All Forum Posts by: Patrick Reynolds

Hi Grace,

Look it the Worcester area, it is closer to an hour with traffic but I house hacked there when I was living in Worcester and working in Boston. There is a ton of development along the mass pike going west and the state is pouring money into Worcester. Most of the buildings are triplexes, allowing for a bigger opportunity if you can find a good deal. I purchased in March of 2016 for 213k, spent 28k over the course of a year house hacking between the three units, and once rented it out was cash flowing $950 after reserves. I sold in early January for 374k.

In the Worcester market, there are plenty of deals to be found as there has been a huge uptick in rents as well as demand. Finding a triplex with good bones and below market rent is not difficult. It gets more expensive the closer you get to Boston, but I would start there. Other areas to look at would include Lowell and Leominster, but I do not think the upside for appreciation is as great in those areas.

I would like to close on my personal home within the next 3 months, find my next investment property, host 100 open houses, and grow my sphere by 100 contacts.

Hello BP,

I did an FHA conventional on a property in Worcester, MA in 2016. I purchased for $216,000 and had financed the repairs on an introductory no interest CC over the next year to rehab the property. Last year it was appraised at $300,000 and I took a $15,000 home equity loan out to pay the credit card before the interest came due. I got a great job opportunity in Washington DC and relocated for it, but in the shuffle did not refinance before I left my primary residence and left out that "R". I have it rented out and a property manager taking care of it, and it is cash flowing nicely, however only owing $199,000 on it and with recent comps in the neighborhood going for $325,000 I am sitting on some serious equity and would love to get a HELOC on it for my next investment or a home down here as renting is crazy expensive. Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding a lender who will do a HELOC on a multifamily investment property out of state. Any suggestions?

Using it for a down payment on home to BRRRR in South East DC where a ton of development is expected to continue. I could either choose to refi and rent it out after or sell it outright in the next few years as the area continues to grow.

Analyze a few deals and figure out exactly where the point is that you can make a smart calculated investment without over leveraging yourself. Find a property that you can use the funding from a HELOC from to do a BRRRR, once you pull the cash out from the BRRRR property pay the HELOC back for peace of mind. Just because you have that money in equity doesn't mean you need to leverage all of it for your next investment. Owning free and clear gives you the option to leverage some equity, most equity, or somewhere in between where you are comfortable.

Congratulations! What was your experience like going into this? I have yearned to do a flip after successfully rehabbing a multifamily rental I intended for a buy and hold. But after seeing the forced appreciation on top of cash flow I have started to look at flipping opportunities again. Did you bring any experience to the table prior to such as a plumbing or contracting background?

I would not, I would give them the option pay the rent for the month it is being held. If they are willing to do so then so be it, if not move on and find someone else qualified if you are getting a stream of applications. There is no sense to eat the money on YOUR investment. 

I would go the route of the 4 plex first. It would be much less skin in the game to start off and allows you to learn the basic ins and outs of multiple tenants, working with a property manager, repairs, contracting estimates etc. Think of it as a way to scale to a larger complex while ironing out the kinks as you develop your systems. Any bumps you come across and use as lessons will be on a scale small enough not to hurt you and big enough to learn from. Once you do one deal first and are confident in the team you build and the processes you put in place, you can leverage that to scale up. That would be the route I would take given your scenario; SFH would be too slow and if you are considering a larger complex, having a system in place that manages multiple units would be necessary.

Hello BP Community! I have relocated from Worcester MA to Washington DC and am finding I made a huge mistake in the process, and cant seem to find a solution.

I had house hacked a triplex in MA in 2016 as my primary residence intending on using the BRRRR method when I was ready to scale up to my second property. In that time the house I bought for $216k had been appraised for $300k and I got engaged, I took out a home equity loan of 15k to finance our wedding as to not touch our reserves and have been paying that down. My job was transferred down to Washington DC before I could do a cash out refinance and I put a tenant in the unit I had been living in. Now the property is considered an out of state rental and I am not having any luck finding a bank or credit union that will help me do a refinance or HELOC on this property despite the large amount of equity I have in it.

My goal is to find a lender that can do a refi so I can drop the PMI I have on the property and get a HELOC as I am ready to start looking for our next property, which most likely will be our new primary residence. Does anyone know of a lender in the DC area that would be able to help me out?

that is incredible! especially on pace to pay the HELOC off in less that 18 months! Did you use the HELOC to purchase the entire property, or as down payment and finance the rest?