All Forum Posts by: Fred Ramos

Hi all. I've been purchasing properties to hold and rent for almost two years now and am not quite sure how to handle the property insurances coming due. When I purchased these properties, I paid for the homeowners out of my pocket for the first year. just so you know how I handle finances, I opened an account for the rent houses and kept my personal account separate. I know the rental account is my money but i do not consider it as such. I only consider my personal account as wholly mine. anyway, all expenses (Except rehab) come out of the rental account which is still pretty low. what I would like to do is pay the insurances on a month to month basis as paying in full would drain the account. Also, paying monthly at least for now would allow me time to build up this account for unforeseen expenses. what is your take on this? Also, how does a blanket policy work?
Thanks to all for your advice/suggestions on this matter.

I like Mike's way of thinking however, most times it will be dificult to find something that cash flows with 100% financing as stated above. I just started a year and a half ago and my philosophy is to buy low, put down 10-20% and make sure it cash flows. use as much of the banks money as possible and keep yours so you can keep gaining momentum. I don't mean to keep all your money in the bank but rather to invest it. currently banks may pay you 4-5% but a decent buy in RE will get you 30% or better. be prepared to do some work along the way. good luck to you!

With 10% down, would I be getting one note? , or does it work like residential where I would carry a 2nd note to cover the other 10%.
could you elaborate on the types of loans you listed. I'm still greener than green when it comes to commercial terms. I'm more or less just getting myself ready for what I think may be my next step.
thanks for your help.

Hi All!
I just need to run this by you guys/gals and see what you all think.
just a little background on myself and wife first to better illustrate the picture. we started investing in RE (SFR) just over a year and a half ago and have managed to purchase 3 properties all with conventional financing (20% down). we've pretty much decided that this is what we want we want to do as we near our retirement years (don't want to rely on good old uncle sam). anyway, we are currently rehabbing our third prop. and have a little ways to go as we do most (90%) of the work ourselves. our plan is to refi once the project is completed and thus get some of our money back so that we can re-invest in other properties.
(Property will still cash flow after refi.)
well, now we may have the opportunity to purchase a small apt. complex but financially we do not have the required 20% (especially since it will be commercial). realistically, even once we refi we are going to be a little short. my question is, how would one go about (if possible) arranging financing for something like this. we both have full time jobs with scores over 700 and DTI of about 35% any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Also, thanks to all of you for the great posts and replies. I've learned an awful lot here in the last couple of months.

I too had the below $50K problem starting out. So far the only bank that I know of that will write a mortgage for under 50K is Bank of America. I've had very good dealings with them thus far. Just make sure that your credit is up to par and realize that they will not finance more than 80% or do piggy-backs. Good luck to you. I hope this info. helps.

Hello ladies and gentlemen. We (Wife & I) have been investing (to hold) for just over a year and have been fortunate enough to acquire 3 SFR's so far. we acquired all 3 with the standard 20% down and conventional mortgages. Currently we are looking at making sure to protect our assets in the event a tenant gets hurt or something catastrophic happens.
The questions I have are:
1. Do the properties have to be free and clear in order to transfer them into an LLC?
2. We live in a state with no income tax but purchased our property in another state that does have an income tax. which state should we form the LLC in?
Also, we are open to suggestions as to what type of entity form. any and all ideas you all may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch.

This is a little off topic but this thread brings up a question I have regarding buying property with tenants in place. Is it uncommon to request to see any existing leases to verify that the rental income which has been stated to you are correct and to determine whether you could live with the lease?......If not, what is it that you have to request in order to verify numbers?.....I'm new at this so any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to all!

TC,

All I want to do is get rid of the smell and make it safe to go down
and work in (Aw..what we do to make a couple bucks! :goofy: )
Thanks for your help.

Am currently rehabbing a house and can hear the water gushing under the house (Crawl Space) when toilet is flushed. I'll be cutting into the floor and fear that there may be raw sewage under the house (the leak wasn't the first hint!). I've heard of and actually used a product on this in the past but too long ago to remember what it was (Maybe Lime). anyway, if any of you all know of what I can spread over this stuff it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Thanks for the quick response. Another thing has come mind to ask, I understand that all of the proceeds has to be applied to the purchase of investment properties. would you know if this money could also be used towards closing costs or does it all have to go to the actual property purchase only?