All Forum Posts by: Ken P.

Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it. 

@Bill Rich Thank you for your insight on the 203k. Do you have experience with the Homestyle loan as well? Would you say you prefer one over the other in general, or do you feel there are certain cases where one may be better suited? 

@Eddie Gonnella This is great info, thank you. I am weighing all of my options now to see what will make the most sense for the property I'm targeting. I have not worked with contractors previously so one of my biggest concerns is finding one that will be a good fit to handle both the paperwork and the actual renovation (thus the motivation for my original post) 

@Rob Milliken @Tyler Bushey Thanks for the suggestion, I am willing to explore this route and I understand the benefits of not having to deal with as much red tape. I'll have to investigate further and make some calls to see if this is the right choice for me this time around. 

Hi all, I am aggressively searching for a value-add house hack in Southern Maine, specifically within a 40 minute radius around Portland ( Biddeford, Brunswick, Gorham, Westbrook, etc.). I have determined a renovation loan to be a great option for me but I have now had two different potential opportunities fall through on these loans (FHA 203k or Homestyle) because I did not have my ducks in a row before trying to get the renovation loan in place, and I don't want it to happen again because the last thing I want to do is waste people's time and lose out on potential opportunities.

Specifically, I feel I really need to get a team together that has experience working with renovation loans. I'm already working with a great agent (@Harrison Smith) so I'm covered on that front, but I would be unbelievably grateful if anyone who has done one of these loans in Maine could point me toward a lender, a HUD consultant (203k), and most of all a contractor that is familiar with and comfortable with the funding schedule and quote structure these loans require.

Everyone I've talked to in the past initially says "Oh yeah, I can do renovation loans!" and then it turns out they have no experience with them and when it really comes down to it they get cold feet surrounding all the details and paperwork, so I'm really looking for people that have successfully completed these loans, all the way from the offer letter to successful renovation. 

So if you know anyone that has experience with either the FHA 203k or Homestyle renovation loans, please let me know. Also, if you or someone you know has gone through this process as a buyer I would love to talk to you about your experiences as well. 

Or, alternatively, if you have any other proven methods of purchasing properties that need just enough work the bank will not lend on them but not so much work that the price works for hard money, let a guy know, because that is the pickle I continue to find myself in.  

Thanks in advance, see you all at the next meetup. 

I wanted to make everyone here aware of a bill scheduled to go before the New Hampshire House of Representatives this month. HB-1391 if passed and turned into law would make it illegal for landlords to deny pets. As the bill is written at the date of this post, that would mean if you have a rental, you MUST allow pets, no exceptions, regardless of species, breed, size, etc. and you would not be allowed to ask about pets on rental applications. Go ahead and take 2 minutes to read the full bill for yourself. 

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2020/HB1391.html

As a dog owner, pet lover, and a landlord who allows and welcomes pets, I am the last person to oppose something like this and yet I have serious concerns about this bill. 

My first concern is that I feel this bill assumes everyone is OK with being around pets. I love pets, but I know plenty of people that don't, and that's fine. If you were a renter that didn't want to ever have to worry about a barking dog, had pet allergies, or had emotional trauma from bad experiences in the past with pets (especially dogs), wouldn't you be happiest in a no-pets unit, on a no-pets rental property? It seems that this bill just assumes everyone must enjoy being around pets and that seems unfair to me.

Here's another scenario for you, you sign an applicant to a lease and they move in with an aggressive, loud, and/or destructive pet(s). So now instead of being able to screen the pet(s) up front and identify this issue right away, you now have an aggressive animal on your property until A. Sufficient evidence can be gathered that the dog is indeed being aggressive, and B. That evidence is enough to grant an eviction? A big part of my responsibility as a landlord is to provide a safe place for my tenants to live, and I feel like this bill would severely limit my ability to do that. 

Another concern is that there is no language here that would limit the number of pets that would be allowed - it seems to be written to suggest it is talking about a single companion but it doesn't explicitly say that so it seems unwise to assume. I know that in most cases this wouldn't be an issue, but there is a big difference between 1 Poodle and 5 "Insert Stereotypically Agressive Dog Breed Here", yet I don't see any language in the bill that would distinguish between those two scenarios. 

The bill does have specific language that would supposedly free landlords of any civil liability regarding these pets, but I'm not sure if that would be enough in the eyes of an insurance company. I know for many landlord insurance policies there are certain breed restrictions for dogs, and this bill would make it illegal to discriminate based on breed. 

We have a serious shortage of rental units in this state, especially affordable ones, and I can't help but feel like this bill would do a great job of pushing investors toward other states if this bill is passed. It seems like it is coming from a place of good intention, but is not particularly well thought out and opens the door for a lot of serious issues.

I fully understand the therapeutic and healing benefits of pets for certain people, but there are already protections in place for service animals as well as emotional support animals that protect this subset of pet owners so I don't really understand why this bill is necessary - seems like it will cause far more harm than good, and again, this is coming from someone that likes pets! 

A lot of pets are great, which is why I welcome them onto my property - but I do this because I know I reserve the right to screen for those which I determine to be well behaved and safe. I disagree with the government telling me I can't do that. 

What do you guys think? I for one will be contacting my representative to share my thoughts and I would encourage you to do the same, whether you agree with me or not. You can track the bills progress here: 


https://www.citizenscount.org/bills/hb-1391-2020

Thanks for organizing Christian, see you guys there!

See you all there! Thanks for the tag Harrison, would have missed it otherwise. 

To echo what others have mentioned, you need to set your expectations wisely. If you want a second home and want to offset your cost of ownership by renting it and are OK with dealing with all of the effort and time required for STR, go for it. If you think you're going to have a second home and also cashflow "passively" think twice.

I live in the Conway/North Conway area and the regulations in discussion in the area are very reasonable and fair (thus far, at least) . The crap a few short term rental owners are pulling here currently is absurd and a few bad eggs are damaging the reputation of investors on the whole - regulations will help everyone. If you are going to be a responsible investor which I'm sure you will be, I wouldn't worry too much about regulations. 

If you have any questions about the white mountains region feel free to reach out. 

Can second @Harrison Smith, very knowledgeable about the area and active in the local investor community. 

You might get away with it, you might not. No one is going to be able to give you a definitive answer because this isn't the type of situation that's going to be accounted for in any sort of official documentation. My personal opinion is that I'd foresee you having more issues with the local code officer/zoning board/neighbors than you will with the lender unless the lot is relatively private. Also, were you planning on living in this RV through a New Hampshire winter? Most are not well insulated, and you'd have to take a lot of preventative measures to prevent all your sh*t from freezing (literally).  

If you actually want to occupy the property for a year and limit your losses on the opportunity cost of the third unit, take the third unit and then get roommates to offset the cost of that unit. This also allows you to do minor renovations to the unit while you're living there. This is what I did and it worked out great.  

There is a monthly BP meet-up in Southern Maine organized by @Ivan Sokolovich that is well attended by a great group of local investors. Different location each month but it is always posted in the BP events section of the website. Keep an eye out there for the next one and I'll look forward to meeting you - Southern Maine is a great place to invest.

Also, @Harrison Smith is a good person to talk with regarding investing in this area, he knows it well and is active in the local investor community. 

Collin and any other investors in the area, I'd love to get in touch and talk more about your experiences in the valley. 

I actually live in Intervale (Bartlett) and would like to get more involved in real estate here. Would love to be the "boots on the ground" guy for those looking to invest here and expand my own portfolio as well. Let me know if you'd be open to a chat or even meeting up at frontside next time you're in town. 

I wonder if there are enough people to consider a meet up? I know most investors are out of state, maybe we could even do a "virtual" meet-up with video conferencing. 

I have personally noticed very similar to you that the short term market is saturating. Any single family home in a decent area around the 200k mark is getting snatched up by out of state cash buyers for vacation rentals and like you mentioned, the long term market has been getting more and more attractive as a result. 

Will be interesting to see how the Vail acquisition affects the area, not sure what to expect.

Regardless, for anyone interested in the area that wants some local info don't hesitate to reach out.