All Forum Posts by: Nehemias Ponce

@Bob E. Are there any resources you would recommend for educating myself on out of state investing? I'm open to it to be sure and being new to investing the thought of going out of state seems daunting. Here is some background on us. Our rental is about 1 mile away. I drive by it every couple of weeks or so. I landscape the yard, manage all repairs (in most cases doing them myself) and we pay the mortgage out of our own account (soon to be remedied by establishing an LLC). So right now we're very mom and pop. But we don't have to stay that way. I'm realizing that my education and time are my most valuable resources, so any suggestions you can give would be very helpful.

Thank you @Julie Haveman@Ryan Craig@Michael Hacker@Rami W.! It seems the consensus is 30 years and reserve the option to pay down on our own. I'll be getting some preliminary numbers here shortly and that alone may dictate our next move. It's just a change of thinking that I'm learning to understand. That is, that carrying debt may not be as bad as I once believed it to be, if the debt is for an asset.  

Hi everyone! We're about to refinance our rental property and I am looking for some advice. Here is some background information first. The property is located in Tempe, AZ and is currently valued at approximately $200,000. The principal balance on the note is $121,500 at 5.25%. Our payments are $950 and we collect $1,100 a month in rent on it. We are definitely going to refinance, however I am not sure what length of a note we should get. Below are two possible scenarios:

1. 15 year note: Conventional wisdom says that paying down the note sooner would save interest and of course lead to a more full cash-flow from the property sooner. 

2. 30 year note: However, currently the property sustains itself in that we do not pay any interest on it at all (out of pocket), the tenant does. So then, a 30 year note would allow us to cash-flow even more than we do now. 

I do not have any numbers as of yet to give a more precise calculation. This is just a general query regarding the benefits of maximizing cash-flow vs faster pay-down in the current and near-future markets. We will also be holding this property. We have no plans to sell. Our future plans do include purchasing another investment property. I'm studying about it right now and hope to begin analyzing properties soon. 

I'm especially interested in hearing from people @Hannah Hammond familiar with the Phoenix market in particular who might weigh in on one note versus the other. However, all help @Mindy Jensen is so very much appreciated. Thank you for any knowledge and guidance you can provide!

-Nehemias

Hey Sandy! So glad you are here. I'm a new real estate investor in the Tempe area and it's nice to know there is another kindred spirit near by. Reading, reading, reading, there is so much available here to learn. Enjoy!

Hi Michael! I'm brand new here as well. There is a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips here. I'm just scraping the top of the iceberg! Welcome...

Thank you so much @Jason Roetter. I am very interested in the meet ups. Are they structured a certain way? 

Thank you so much @Andy Gore, I'm looking at his website now.

Thank you all so much for the warm welcomes @Hannah Hammond, @Lisa Bryant, @Chidiogo Menakaya, @Jacob Ham! I'm super excited to begin this next stage in real estate investing! 

It's hard to believe the depth and breadth of the BP blog @Mark Nolan. I'm taking bites from it everyday. 

Is there anywhere I can find more information regarding the AZ BP meetup @Kevin Schulte?

Hi there! My wife and I have a rental property that we would like to treat in a more professional and businesslike manner. Our property is in Tempe, AZ and we have been managing it for 5 years. The home is in our names and we have a loose organizational system that consists of receipts/bills in a bill planner (combined with those of our primary residence) and some files in a filing cabinet. We are now looking to treat this rental as more of a business and consequently update our organizational system. Here are some questions I have regarding this transition.

1. Are there any recognized bookkeeping/accounting practices we should learn about specifically related to owning/landlording real estate? For example, once this new system is in place I would like to be able to see at a glance what expenses the property incurred in say December of 2014.  

2. Can anyone suggest any software that would help? Specifically, something that might produce a report that a CPA or tax person would find useful? It might also be useful to have a tool that calculates amortization in the report as well.  

3. Should we put the home into a LLC? This question is undoubtedly too big and requires it's own post, but any general or basic advice would help immensely. This is our only property but we will be acquiring another within 6 months.

4. Does anyone have any filing systems that they find particularly useful for leases, contracts, etc...?

We also welcome any other general advice regarding how to better run this rental as a business. Thanks for any help you can provide it is much appreciated! 

-NehemiasP

Hi everyone! My name is Nehemias and I am writing from Tempe, AZ where it was a scorching 115 degrees today! I am new to the BP forums and new to real estate investing as well. I have had a bit of semi-accidental real estate success. By that I mean that I have always been interested in real estate as means of enhancing income. So over the last 18 years I made a little (a very little) study of it. Six years ago, with enough information to be dangerous, we rented out a home that we could not sell in order to upgrade our primary residence. Our first and only tenant has been trouble free and we have been able to build some equity and cash flow a little as well! 

I am here now to take the next step down the path of real estate investing. I am interested in buy and hold single and multifamily investing. My hope is that I can build a portfolio that will allow me to retire from my day job much sooner than expected. I am also very much interested in modeling for my children how to use real estate as a means to building financial security. Thank you everyone for all the great posts and articles. I am excited to join this community and begin a more purposeful career of real estate investing! 

-NehemiasP