All Forum Posts by: Nicole W.

Hi. I have a rental in Az where the carpet needs replacing. Has ceramic tile in kitchen, bathrooms and laundryrooms which I will leave as they all still look fine and have no chips etc. I am looking to put in laminate flooring but there are a lot to choose from. There is also LVP. I know it is best to go with 12 mm or higher on these. Anyone have longterm use of any of these that are working better than other and if so, which brands are holding up the best? This is for a 1900 sq ft house. Would like to have something that kids and small dogs can be on without scratching and is waterproof. Thanks, Nicole

@Brock Jenkins 1st and foremost check to see if you can (a) rent it out and (b) as a short term rental in the CCRs (the condo rules and agreements). This is one step earlier than what you are asking but this is the most important.

Sounds like you have it all covered. I have used both ones referred and ones I found. I have vetted them myself first. I have had both types miss/leave out items and both that found all items. If I had known about the GC idea too, I would have gone with one of those instead. 

We had a similar issue as had hardwood floors. Not sure what you have in the upstairs unit but we carpeted the upstairs & it made a huge difference. 

When I started I did a refi on my home and pulled some equity out for downpayments. I was advised at the time to get all the loans at one time so that they would all be approved. I bought 9 out of state SFRs at one time (all but 2 brand new). It worked out at the start until many of the insur and taxes started going up due to a boom. I was from Ca and didn't realize those two expenses could really escalate with severe weather and higher values and they were eating up the margins I left. I had a great job at the time and was able to handle anything that came up but then a crash occurred and there were so many properties on the market that the rents also crashed. The reassessments were not happening as fast as when the properties were going up (taxes) and insur stayed high. I got rid of a few at that time and unfortunately due to a medical issue in the family, I sold 2 others. I am happy I did buy houses when I did dispite all that but should've really started with less and not worried about loans being approved which is definitely secondary to being able to hold the houses. The 3 I have are all worth a lot more and all going great with those. I wish I held on to some of the others but, oh well! With another property I bought through borrowing from a family member 100%, I was able to sell it and trade it to some newer properties with better cash flow and can live off the income of all my rentals now. So, yes, I would advise getting either a loan against your primary if rates are better for you or HELOC if those #s work for you. Real Estate was the best investment I ever made and I have much freed up time to do the things I have always wanted to do when I was working so hard all the time.

I have 5 HOA properties. I looked and tried to buy them without but couldn't find non HOA easily in an area I was looking. The city just is made up of HOA subdivisions. I just read the convenants to ensure they are viable and have reserves and that you can do rentals there. I have had no problems. I don't like the fees but I fit that fee into my margins and they work out. If they don't, I do not buy one from there. Yes, they do have assessments but mainly for needed things from what I have experienced. I also use property mgrs for my out of state properties and I vet them like anyone else on a team. I have awesome property mgrs who are worth their weight in gold who do a great job.

Find another Credit/Background check program that does give you info or just move along. There are sure no scarcities in tenants applying these days. I got 50 calls in 1.5 days and had a signed lease by the end of that time!

@Ji Yang, I advise reading articles by @Ian Ippolito (also in BiggerPockets) online (google him) about how to vet sponsers and what to look at in a private placement memorandum. He is a very conservative investor and gives excellent advice which helped me a lot. Best to study these and do the correct due diligence beforehand so you are not disappointed in an investment. It is YOUR money and YOUR investment so ensure you do YOUR due diligence. If you buy a house you get a full inspection and check all its points, termites, roof, etc. So you need the checklist of what to look for in a sponsor/syndication. You can see just within this stream that there are upset investors with this group and some misunderstandings about how distributions are even made. This should all be known ahead. Covid was something unexpected and the way the sponser deals with it and the communication with the investors is also important to note. Also there is no scarcity of syndications/sponsors around for any type of asset class so no need to rush into it with one you are unsure of or think there are no others doing it. 

I understand there are Portfolio loans. I never did one but you can ask about one of those. 

I used IPX out of Newport Beach. They were great and handled a complicated issue for me. My lawyer recommended them. Also @Dave Foster here in BP also does them.