total gut rehabs. 

@Marek Narewski if you own in a high demand area, I'm of the opinion doing any significant rehab on an average (and higher) condition property is not worthwhile if you can get it rented under 30 days to get the cash flow rolling in. 

That said, if you goal is to rehab to BRRRR for the equity bump, that's definitely a worthwhile project. I would consult your preferred lender before taking on the project. If it's only a small equity bump, it may not be worth it to you.

Just a fun observation related to this thread: most of the investing world (think CNBC, Bloomberg, etc) like to say Millennials don't buy homes. Hopefully this thread becomes 20 pages long and it winds up getting some publicity.  

Excellent question! Everything on that list still scares me. Maybe more so b/c I've personally gone through about half of them and either indirectly deal with them or heard the stories from other investors. 

Perhaps the scariest thing would be a natural gas explosion with loss of life. Taking into account the loss of life, I'm quite certain a very costly legal bill would happen both criminal and civil. Even if the tenant causes the leak, I'm not sure who the burden of proof would fall upon, how the narratives would play out b/c you know it's going to be on the 6 o'clock news, etc., etc. 

Some people will say a state based LLC owning the asset then an anonymous Wyoming LLC owning the state based LLC is the way to go, but others will say a state based LLC with an umbrella policy is best. It's really up to you and your legal/accountant advice on how to proceed.

If you want to talk more, my DMs are always open. 

Depends on the property and its needs. 

If it's 100yrs old duplex, a < 10 unit apartment complex, a problem property with a history of issues, I'm saving bare minimum 25k and more like 50k. 

If over 10 units, where one tree can knock out an entire roof and displace multiple families, a fire can result in lawsuits or large temporary housing relocation(s), etc., I'm coming up with most possible worst case scenarios and pricing it out so it's repaired or remedied within a week. 

That's a fairly typical response with most lenders. Just shop around to find a lender who will give you better terms. If you're working with conventional lenders, they'll have the same basic terms, but different banks will have different terms based on their portfolio loan metrics. Be happy to give you a few names if you want. 

Lately, I'm seeing vacation property loans or short term rental loans based solely on property rental income or bank statements without DTI metrics.

I generally recommend smaller cities with economic growth, population growth and vibrant commercial activity. Big cities have too much competition and many rural communities have a depopulation problem. My market in Knoxville, TN, is one of these but there are many more to pick from across the US. BP forums will surely have a experts in each area and lots of investors will voice their opinions.