All Forum Posts by: Matt Leber

@Mark S. Yes, I would tend to favor the terms from #2 in your situation especially since you plan to keep the balance to a minimum and pay off quickly. Sorry MCCoy couldn’t help you from out of state!

Nope. Not sure what the point of this post is. Your property does exactly what it is meant to do.

@Megan Day I can relate! Bought 2 duplexes last year as a package deal and within the first 3 months we had lost/evicted 3 out of 4 tenants. And the 4th tenant was paying late (and not in full) and was not very responsive. We are now through to the other side. Got the units cleaned up and rented out at 100+ more per door and the cash is flowing! Inherited tenants can sometimes be a blessing, sometimes a curse for sure.

On the other hand, we inherited tenants in our first ever SFH rental and they have renewed for the 4th straight year and they are great. It can be hit or miss! Good luck with your duplex!

@Farris Gosea my wife and I are 25/26 and we are up to 6 rentals and a primary SFH househack here in Central Florida. Awesome job so far, man! Would love to connect.

@Mark S. I don’t remember off the top of my head, you should give them a call! Or go to their website and check it out.

@Josiah Patrick Zebarth go to college. Try to work your way through or attend a cheaper school and exit with a little debt as possible. It simply opens up your options. After graduation, you can do work that requires a degree, or work that doesn’t if you feel it gives you higher earning potential. Your choice. I think it gives you more options.

I've known a few people who have been really into REI and then burned out completely. I wouldn't bank on your career being REI. Do whatever puts you in the best position just in case your preferences/interests change later in life.

@Justin Miles downturn shouldn’t affect cash flow much, as rents are not guaranteed to go down. You may see more renters enter the tenant pool if we see a downturn, which would technically raise rents. Even if rents did go down, it would take a drastic decrease to cause my rentals to be negative cash flow. If someone were to buy properties that barely breakeven cash flow-wise, that is when they might get in trouble.

@Mark S. Shop around some different big banks and local banks/credit unions. Many will have different offerings. Our HELOC with McCoy Federal CU here in central Florida is 100% LTV,10 year draw & payback period, 4% fixed rate. Other banks we looked at had teaser introductory rates with the potential to increase later on. You will likely find that whatever bank you choose to go with will consider your credit score when determining what LTV and interest rate to offer you. They will also have some closing costs involved, primarily appraisal cost to determine what the true market value of your primary home currently is. We don't pay anything on a monthly basis once we closed on it to maintain it. So far we have kept a zero balance and haven't used it to invest. We mostly intended it to be a capex emergency fund in case we have something big and unexpected come up. Or if we see a nice deal and it immediately needs a roof or something. However, I would consider using it to buy a rental if the deal was a slam dunk and we didn't have the liquidity otherwise.

@Tyler Lay I would say just don’t do a thin deal with thin savings. If you are saving at a high rate then who cares if you do a deal this year or next year. In the grand scheme, 1 year isn’t going to make much of a difference. If it’s your first property then its definitely an advantage for it to be local, although not a must.

Don’t put a timeline on it, just continue to save and look at and analyze listings everyday (in both markets). If you’re in Dallas, and the right deal comes along, you’ll know it and you’ll be ready to jump on it. If not, you’ll be extra ready and have a nice reserve once you get back to Orlando. Good luck, man!

@Steven Asifo I use Realtor.com or Trulia bc they have a “multi family” filter.