All Forum Posts by: Ronnie Galindo

@Rhowela Friel, I feel your pain! I did a IRRL with the VA and it cost me roughly $10k without me pulling out any money and just getting a better rate. The VA is able to give such incredible rates and lend at such a high LTV due to these fees. Have you explored the idea of re-financing into a conventional? I just did this with my property and it did one of two things for me, it let me pay lower closing costs (due to not having that huge fee from the VA) and it allowed me to free my VA entitlements.

With that said, I did get less back from my cash-out BUT.... I freed up my VA loan! So when I decide to move, I can just use my VA loan again so 0% down on the next home I buy and then my current home turns into a rental with a conventional already locked in. So there are options, just depends on what your family's needs are at this time. Hope this helps!

@Lacey A., in my opinion, there isn't a downfall of posting the rental early. The only drawback for the tenants are that people will most likely want to see it so they would have to go through the process of cleaning up the home and being away while you show it to other potential tenants. If you have a good relationship with them, then it shouldn't be a problem. The pros are that you can get someone ready to rent it prior to the old tenants leaving to minimize the loss to revenue. Also, you can allow someone else to give notice to their current landlord, which is always good. So as I see it, and I have done this in the past, there really isn't a con to posting 2 months early if the tenant will work with you!

Good luck!

@Ruark Adam Barrientos, first I have to say, great job for being on here and thinking ahead! I wish I would have done that when I was in the service. Buy as many houses as you can over your time in and once you are PCSing, refinance into a conventional if you can and then take your VA loan to a new location and purchase another home!

With that said, it all depends on your goals! Do you want to build up wealth over time and serve your 20 years, retire, and be quite wealthy? Or do you want to build up a starting portfolio and have the cashflow free you from the service? Once you have the path identified, then you will be able to choose. Lower/less desirable areas can equal more cashflow where highly desirable places will build wealth. Good luck on your choice and if you want to chat further about the subject, let me know! I would love to help a fellow service member get to where they want to go! 

@Kevin Kim, This is a great idea! Keeping properties in CA is gold when it comes to wealth building. With that said, why wait to post pictures? You can clean the place up and show what it looks like when people live there. Also, Zillow is a great tool. I use it for my rental and it can get all the info for you as well as process payments. I took pictures with all my items inside and still got 11 people to apply, some without seeing it due to the shortage of homes for rent in my area (Napa). I self manage and just use Zillow with a linked bank account just for this property. I know there are several programs out there, such as rentredi and others, but Zillow just works fine when you only have a small portfolio. Also, download Stessa. It is free and you are able to track expenses for tax purposes. Good luck and reach out if you need any further help! 

@Patrick Shep, They don't just happen. Investors make it happen. Remember we are problem solvers so solve someone's problem. With owner financing, if the person is looking for a huge lump sum for either another down-payment or purchase of a home, then this isn't a win for them. If they want to sail the world and only need a specific monthly payment, then it could work for everyone. The trick is figuring out how to make everyone a winner. Also, how you explain it will also matter. Remind them, they will become "The Bank" in this transaction and how it will be a win for them. Good luck and hopefully this helps!

@William Hairston, Hey man, Congrats on your license! I am a RE agent with eXp and I have had that same conversation with my brokerage. So the going opinion with brokers is that they would not be supportive of wholesaling because of the liability. When you are an agent, you are a fiduciary for that seller. Meaning that you have to look out for the best interest for your clients. Even though you are not taking the seller on as a client, you still owe the seller due diligence and when it comes to wholesaling, people see this as a negative action because you are telling this person you will sell their home but if you cannot find a buyer, there is no recourse for you. Only the seller loses.

My brokerage had a partnership with another company that will buy distressed properties that I can send them to and get a referral fee but it is not as much as I would wholesaling. There is another way though. There is a process called a "double close." What this is, is when you "buy" the property, then sell it right to your buyer. So you are able to "own" the property when you sell it to your buyer. You can do it without using your money if you have everything lined up. It is a very strict procedure through. I would say just check with your brokerage and do not be surprised if they are not in support of wholesaling. I hope this helps! 
   

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $98,000
Cash invested: $60,000
Sale price: $218,500

I Purchased a fire damaged property that I funded with Hard money in March 2021. Property was a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,791 square foot home that suffered a loss due to fire. I purchased it and after several hiccups and problems with the contractor I had on the job, it was finally completed and sold in October 2021.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The property was on the MLS but seemed to hit all the boxes when looking at the numbers.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found it through my agent sending me properties off the MLS. There were 40 offers on this property.

How did you finance this deal?

I put in my own money for the down payment, utilized hard money for the rest of the purchase and 80% of the rehab. I also had to come up with the rest of the rehab costs. Overall, my input was around $60,000.

How did you add value to the deal?

Full renovation to include a new roof and all new inside.

What was the outcome?

Sold the property for a $20,000 profit.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Use a contractor for one deal, stay on top of them if you have never worked with them, and ensure you get pictures of everything! This project was supposed to be a 45-60 day project. It took over 180 days due to lack of communication and stalling from contractor. Also took several re-visits from contractor as well as hiring outside help to fix problems that were found in inspections.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

At selling, I worked with Chris Bounds! I would highly recommend him to all investors in the Houston area!

@Ian Middleton sorry this took so long. I’m in the north side of Houston as well as in La Porte and Texas City.

@Jesus Roman, Thank you, that would be great. I love the idea of bonus/deduction based on time. Keeps everyone accountable. I just need someone I can check in with once a week so I don't create another job for me. Looking to downsize my working hours, not increase them! I will also have some cosmetics in the near future, the full rehabs have just been much more profitable as flips but I need to start building my actual portfolio and get rentals so cosmetics are in the near future. Please shoot me a message with your contractor if you don't mind. 

@Ian Middleton, I am doing flips in Humble, Texas City, and north Houston at the moment. I am open to several areas if the deal makes sense.