All Forum Posts by: Odille Remmert

Hi @Michael Facchini :) Thank you so much for the lovely reply and advice - very much appreciated! I think we may have found our first deal - and it is a small multi, so we will be able to live in one. We're doing a walkthrough with an experienced local investor today, so, fingers crossed! :)

Hi @Brad Stegall Let me know if you'd like to meet up. :)

Ah, fabulous, thanks so much, @Bjorn Ahlblad - very much appreciated. I'll do that on Monday. :)

Hi :)

Just getting started. We've found a property that may work. 

1. It's a 3-bed, 1 bath single-family house, with a large finished basement. The basement currently has: living room, bedroom, and two more separate rooms (one with the washer and dryer in it, and one with a fridge in it, that looks like it's been used as a dining room) - both of those extra rooms have plenty of space to be made into a bathroom and a kitchen.

2. The basement needs an egress window installed.

3. The house has a side entrance off the driveway that leads to the stairs going down to the basement, to the right, and the kitchen of the main house, straight ahead.

So, here's what we're thinking of doing:

1. Move into the house ourselves (we're renting at the moment, and are planning to start our real estate investing with a house-hack).

2. Put an egress window into the bedroom of the basement, and turn the basement into a self-contained apartment by putting in a bathroom and kitchen.

3. Make the side-door a separate entrance dedicated to the basement. 

4. Rent out that basement apartment as a house-hack.

5. Once we find another property we'd like to live in, move out and rent this one as a duplex.

My Questions:

1. The Realtor said I'd need to check the zoning for turning this house into duplex, by going to Peoria County Zoning website ... however, I have no idea of what I'm looking for - or looking at (being new to all of this). I've spent quite a lot of time searching, but can't seem to find information that indicates whether or not this property is "zoned" for multi-family - can someone point me in the right direction... or am I over my head, and if so, who would I talk to, to get some help with this?

2. Would we need a permit to just put in the egress window?

3. Would we need a permit to put in the bathroom and kitchen if we were going to house-hack... and then rent the whole house out as a 4-bed to a single family when we move out?

The answers to all of these questions will, of course, help to determine whether it's worth buying this one or not. :)

Thanks v much in advance. 

Ah, that's great to know - thanks v much, Aaron! Very much appreciated! :)

@Aaron Kinney

Hi Aaron :) 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, excellent point... We were thinking of it like a credit card (not sure if that is the way it works - we're brand new to the idea of hard money lending) - so that if we paid it back within the first month, we wouldn't be paying that interest... or is that not how it works? I'm aware this may be a very silly question ;) ... but, I'm really keen to get my head around all of this, and understand as much as possible. :)

Hi :) We're just getting started in Peoria, Illinois.Really enjoying the podcasts, and making excellent use of the Bigger Pockets Calculators (and loving it! :) ). 

We have a question about finance that we'd love some input on...We have some money coming through, shortly, from the sale of a couple of properties, overseas. We were planning to put some of that money in an account as "back-up" and use the rest for deposits/costs to get started with a rental property or two and then move forward from there. However... 

We've just been talking, and now we're wondering if the following makes sense...?

1. Leave the cash in an account, and borrow the deposits/rehab costs etc. from a hard money lender, then...
2. Refinance, after the rehab is done, then...
3. Repay the hard money lender, then...
4. Repeat - leaving the cash as security, in an account

Is this a sensible idea... or are we missing something...?

@James Hall

Hi James :)

Thank you so much! That's really helpful to know!! Very much appreciated! :)

Hi Brad :)

That sounds Fabulous! Let me know your availability, and perhaps we can take you for coffee and a chat? 

We work from home, and are fairly flexible around client sessions.

Hi :)

We've been loving listening to the BP podcasts, and we SO appreciate all the resources here and how much we're learning!

We live in Peoria, Illinois, and we recently (and completely unexpectedly) inherited some rental property in the UK - two sets of five self-contained apartments, and two houses. 

Due to illness in the family, and a few other factors, we are selling one set of flats, and one of the houses. The set of flats has now sold and is in conveyancy stage, and we've just accepted an offer, this morning, on the house. 

After paying off the mortgages (they were interest-only mortgages, so we need to pay the full amount), fees, taxes, etc. we should clear around £91,000. 

We will send £21,000 to cover our brother's medical treatment, and put £20,000 into an account in England for a year's income (combined with the rent from the other house), for my sister. 

Then, the remaining £50,000 we will bring over to the US to start a rental portfolio here.

Depending on transfer fees, we should end up with about $55,000 to $60,000

Our Plan So Far (based on what we've learned so far from BP) - this is what we're thinking of doing, and would appreciated any advice, input, suggestions, etc. :)

It is just my husband and I, we're in our mid-50's and have another business (self-employed) that is just over two-years-old.

1. We will put $20,000 into a savings account (6 months of expenses) - for "back-up" and use the rest for deposits/costs etc. on one or two properties to get started. 

2. We are currently renting, and our plan is to start with one of the following options (depending on what deals we find that work)... 

a) Buy a small multi-family and house-hack, then buy the next property, and then move forward from there, with the aim of establishing a strong foundation of income and equity and able to eventually move into a single-family of our own once we're ready. 

or

b) Buy two single-family properties - one to live in,and one to rent out... and then move forward from there, buying the next one ... and so on.

or

c) Buy a 4-bed single-family that lends itself to house-hacking, move into that, and then start to buy small multi-family properties from there. 

Our future goal is to build multi-family properties that are small communities (rather than just housing) - with a focus on building happy, healthy, supportive communities that span all ages (we have lots of ideas for these, but I'm sure those will change and adjust as we learn more and get more experience :) ).

We've teamed up with a local realtor, who seems great - we're very happy working with him so far - and we've been also looking on realtor.com and Zillow.

I've run 52 properties through the Bigger Pockets rental calculator so far, and have narrowed down to view, so far:

3 Duplexes 

4 Single-Family (two 3-beds and two 4-beds)

Thoughts, Advice, Input, and Opinions:

I would REALLY appreciate any input or advice on the above, and on the following (we haven't looked at the properties yet - we start viewing tomorrow - so these figures are approximate, and subject, of course, to any extra things we discover when we view them :) )...

2-PLEX - 2-Bed per unit
We can't live in this one because it already has tenants under lease, therefore the mortgage would be about 4% (I'm guessing?) - and we would need to buy another property to live in.
Asking Price: 159,900
Highest we can go (for the figures to work) - $138,000 
Monthly cash flow: $273.10
Cash on Cash ROI: 10.37%

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2-PLEX - a 2-Bed and a 3-Bed
We can live in, therefore mortgage should be 3.5% (?)
Asking Price: $149,900
What would work best for us: $127,000
Monthly cash flow: $333.10
Cash on Cash ROI: 11.97%
Asking Price would give us:
C/F: $250
ROI: 7.93% (I know Brandon likes a 12% ROI, but if it's an improving area, perhaps it's worth dropping that...?)
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2-PLEX - 2-Bed per unit
We can live in, therefore mortgage 3.5% (?)
Asking Price: $165,000
Highest we can go (to get the figures below) $120,000
C/F: $301
ROI: 12.07%

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SF - 3-Bed (we would get this one and another - one to live in, and one to rent out)
We can live in, therefore mortgage 3.5% (?)
Asking Price: $112,000
Highest we can go: $100,000
C/F: $102.60
ROI: 5.35 (exception because improving area...?)

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SF - 3-Bed (we would get this one and another single-family - one to live in and one to rent out)
We can live in, therefore mortgage 3.5% (?)
Asking Price: $89,900
Highest we can pay: $86,000
C/F: $215.52
ROI: 10.26%

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SF - 4-Bed
Can live in and house-hack therefore mortgage 3.5% (?)
Asking Price: $129,900
Highest we can go: $119,000
but would be better at: $115,000
Rent: $1,700
Needs about $20,000 work (This is as guess so far because we haven't seen it yet)

C/F: $318.80 (at $115,000) or $304 (at $119,000)

Cash on Cash ROI: 8.32% (at $115,000) or 7.81% (at $119,000) (Is this too low to do the deal, even though the cash-flow is good...?)

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SF - 4-Bed
Can live in and house-hack therefore mortgage 3.5% (?)
Asking Price: $128,900
We could pay that but would be better if go down to:
$118,900
Rent: $1,700
Needs about $7,000 repairs (This is as guess so far because we haven't seen it yet).

C/F: $402.79 (at $118,900) or $366.86 (at $128,900)

Cash on Cash ROI: 14.31% (at $118,900) or 13.85% (at $128,900)

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All input, feedback, and advice would be appreciated. :)

Thanks v much in advance.