All Forum Posts by: Matt Wan

I want to get started in real estate but investing but I may not be able to purchase a property until late 2025. I'm concerned that I'd buy a place in the winter, then it would either take a long time to find tenants or I would have to charge significantly less in rent to avoid a long vacancy. How realistic is this concern?

I'm looking around Connecticut or Boston, if that makes a difference.

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Last week I made a post about getting a US mortgage as a US citizen who lives abroad (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/49/topics/1219693-getti...). People responded by explaining that residential mortgage lenders are looking for US-based customers, who have their residence, income and assets in the States.

How do they view foreign debt? Let's say I am based in the US but own property overseas with a mortgage. Do I list the foreign mortgage on my application? How does it affect my DTI ratio?

1 Vote

Quote from @Patrick Roberts:

In short, no. The vast majority of "regular" or traditional (Conv/Govt) mortgages are originated by specialty lenders and brokers and are sold in the secondary market to provide yield on bank balance sheets (think Chase or BoA) or to be securitized into MBS. The investors in the secondary market have a very good grip on the prepayment risk associated with a drop in mortgage rates and use pricing or yield to offset this, which is why you so often hear of borrowers paying points and lender fees. None of these originators are allowed to assess you as a higher risk because you paid off a mortgage early.

That being said, most originators are hit with a clawback penalty if you payoff your loan within 6-9 months, meaning that the originator has to repay all commissions and fees to the buyer of the loan if you payoff the loan within that period. I mention this because if you're working with a lender or broker and tell them up front that you intend to payoff your loan in a few months, they probably arent going to waste time on you because they dont want to work for free. They arent really allowed to turn you away, but they will push you away with terrible loan pricing and intentionally bad service.

Investment mortgages, like DSCR loans for investment properties, typically come with prepayment penalties (PPP) to protect against prepayment risk and the keep portfolio CPR in line. Three years is the standard PPP, but 0-5 year options are usually available. If you elect a PPP shorter than 2-3 years in most cases, the lender is simply going to collect that fee A) upfront as points rather than as a PPP, or B) with yield, meaning a much higher rate.

Thanks for the great answer. I was mainly thinking about the effects of putting an entire strong cashflow back into the mortgage. Definitely wouldn't trigger the clawback penalty but it's still good to be aware of it.

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From my understanding, mortgages are considered riskier investments than most other loans because the borrowers can repay early with little to no extra cost. If I hold a 6% bond and the rate on new issues drops to 3%, then my bonds are worth more because they pay more than the new issues. If I hold a 6% mortgage and the rate for new loans drops to 3%, my borrower will probably just refinance (thus the invention of the CMO). Even without changing interest rates, the duration of a mortgage is never as certain as that of other bonds.

In light of this, would lenders see me as a higher risk if I have a history of paying off mortgages early?

2 Votes

Quote from @Calvin Thomas:

Quote from @Matt Wan:

I'm thinking of buying US real estate as an overseas investor. How important is it for me to be able to easily visit my target market? I can get a direct flight to major metropolitan areas, but it would be much more difficult to get to Topeka or North Dakota, for example.

I feel that I'd like to see the market at least once, to get a feel for the area and to meet the local team. The cost of that trip would effectively be included in my purchase price. Once the initial setup is finished, how often do you visit? Do you ever have to take a last-minute trip?

How much knowledge do you have on US real estate?

Nothing unfortunately. But my local real estate market is unreasonable for investing. I'm in a 1,300 sq ft apartment that's worth about $1.5 million and rents for $3,000 per month.

0 Votes

Quote from @Steve K.:

I used to invest up to an hour (drive) away, now I've shortened that to 20-30mins. Of the investors I've known who invest remotely, 9 out of 10 of them have lost money and sold those properties within a few years. This is because they didn't budget properly and rent wasn't high enough to cover actual expenses (repairs and maintenance, cap ex, vacancy and loss, tenant damage and turnovers, etc don't expect to have any money left over after all of these expenses are accounted for if the rent is less than $1,500/month). The 1 out of 10 who are successful are investing in markets that they were already familiar with or have personal connections to (they used to live there and know the neighborhoods, have a family member who currently lives in the property helping them manage it, have the very best real estate agent, handyman, and manager ever (very, very rare in all 3 professions) etc.). I'm not saying it's impossible, just that your chances of success are very low. Your chances of success will be much higher in the best locations because the high demand of people wanting to live there combined with high appreciation potential will make up for the inefficiencies and risks of operating remotely. But it'll be harder to find properties that cash flow positively on day one with a 20% down payment in the best locations, which is what a lot of remote investors are after. You can overcome this by putting more down, which reduces you ROE and COC return, but if the appreciation is good enough you can make up for this with overall returns over time as rents increase and the property appreciates. Down payment/ financing may be a moot point if your are foreign.

Thanks for the reality check. It sounds like the separation between success and failure is based on proper preparation and realistic expectations. Do you feel this is controllable or that it's mostly up to chance who succeeds and who fails?

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Quote from @Alecia Loveless:

@Matt Wan From overseas I would suggest buying in a market that is readily and easily accessible from one of the airports you can conveniently get to. If possible I would try to stay within an hour drive of one of these places.

I have 2 properties (10 units) that are about 40 minutes drive from my home. I do not visit them as often especially during winter months due to the distance.

As an overseas investor you likely won’t visit that often but there may be times you need to and you won’t want it to be a huge amount of difficulty getting there.

Thanks for the input. That makes sense to me. Can you give any examples of when you'd need to visit a property? The only thing that comes to my mind is problems with the property manager and you need to find a new one.

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Quote from @Michael Smythe:

@Matt Wan around 50% of our clients are from overseas.

Some, we've only done a Zoom video chat with!

Many though, struggle to understand our market and the US culture of tenants.

At the first negative issue, many panic and either want to sell or terminate us:(

It can be done, but depends on your team and YOUR management of the manager.

Thanks for the input. The struggle to understand the US culture is a major concern for me. I grew up in the States but never lived there as an adult. I don't actually know what it's like to be a renter or landlord over there. Even little things like where I live, renters pay property tax. I would have assumed that's relatively universal if I hadn't started reading up.

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Quote from @Rick Albert:

I bought a few out of state without ever seeing it. There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Use Google Street Scene. It allows you to check out the area.

2. I always have my Realtors send me photos of the neighborhood. Sometimes Google is outdated.

3. I actually rely heavily on my property manager. I've noticed now in a few markets property managers are getting picky on what they manage. If they won't manage a property because of the neighborhood, then I know that is a red flag for me to avoid.

4. Do inspections. I recently cancelled escrow on a property because it was in rough shape. It actually sold to someone else for $20K more. Chances are they didn't do inspections and grossly overpaid for the property.

Thanks for the input. Do you mean that you bought without seeing the properties or without seeing the location at all? If the latter, how did you find good realtors and PMs without meeting them in person?

How many local properties did you have before you branched into long-distance?

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1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Matt Wan

Matt Wan has started 8 posts and replied 24 times.

Post: Buying an investment property in the winter

Post: Foreign debt's effect on mortgage application

Post: Does paying off a mortgage early affect future loans?

Post: Does paying off a mortgage early affect future loans?

Post: How important is it for a first property to be easy for me to get to?

Post: How important is it for a first property to be easy for me to get to?

Post: How important is it for a first property to be easy for me to get to?

Post: How important is it for a first property to be easy for me to get to?

Post: How important is it for a first property to be easy for me to get to?

Post: How important is it for a first property to be easy for me to get to?