All Forum Posts by: Nick Stageberg

@Mindy Jensen seems to have handled this exactly as I would have, both then and in this thread.

Hello! I am located in Rochester Minnesota. I have a class B duplex worth maybe $240,000. I purchased the property in the spring, did a massive rehab, have it rented out to some solid tenants and is now seasoned enough to do a conventional refi. When I purchased it, I was able to just barely shoehorn it into a conventional loan after no less than five appraisals :-) The property will have a much easier time conforming to a conventional loan now. I plan to go back to the mortgage broker that helped me get financed in the first place, as it should make getting qualified and everything a breeze. However, I am curious if a national lender would be able to get me a better rate LTV Etc? Looking at four and a half percent on a 30-year fixed 70% LTV. I'm open to any suggestions. It seems like a pretty boring and straightforward move but I'm always looking for creative alternatives!

Fully agree with @Rodney Miller's post.  The transformation OKC has seen over the last 20 years is incredible, and its economy is far more diverse than most imagine.  Aerospace, Finance, IT, and Healthcare are all very large sectors.  

I also personally see Oklahoma as being a massive hub of innovation within the energy industry.  For better or worse, Oklahoma pioneered fracking horizontal drilling, and the myriad logistics innovations needed to sustain them in the most rugged places on earth.  Oklahoma is at the forefront of wind energy and natural gas, and I have a strong suspicion those aren't going anywhere soon.  

My principle concern regarding the long term outlook for appreciation on my properties in Oklahoma is the state of its public education system.  

Pretty interesting article on how accounting tricks have created funny money in tech hubs like San Francisco and Seattle that have inflated the real estate markets:

https://www.redfin.com/blog/2017/09/when-even-tech...

Both as a real estate investor and as a career software engineer who has worked at a tech startup in Oklahoma City for the last ten years, I have been deeply involved in this trend.  I have always wanted to move out to a tech hub on the west coast, but the salary vs cost of living differential has never made sense to me.  Living in a low cost of living area like OKC has also made it significantly easier to buy and hold cashflow rentals to build my real estate portfolio.  

There has been net positive migration from California to Oklahoma for a while now, but it seems like the trend is accelerating. Desirable areas will always be desirable areas, and historically betting on the west coast has always paid off in the long run, but when I am looking at 700k to get started on a 3/2/2 anywhere near a place I can work in the big tech hubs, it sure smells like a bubble to me. What do you folks think the long term trend will be? Right this second, I'm feeling pretty good about my appreciation position in SFH rentals in the midwest :)

@Muks M.  The realtor I work with is never embarrassed to make an offer.  If he thinks there is no point in making the offer I don't, but that's rare.  The only thing you need to worry about it making sure you are respecting your realtor's time.  If you hem and haw and never submit an offer that's ten times worse than quickly making a sound analysis, and submitting a low offer.  Put in a dozen of those lowballs and you will have a deal.  

I definitely understand not wanting to insult someone and turn them off when you are looking at a great deal you really want.  I think that's a huge concern if a property is just listed, but if it has been on the market for a long time you can always go back in a week and offer more.  @Brandon Turner has a great story he's told a few times of a property that had been on the market for a while and he submitted the exact same lowball offer on week after week.  Literally took the previous offer, crossed out the date, and wrote in a new one.  

I also love the advice that if you don't wince when you make an offer, you offered too much :)

Very nice, I will have to give this a try!  

Fully agree with @Greg Scott. Roof estimate is too low, but your total rehab cost seems about right. 120 seems like a sound offer, though I would start lower at 110. If it's been been on the market that long it isn't as though you are going to lose it to someone else and you can always offer more later. Common rule of thumb is to offer 70% of arv - repair costs, which would put you at 100k. The main goal there to be able to refi six months down the road and get all of your cash out.

Great question! I believe that is an artifact of doing my course work online. I need to take the state and federal exams. Then, additionally, I need to take a proctored exam after each of the three online courses. The funny thing is that those extra tests are actually harder than the official ones. The questions are much trickier where many of the answers are right and it's a question of which one is most right vs one obvious right answer.

Stupid question but how do I tag someone in a post?  When I type the @ sign nothing comes up?

I am in the process of executing a very similar plan in MN right now.  Three out of five tests down as of yesterday.  Doing my classes online and the total time and financial cost haven't been bad.  No idea how well it will work out, but there are a ton of synergies. For example when I am showing a rental, every contact is an opportunity to sell them a home instead of rent them mine.  I'm already including a clause in all of my leases that they can quit their lease anytime if they buy a house from me.  

I agree with Mike.  While not an amazing deal, it doesn't seem like a bad deal and the things you will learn from your first  deal will set you up for Success on your second and third.  Getting started is absolutely the most important thing.

I am personally not wild about owning half of a duplex and do not purchase those kind of properties. However, there are many investors who like this set up and see the neighbor as free management.  Become very good friends with the next door neighbor, give them your phone number, keep them happy and they will keep an eye on your property better than any property manager.