All Forum Posts by: Matt V.

@Steve Frost , along the private lending side of things, why don't you seek out properties where the owners will do owner financing? Do some direct mail in your target area and see if you can pull some deals together that way. Look for owners with high equity % or own their properties outright and just ask if they are willing to sell via owner financing or with a lease option. If you have the cash to put down, they won't be worried about W-2 income or anything, maybe just a simple credit report. To me, this seems like the best strategy for you to get started without having to redo a bunch of past stuff or change your way of life.

Check out site sponsor yellowletters.com, Jerry Puckett, if you need some guidance on direct mail as a lot of BP members use him for just that.

Regarding private lenders, start hitting up your local REIAs or BP meet-ups and build that network. It will take some time to build some relationships but then you'll be golden.

Don't get discouraged, you can definitely get into this without having to bring yourself back on the grid. Good luck!

Hey @David Williams , welcome to the BP community!

If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out the Ultimate Beginner's Guide as it is a great start. From there I highly recommend you load up the Stitcher app on your phone and then queue up as many podcasts as possible pertaining to your niche of interest. There is a cool feature in the app called "Listen Later" so when you have a second you load all the podcasts that look like there would be good to start with and mark them to listen later. Then when you are out and about driving or at the gym, you can easily and quickly focus on podcasts you pre-selected.

Now on to your questions. Financing might be tough with your debt to income ratio but don't let it deter you. It just means that you'll have to work that much harder. Talk to a mortgage broker and see if they have anything that will work for your credit/income situation. If you hit a brick wall, you'll have the get creative. You may want to start driving the streets of areas you are interested in and find multis. Write the address down and then mail some letters asking if they're interested in selling and if they would entertain owner financing or a lease option deal. If you don't know what those are, search BP. Lastly you can purchase a list from someplace like ListSource.com or other data suppliers and do a bigger bulk mailing.

These are just a couple options, I'm sure others will jump in with some more ideas. Good luck and keep at it. "House hacking" is a great way to get started.

You mention "per semester". Will this be a college rental? Only ask because that might increase your yearly maintenance a touch. I ran it through the BP rental calc and get $435 cash flow with the numbers that you provided except did 8% Vacancy, 2% repairs, 4% cap ex and 10% prop mgmt. All in all it doesn't seem like a horrible deal but I am sure others with a little more experience will chime in as well. 

One flag is your $2000 repairs. What repairs are you looking to do with that $2000? It just seems low unless the place is just about rent ready and spotless.

Can anyone suggest a good tax prep office in Vancouver or Portland? We only have one rental right now (personally owned, not in a LLC) so our situation isn't too complicated. I'm not really looking to develop a long relationship with them either as we are moving out of state in a few months so really just looking to get our personal taxes done without breaking the bank on a all out CPA. Any recommendations?

Thanks @Elizabeth Colegrove . I used my VA loan on another home in TX that in lived in for a bit and now rent out but I'm wondering if I should refi that to free up my VA benefit. Not sure I'd be able to use that on this home as it needs some work to hbee "livable" I think but would be nice to have available again.

I am employed now so could do a second home. I will get in touch with the broker on that although not sure my income would fly in their eyes as being able to support both.

In trying to explore all options could hard money be used on this until I'm moved and get permanently re-employed? Once re-employed I could refi into a conventional. My options are somewhat limited being as the house is an REO that needs work.

I am looking to relocate and when doing so would like to buy a SF home to live in for 1-2 yrs while we rehab it then turn it into a rental. I have found a decent REO that the numbers work well on, having both good equity in the end and positive cash flow as a rental. Now I need to figure out the financing side.

I called a number of banks/lenders/brokers and got a fairly consistent response that I need to have a job for at least 30 days before they would loan to me. I am currently employed and have been consistently for many many years but when I relocate across the country I will have to find something else. I plan on doing a short term military active duty opportunity to get us settled back into the area and allow me to interview, etc. Being as this is short term (4 months or less) it will not qualify as employment. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on what avenues of finance I might be able to explore that will allow for the purchase of such a REO and the necessary rehab expenses? Ideally we would be able to secure the house now while still across the country from it so that we could get the work going prior to our arrival. I do plan on finding a job once moved but I'd hate to have to rent for a year or buy something that isn't necessarily going to build my rental portfolio. I also can't bounce too much as I have a wife and child to consider.

One thought was to have a family member (sister in law) pull the mortgage with myself and her on the note/title. We couldn't do an FHA bc she (family member) won't be living with us but she does have good credit and a good job. My wife and I also both have excellent credit. Would this work possibly?

Otherwise, does this seem like a good hard money option? Any other thoughts? Any ideas are greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

This might be a tall order but wondering if any of the upstate NY / CNY / Syracuse wholesalers have any leads on SFR's in the Cazenovia school district. Prefer a 3+ bdrm 1500+ sq ft in the sub-$100K bracket. Looking to owner-occupy. Owner financing a plus but depending on the condition can find other financing dependent on condition.

Thanks in advance.

Well in this particular case there were just too many flags that popped up so I am going to pass. As mentioned earlier I did a number of various Google searches on both the individual and then on the businesses that popped up in the LinkedIn and Google+ profiles. Everything for the individual seemed to line up but then this morning I spoke with him on the phone and the foreign voice didn't necessarily line up with the profile I had constructed from my findings online. Some may say I am unfairly judging however with such a transaction I'd rather not go against that gut feeling.

Anyway, thank you all for your input, I value it greatly being such a newb to this space.

Haha, no worries @Ariel O. , I severed my ties with the mob years ago...  Anyway yea I feel that I hold the cards and so far things seem on the up and up I just want to make sure I don't miss anything. I am used to doing fairly large transactions online but this is a first for me. I performed Google and LinkedIn searches and I will use that info when I talk with them over the phone to see if everything lines up.

They are lending as an individual although I think may own other business not related to REI. Again, will find out more later on the phone.

What is PACER?

I have been in touch with a private lender offering to loan on an owner-occupied multi that I am looking at purchasing for my family when we relocate to another state. My question is how do I or what questions should I be asking this individual to ensure that it is not a scam or some other illegitimate operation? If they are truly an individual private lender just looking to lend some money and not operating as a business is there any way to tell? If they are a business, where should I be looking them up to see if there is any evidence of mis-doings in the past?

I have already asked for references and a typical contract or agreement they would use in such a deal but is there anything else?

Any advice is appreciated here as this is whole new ground for me and I don't want to ask for sooo many conditions that I drive them away either. Just looking to sound educated on this.