All Forum Posts by: Nathan Johnson

Your assessment is fair for sure.   No apologies needed for the tough love.   It's appreciated.   We live well, have a nice house which I built from the ground up and saved 200k off the top.  My truck is a 2010 and my wife's car is a 2016.  Kid in college and one starting to drive   blah blah blah.

I'm sure there are numerous places to cut money for sure.  I've been digging into that over the last few weeks a little closer.   I appreciate your time.

I've been a teacher (5th grade and 7th S.S.) for 22 years and can retire with full pension in 3 years. I'm a licensed builder and have done just about everything imaginable in the construction trades. New builds-broke even in the '08 market on two spec homes, built my own home from the ground up twelve years ago(400k in equity). A couple fix and flips that were financed with HELOC. But, primarily my main business is remodel work. I have great clientele with repeat customers and wonderful word of mouth which keeps me busy enough to fill my summers and time off during the school year. My wife is a wizard with interior design so we make a great team.

All of that is wonderful, but what's next. Once I'm able to retire and remodel full time, I'm eager to make great money. But, it still doesn't feel like it's enough. Ideally we'd like to fix and flip and/or STR cottages in Michigan. Just like everyone, we want to build wealth that is sustainable and I know that real estate is the way but I'm not sure how to get rolling. We've had pipe dreams for years and we are ready to really start making our dreams a reality.

Our savings are minimal, since teaching isn't very lucrative and life is expensive. Should we pursue a "cheap" rental in order to build rental history in the hopes of securing DSCR loans down the road? Should we save every penny for a larger downpayment? Even so, we might not qualify for a house/cottage in the 200k-300k range. I want to start building our portfolio and would love some experienced help with direction.

Over the past ten years, it seems like I've had numerous deals/ideas that just didn't come to fruition and I'm just feeling a bit defeated. 

My wife and I would love to get started in buying rental cottages on some of the many lakes in Michigan.  Our plan would be to Air BNB them.  Ideally we would rent cottages for approx 200 nights per year at approx $200 per night. Doe snayone have experiences with setting ups vacation rental properties with property management companies.  

We have about 20k in savings and approx 300k in equity in our current home.  I have a construction business and my father-in-law is a licensed builder.  He and I can do any and all renovations that are needed.  My in laws would be willing to put money down and be investors in this process but they're certainly old school and risk is scary for them.  They also don't see the big picture when it comes to having multiple properties.

I just need to get started.  Perhaps I just need someone to kick me in the behind.  

Other than Heloc on our current property, how would you suggest pulling the trigger on our first property.  Once a cottage is purchased would you suggest cash out refi after renovations are completed?

Thanks in advance 

Greg Scott thanks for the info. That would be a good way to into renting. I live in Mason which is a small rural community and am looking to expand into some larger areas. Onward and upward.

Thanks for the thorough response. I love the idea of rehabbing houses in certain neighborhoods so maybe I'll continue to focus my efforts there. Scaling is a problem, but so is scaling rentals (in my mind). I've been involved in the construction trade for a while so I think I could really start to "turn and burn" some houses if things go well.

Alright folks! I wanted to pick some of your experienced brains as far as my next step. Last year my wife and I purchased a tax default SFH for 75K in our hometown, put 45k into it and sold for 174k It worked out pretty good for our first deal. I did most/all of the work and I learned a great deal about what to sub out and what to tackle myself.

I also learned that flips are time consuming and don't build long term wealth. I've been looking into some properties to BRRRR, but I'm nervous about being a landlord.

We have about 100k in an equity line on our current home that we're willing to use to finance things.  What are your thoughts on the best avenue to venture down using that 100k   I think I have a pretty good idea already, but I really wanted to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Brad A. We live in Mason, mi just south of Lansing. My wife and I built our own home 5 years ago ourselves and we're able to have enough equity to finance a flip with our equity line. We're about to close on that flip and I'm deciding on the best option for my next project. There's a couple of potential flips in our area and possible land For new construction. Decisions. Decisions. I've built 2 SFH for sale and 2 other homes with my inlaws. It seems like a duplex would be a no-brainer. Seems like we have a similar situation going. I'd love to talk numbers with you.

Jay Hinrichs I appreciate this response. I agree that it the relationship with the bank that creates opportunities in many cases. I'm on the early end of my real estate endeavors with a few personal bios specs and a flip or two under my belt. Our local bank was a able to rush a brand new equity line loan in less than 10 days for us, which is unheard of. You can bet I'll be doing my banking there, as well as other real estate deals.

I'm just finishing up my first flip and I thought I would throw my numbers out here. I'm realizing, that after taxes next year, profits really take a hit. Purchased for 72k. 45k in reno, and have a signed offer for 180k. Total investment 117. Profit right around 60k. I love the feeling of flipping, especially to improve a neighborhood and give a family an amazing home. I've never wanted to be a landlord but it seems like that's the best way to decrease tax and have good long term investment.

Last year my wife and I decided to take the plunge of flipping a house. All last summer I talked to anyone I could about it and I had numerous people interested in investing but when the runner hit the road, no one dove in with us, which is totally fine. We've built our own homes and built homes with my in-laws and it just seems like the next step to a little financial gain. We bought wreck of a house in our home town in Mid-Michigan at the county tax default auction. My wife did the bidding because it was the first full day of school in August and I'm a 5th grade teacher. We, as well as my in laws have a good amount of equity in our personal homes since we both served as the GC for them which is how we financed the deal. The market is on fire in our small Mid-Michigan town so we knew we could make some money. We're about 5 months in which is a little longer than we hoped, but that's okay. All of the neighbors have stopped by and said how much they appreciate it and how excited they are for us. I truly did not anticipate the feeling of satisfaction of helping a neighborhood be revitalized and of a new family getting an amazing home that is beautiful! The plan is to have a neighborhood open house next week to really get people excited about our work and the transformation. Our passion is now to recreate this feeling in similar neighborhoods for other families. I've done 85% of the work myself with my father in law and we've had two single moms who've recently gone through divorce contact us about buying. One even made a verbal full price offer. We are pretty much all in at 120 and have an asking price of 179. Not too shabby for our first deal. Thanks.