All Forum Posts by: Phil Moeller

I use my HELOC to buy houses using the brrrr strategy. I buy the house, fix it up, then refi it so I can free up my HELOC money and do the next.

Using your HELOC as your down payment is going to put you in a highly leveraged position with 2 payments. Also, the HELOC terms are tyoically pretty short to pay off, so the payments will be higher than conventional, so make sure you discuss the payment amount with the bank and ensure you can still cash flow. Finally, HELOC rates are typically adjustable so if rates would increase dramatically it could get you in trouble......just something else to be aware of.

I am wanting to get more aggressive with brrrr strategy and flipping. I have heard about lists on different podcasts, but what lists of potentially available houses are out there, and once you have the lists, how do you approach getting those houses? 

THANKS ALL IN ADVANCE!!!!

Our approach thru 2015 was to keep our own receipts, have a detailed excel file tracking expenses, then provide a summary (by property and by expense/income category) to my accountant in the format he/she prefers. This saves them time and us money. The itemized list allows them to go through things quickly, and we highlight the items we have specific questions on. 

In 2016, we'll use the same receipt approach but switching to Quickbooks, only because the online version pulls in information and saves us ~2 hours per week in updating our books vs excel. Our accountant also prefers Quickbooks and I've learned a lot about accounting by using it. 

Interesting discussion, I try to combine a Ramsey, Kiyosaki, and Tim Ferris approach to Real Estate..............Talk about conflicting views. The power of BP and self education is we all get to take all of this info in and filter it to what makes sense for us, our beliefs, strategy, etc. 

My imperfect approach: 

1. Avoid Personal debt (Ramsey), it takes money out of your pocket every month. 

2. Several people have said this and the math shows that to maximize cash flow and ability to build wealth/equity, we should Use Other People's Money (OPM) (Kiyosaki), but be smart about it.  Understand the risk and think thru what are the worst things that could happen if given an awful market condition or an awful tenant experiences, and protect yourself accordingly. 

2b. Also use Other people's time (OPT) as much as possible, it has the same effect as leveraging money. If I did all of the work/maintenance on my rentals, I think I would have 3-5 right now. I have 11 (13 doors) likely because of OPM and OPT.  This is still small, but more than if I used all of my time and all of my money. 

3. Once you begin to hit your cash flow goals, use the Ramsey approach to attack your real estate debt like he says to attack personal debt. Start to pay off your lowest balance, highest rate or highest risk mortgages. Example, I'm gonna pay off a $40k variable rate mortgage before a $70k fixed rate mortgage. 

4. Use lifestyle design (Ferris) throughout the process to clarify at what point you've hit your primary goals and when to change your approach, at what point to focus more on pay down and risk avoidance vs. cash flow. This could be at $5k, $10k, or $50k per month. Also set lifestyle goals throughout to motivate you to hit certain goals. Go to Hawaii when you hit $5k. Maybe a Safari at $10k. You get the point. 

Great discussion, thanks all for contributing. Regardless of your view, having read Ramsey, Kiyosaki, Ferris and using BP puts us ahead of 95% of Americans. 

Hello fellow BP Members,

I started investing in 2013, have 5 properties (4 single family, 1 duplex).  I have 1 house under contract now and looking for others to buy, fix and hold (or just buy and hold).  I am investing for cash flow.

I have been working with a local realtor and he is putting me in contact with a real estate investor that has been doing thisfor quite a while.  However, he has a separate successful business and is now looking to sell his properties, he has about 20.

My question is, what are some good ways to structure a deal so that it is attractive for myself as well as the investor that is selling his portfolio of properties?  

Thanks in advance!

Phil

Thanks for the feedback everyone.  As I said............to this point I have used the different listing agents.  It has been good for me to get to network and get to know some of the agents and there aren't a lot, I'm in a 'city' of only 20,000 people.  I have used that process to find who I think are the better agents.  I plan on working with one of them exclusively that I think is the best to give them a shot at proving that having one agent is the best approach. 

I have to admit that I'm still not convinced that this will work because I'm not getting  insight or deals brought to me, but maybe that will come as I do more deals with one agent and create a stronger relationship.  I like the idea of a specific realtor looking out for my best interest (instead of the sellers), I'm just not convinced that they are really doing that, I get the feeling they just want the deal.  Maybe I just haven't found the realtor that really works for me yet.

Hello All - this is my first post so I'm looking forward to some good feedback!

I started investing in July 2013 and am up to 5 properties (4 single family, 1 duplex).  My strategy is buy, fix and hold investing, with potentially some flips along the way.  Thus far I have been working with the listing agent on any properties that I am interested in.  I have done this b/c I've heard on other podcasts and read that by working with the listing realtor you may have a better opportunity for a deal because they will get 6% of the sale vs. just 3%. 

I've had 2 discussions with realtors in the last week and they recommend that I use 1 realtor that serves me well.  I also beleive that this is the most common approach.

To my Question: What is everyone elses approach.  Do you go to the listing agent, or do you have a go to realtors that you use almost exlucively?  Also interested in your reasoning.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Phil