All Forum Posts by: Phil Wargo

Quote from @Carol Bahou:

Hello all  - my husband and I want to buy a second investment property in our area (Frederick, MD).  We have a primary mortgage (in Frederick) and one rental property in Bethesda, MD.  The rental property is rented until December 2024.  What are my options if we only have a small down payment when trying to buy a second rental property?  

We have some equity we could tap into in both homes, should we take a HELOC? Or is that too risky because rates are so high?

Congrats on already having a primary and have purchased your second. I'm from the DMV area as well I know properties around here are on the high side. I'd honestly just air on the side of caution with a smaller down payment. I remember buying a town house in 2013 and spent at least 4 or 5k just on repainting and repairs and the property was built in 2010. I just had a tenant move out after 9 years in a single family and spent 30-32k just on light renovations and whole hosue painting. I've thought about using a HELOC as well but ONLY if I know I can pay it off within a few months as the interest rates are fairly high. I don't know the rest of your financial picture but real estate in the DMV area is a rich man or woman's game i'd recommend getting a bigger down payment or at least be able to cover yourself for anything unexpected.

Quote from @Tim J.:

I would keep the condo, don't pay additional principal.  That's a great loan rate.  Within a few years it will be cash flowing well AND will have appreciated.  There will be frictional costs and non-monetary costs for selling it and then buying something else to replace it.

If you can't afford to throw in a thousand or two or three a year to cover your costs, maintenance, vacancy then sell it.  But if you can handle the costs without it putting a burden on you financially then definitely keep it.  

 I agree here I had a single I was upside down on I had purchased in 2005 during the previous housing sub prime euphoria.   The fact it's in DC is huge, team that with the fact you have a low mortgage rate I would try to hold on to this but invest new money in something else.   

I got into real estate investing by accident and it's totally a side hobby/gig as everything I do is for passive income as to focus on my regular job. Long story short I was only netting $300 on a single family we had purchased during the peak of the interest only era, now that same house nets me $1600 a month in cash flow after everything, increased in value substantially more, the tenant has been paying my mortgage down for years and my loan is roughly 40% of the value of the property.    Real estate is like a fine wine.... 

Quote from @Rachael Derrenbacher:

I am a first time homebuyer looking to house hack in the DC metro area. I’ve been told that Hyattsville is up and coming. I am interested in putting an offer on a new construction. 3 bedroom 3 full bath 2 half bath. It is walking distance to University Town center. What do we think of Hyattsville? Will it really up and come? And is this a good place to house hack? 

I will need the rent to pay my mortgage. Thanks!

Close to DC like that your can't lose especially if it's a new hood being build and new construction.  Your already doing the right thing looking at these forums and asking questions.  Make a move and do it if you can they'll be paying your mortgage down for you.  You'll be able to find roomates easy.  Just make sure you have a solid lease.   Definitely do some background checks, I think a good one is on apartments.com last I checked.   I've seen people with great roomates no issues but i've also seen people with absolute horror stories but everything seemed fine at first.

Hey all I know this is an old forum. Curious how things are going in Charles town WV. I have investments in Loudoun and one in Clarke County doing extremely well but bought everything in 2008-2013 and have been hibernating since..looking further out in Charles Town WV specifically because of location closer to Northern VA also the taxes are cheaper.

Quote from @John McKee:

A lot of us our sitting on the sidelines as the market has peaked and interest rates are driving us crazy.  Personally I'm still hunting for deals but realize this is going to be a difficult year to invest to make the numbers work.  I'm transferring capital into a 3 month CD for now as I continue to look at all asset types including non real estate assets.  

I know I'll get bags of crap thrown at me for this. But I think it's important to still invest with a financial advisor even while still I'm doing real estate on the side.  I know several folks including tenants and family that I have that have accumulated several millions simply by investing early with a financial advisor, and their salary really isn't anything astronomical. I stopped buying real estate in 2013 but also started with Ameriprise and even after everyone thinking the sky is falling I'm up multiple on my principal. I can also see dividend payments on several of the funds and stocks I have that if I wanted I could just transfer that into a cash account but instead I re-invest.  Obviously you get a advisor with all of this also.   Quite honestly I know people I work with that live their lives and don't pay any attention to their portfolio's the let their advisor deal with it just keeps building and building.   it's temping to sell and buy 2 or 3 more houses but for now i'm staying the course.  When the market moves the financial guru moves the sails as well.

Quote from @John McKee:

https://www.usatoday.com/story...

I'm still playing catch up here since I've had longer term tenants here in northern VA. I just had a tenant leave near end of Jan after 9 years. I decided to use the extra time to get a small kitchen renovation done and whole house painting as well as some new appliances (definitely harder to schedule prior to pandemic everyone was slammed solid) Old rent was $2040 a month now new rent is $2995 just signed a new tenant and they moving in April 1st I had lots of interest as well I probably could have went higher. I raised rent a couple years ago about 10% in few years back on my other properties, but I like to keep it below market as I'd rather have longer term tenants generally I've good luck they stay on average 3+ years. I checked comps for my other properties in Loudoun County VA and i'm still about 10-15% below market rates..

Hello all I know this thread is older. I've had pretty good luck so far in northern VA I knew the cash flow was mediocre considering how much you have to put in but the longer you sit on the properties the cash flow definitely gets much better. I've been scoping out Reston Town center pretty hard and watching listings like a hawk. I live in Loudoun and mostly invest in loudoun since I saw how much development was going on 10-14 years ago. I've stayed away from Fairfax county since the prices were always just that much higher. Recently I've been scoping out some very high end condo's in Reston Town Center with 2 spaces of garage parking great amenities and walking distance to the metro and also some great tech companies. I know WFH really killed the area especially the town center as I work nearby and it's a ghost town during the week where as pre-covid is was bustling busy. I saw some condo's that go for say around $425K but sold back in the last peak in 2005 for about $525K. I feel there will be a big push to go back to the office over next few years as we have more and more layoffs, and we'll see a rebalance of areas like this with more activity. Anyone else looking in this area? I just feel at say $425k a 2 bed 2 bath condo walking distance to the metro is undervalued and could go easily back over 2005 peaks. The cash flow is decent i'd peg it about at a 4-5% cap rate of the value of the property.

Please count me in for a meet up as well I live in Leesburg, VA. I have 2 townhouses and 1 large condo with garage in Ashburn/Leesburg area and a fairly large single family out in Berryville VA. I mostly got in around 2008-2013 and knew income is a bit lower around here but property values would go up eventually. I've been really focusing in on stocks, cryptocurrency (also started getting into crypto ASIC mining) ever since but been waiting for a big crash so I can possibly scoop up some properties a bit cheaper. I have a full time job in Tech and 3 kids but eventually would like to do the investments full time..