All Forum Posts by: Mitch Miller

@Aaron Bammert first off welcome to the bigger pockets community! The wonderful thing about real estate is that you can be successful at it in so many different ways. The first thing you want to do is define your goals in what you want out of your real estate investments. Do you want cash flow or appreciation. Do you want SFH or multis. That will help you determine where the best place to invest is. But to answer your question at the surface level I would say it's 100% ok to start with any of the units or locations you stated. Just know what you invest in and the nuance of those different investments. I personally invest for cash flow so I invest in places that make sense not necessarily places that are close.

@Bola A. I dont think you will get a really good response to your question because it is so vague. I honestly don't even know from your question what you are looking for. Are you looking for realtors, neighborhoods, zip codes, individual houses/Multis/apartments, wholesalers or what. People also don't know your goals, price point, strategy, and so forth. To answer your question people need way more information to actually help you.  This community is so powerful, I would just make sure you are asking the proper questions and with enough detail you will get some great insight and help.  

Can say @Bill S. is your solution!

@Diane Heidke welcome to the community. As far as investing in condos, it can work. Some of the positive is that like you said outside maintenance is not your responsibility, just the inside. The only thing I would make sure you do is look at the HOA Finacial statements. You will be paying a higher HOA because the exterior and common areas are covered for budgeted maintenance. The item most people run into is that HOAs don't always run perfectly. Most HOAs are underfunded for big repairs like roofs, windows and other big repairs. So then those happen you will be given a assessment and charged for your share of the bill on top of the monthly HOA Fee sometimes upward of 10s of thousands of dollars. Also make sure the HOA allows for rentals. Some have bylaws not allowing for rental activity.

@Kayleigh Poss you don’t need to have a Real estate license to manage your own property. Now if you plan on leasing, renting, list properties that you don’t own then you will need to get your license. As far as an llc you can start one when ever you would like but most people do it for the liability protection of the rental not so much the property management side. So you can’t be sued for something personally if something happens. If you quit claim your property into an llc and have the protections there.

Just my two cents. Hope it helps.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Duplex

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Cashflow

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Off Market

How did you finance this deal?

trad financing 20% down

How did you add value to the deal?

Bought it right

What was the outcome?

Great monthly Cash Flow

I am looking into purchasing notes but all the servicers of notes seem to charge 30 bucks a month. Most of the notes I’m looking at have payments of around $300. My question is is this normal and should I keep looking. What is normal fees for servicing a loan? If this normal how do you service loans that have lower payments and not lose your shirt?

@Nick Schultz then I would avoid it and look for another property. Flood insurance can be very expensive. There are firms that will re-evaluate flood zones and send reports to the state but that can get expensive.

@Nick Schultz not an expert from a flood insurance stand point. Does 100 year flood plain require flood insurance with a mortgage? If not it’s a lot less of an issue. Yes it will scare a few people away but if it can be bought without flood insurance I think you will be ok.

As far as your options. It’s really your goals that come into play here. If you want cash flow I’d go with making it into a duplex and collect the rents. If you wanna make a quick buck I would flip it. I have no experience with Airbnb but especially now that would be my last play. Raleigh has not been the friendliest to Airbnb’s and with Covid you really don’t know what the demand will he and how long before that demand comes back.

@Nathaniel J Mott by all means shop around for the best mortgage product. Call different banks and credit unions and ask what rates and ltvs they do. You can then do the math and pick the one that is correct for you and your goals.

This is prolly a contrarian view but the deal really won’t matter as far as what you get approved for. As long as the property appraises you will get the same terms. A mortgage is a loan against your income that is backed by the property. That is why you will spend weeks and weeks getting them tax returns, pay stubs, bank account statements and so on and only at the end do they quickly check to see if the property is worth what they think.

I would look at southeast Raleigh for the best cash flow. Also if you have been pre approved there is a time frame for you to “shop” around for the best product without effecting your credit so look into that window and use it to your advantage.