All Forum Posts by: Ralph Justiz

When determining ARV I look for a a few things.

• Sold properties in the last 90 days
• Sold properties within a 0.5 mile radius of the subject property
• Sold properties within 20% square footage range of subject

If I can't find at least 5 properties that match this criteria I broaden days sold from 90 to 180 to more than that if necessary. If the still doesn't work I'll increase the search radius past 0.5 miles. Basically you play with the variables until you have 5 similar properties to the subject property. After that I average the price per sqft of all properties and multiply that by the subject property sqft. There's more involved then that usually when trying to determine ARV but that's a good place to start.

Any rate that someone is willing to pay is reasonable as long as both parties agree. 

I am not sure what the laws are in CT for collecting rent is but here in OK if you collect more than one payment at a time you have no recourse if something bad were to happen until after their last payment. I would still collect rent monthly if I were you just to be safe unless the rules are different in CT.

Most would say no don't purchase the buy down but if you have cash to spare and it won't affect other parts of your life I'd say do it! That being said if you plan on making extra payments on your loan or paying the loan off early the buy down would not be worth it.

That's a tough one. I'm pro buy and hold forever but there would be benefits to selling now. Sounds like you already spent money on a REFI so selling would hurt a bit but if you do sell you wouldn't have to pay any taxes on any gains from the sale. 

On the other end of the spectrum $125 bucks a month for renting out a property and having your PITI paid for by someone else is nice. $125 isn't the best cashflow but it's still enough to put back for repairs on the property and when you add in the tax benefits of owning rentals it makes the deal sweeter.

If you can sell the home and buy a better cash flowing deal or two without an HOA (assuming the townhouse has an HOA) I'd do that.

Welcome Welcome! The OKC community is thriving. Check out meetup.com if you want to plug into local groups. 99% of the people I've met are super friendly and helpful!

@Chris Hopper How many points do you charge and is there any additional fees? I've spoken with a fee lenders who have similar numbers but the points they charge are brutal.

@Marija Sparano We have 3 traditional notes and 1 owner finance note. Short term goal is increase cash flow by 2k by the end of the year. Long term goal is build up about 100K in reserves and start paying off notes to be debt free.

Honestly, I am scared of partnering with someone. Partnerships on paper are split 50/50 but thats almost never the case when it comes to practice.

1. You must disclose if you are agent and you own any portion of the purchasing entity.
2. No, you always have to disclose that you are an agent.
3. Depends on your broker.

My wife and I purchased a townhouse for 97K with 20% down. No HOA thank the heavens. We invested about 6K to get it ready to rent. It took us about 2 months to get it rented out. We rented to three roommates for $1150 a month. Learned a few lessons. Roommates are not great renters(we only rent to families now), finding tenants is easier after May, painting is more important than installing new countertops, and managing rentals is not that hard!

Loans are cheap right now. I'd recommend financing especially if buying a house might wipe out your savings. You always want to have cash on hand when investing in real estate to fix unforeseen issues. 

@Tony Castronovo It sounds like you're crushing it. I am about half way to FI. I got burnt out at work (long hours, working weekends without pay, boss was a ****) so I asked for lessened responsibilities or a raise and that didn't work for the company. My wife is a successful realtor so I decided to join her team. The only two issues I have with going full time in RE is finding affordable health insurance and traditional bank financing is at least another year out before I can qualify for it. Otherwise quality of life has improved dramatically. Thanks for engaging in the conversation.