All Forum Posts by: Robert Ferrell

@Ben Wilkins Hey, thanks for the reply! Had you done any prior real estate investing before jumping into the apartment scene? Also, does it cost anything to you to work with a real estate broker when looking for a property?

I like your method on owner financing and then exiting with a refi. Other than that instance, in your experience are apartment owners generally interested in financing themselves? And is the process any more or less complicated than gaining financing from a traditional bank? If so, would you mind explaining any of the difficulties associated with owner financing?

@Jason Cohen Where can I find your podcast? Right now I am on episode 58 of the BP podcast, but I am always looking for new shows to add to my library. Especially ones pertaining to real estate!

@Vince Mejia Great! I'll be in touch. Thanks for reaching out!

Are there any apartment investors willing to talk about how they started in the apartment world, your first deal, any unexpected problems that may have arised and how you solved them, where you find your deals and especially how you finance them. 

Financing is my biggest issue. As of now I am still in the learning process, but I know that buying and holding apartment complexes is the path I want to take. So any advice would be much appriciated and all discussion is more than welcome! Thanks!

@Andrew Postell Since you encourage using one type of loan for the first deal, instead of trying to do a mixture of both, do you think it would be better to use private money or possibly even hard money to fund the entire purchase price and acquire the property, then after a few months refinance with a bank? And if you would suggest something like that, would you mind explaining how that may generally work. Such as, is it common for a bank to refinance the total amount that I would need to pay off my first financing source? And do hard money lenders even fund 100% of a deal?

@Mike McCarthy Great tip on having the lenders claim the interest as income. It makes sense, but is something I probably would have over looked.

@Andrew Postell Thanks for the reply! So when it comes to term, is there an industry standard or does it just come down to what can be negotiated? Also, is using a mix of private and conventional a good strategy, or will this eat too much into cash flow? Because my plan is to try and round up some private money, typically from friends/family for a down payment on my first property, then have a bank finance the rest. So in this case I would have a traditional mortgage payment plus a payment to any private money investors involved. And while were discussing the matter, what would you say is the best way to go about working with private money lenders, in my case at this point being close friends and family, from a legal standpoint? Should a lawyer be involved? Should I just have a simple contract written up describing the terms?

P.s. Excuse the duplicate reply. I mistagged you in the first reply and could not fix it in the edit section. 

@Andrew Postell Thanks for the reply! So when it comes to term, is there an industry standard or does it just come down to what can be negotiated? Also, is using a mix of private and conventional a good strategy, or will this eat too much into cash flow? Because my plan is to try and round up some private money, typically from friends/family for a down payment on my first property, then have a bank finance the rest. So in this case I would have a traditional mortgage payment plus a payment to any private money investors involved. And while were discussing the matter, what would you say is the best way to go about working with private money lenders, in my case at this point being close friends and family, from a legal standpoint? Should a lawyer be involved? Should I just have a simple contract written up describing the terms? 

Hey everyone!

Newbie here probably asking a very basic question, but nonetheless, I need some clarification. I am trying to figure out how the process of paying back a private money lender works. Now, I'm sure there are many different ways and or methods to structuring a payment plan with your lender, so I am open to any suggestion. 

I don't know much about how payment plans look for private money, but this is generally how I think of it, maybe someone can let me know if I'm close or way off.

So lets say I've got a rental property that brings in $1000 a month in income. After ALL expenses, I am left with a $250 cash flow. And let's say I've borrowed 10k from a private lender and we've agreed on a 10% return for them letting me use their money (so that would equal me having to pay them back 11k, right?) So would I then just subtract a portion of the cash flow to pay to that lender every month until the 11k was paid off? This is where I get confused. Any help is appriciated!

Thanks for the advice. I checked out the California state landlord tenant regulations and learned that in order for rent to be raised a 30 day written notice must be delivered if the increase does not exceed 10% and a 60 day notice if it does. The proposed rent increase is nearly 35%. We have not been given any written notice yet, it has only been proposed verbally. He said he'll write something up, but I may not worry so much until we actually recieve something.