All Forum Posts by: Richard Phillip Lewis

Hey @John Costanza, If You need some guidance along the Jersey Shore. I have lived here all my life. My family has owned a beach front rental in manasquan all my life. We rent it in the summer and winter. Im very familiar with the STR game. There is definitely alot of great opportunity here and Id be happy to help any way I can. In 2016 I started digging more into Real Estate investing when I came across Bigger Pockets and Rich Dad Poor Dad. I went on to get my real estate license in 2018 because I like to do things myself. If I can help feel free to shoot me a text: 732-567-1441

@David Smith I live over here in Manasquan and manage a few short term rentals.  This past spring Point Pleasant Beach passed a short term rental restriction during the off season: Point Pleasant Beach Short Term Rental Restriction << This article will give you all the details. Are you in the market for a 2 Family? I would love to help if I can. Ive lived in the Manasquan area all my life and my family has managed our short term rental for decades.  

I recently came across companies like Unison.com and other Shared Equity Contract companies. They offer to give you 17.5% of the home equity in cash whether you are in your house or need money for a down payment. They dont require payments and they call it a "Co-Investment". Would you do this? 

@Shauna O'Donnell If you have found your forever home I would not sell it. I would take a cashout refinance or a HELOC and use that money to put into your next real estate investment. To access home equity you can only take out up to 80% of your home value. I have a real estate license and can do a CMA for you to help you determine your approximate value. The lender will order a home appraisal to get their number. They will also look at your DTI (Debt to Income). Banks and most lenders will lend approximately 43% of your income in debt. Total debt is current mortage and other debts plus new debt (HELOC / HEL). If you need help with comps Id be happy to send you what you need. If you want to see any homes Id be happy to help. My family has owned a STR Beach Rental in Manasquan for decades and Im very passionate about Real Estate Investing and help other achieve financial independence. Price is just a value to get into a market. In my opinion if the numbers work then then they work. Its just a matter of risk the bigger the numbers get. I think starting out under $500k would be smart. I do have some lenders that I have used that I would recommend. Let me know if you need help!

@Jason F. Dale Going is very right in your comment. I think Seaside is a great community that is slowly up and coming. However, its so remote and far removed from major economic centers that it does die in the winter. 

I live in Manasquan and have a short term rental on the beach. We rent no problem in the summer with high demand. We can also easily rent in the winter with families that are doing home improvement or to people that just want to live in Manasquan for the off season. I like Seaside as a possible opportunity, but not till it becomes more active all year round. 

@Dwayne Poster This past summer was our first summer after the renovation so we had a limited rental year. However, we cashflowed $30k. In a full year we should be able to cashflow $70,000 annually. 

@Peter Mckernan I Know thats an option, but we dont want to do that. We have lived here for 60 years and the property and location are a great part of our lives. Its the equivalent of removing your heart and asking you to live on the rest of your life for us. I get where you are coming from on an analytical side and it may come to that, but right now the goal is to keep the property and use the equity. We will see how it plays out. 

 @Andrew Thank you for the feedback. I will look into RELOC. The other challenge we have run into is the Beach property is one deeded property. Its composed of the Beach House AND a Garage Apartment. My mother and sister live in the garage apartment as their primary residence and we rent the Beach House. When a lender looks at the property they look at the property as ONE property not TWO SEPERATE Dwellings. 

Hey Everyone, 

For the past few weeks I’ve been working to find ways to get cash from our home equity. 

My family has a beach home that has about $2 million in equity built up.

I’ve come to the latest conclusion that it’s the equivalent of having a flash drive with a bunch of Bitcoin on it and I can’t find the password.

My family for too long have said we are land rich and cash poor. 2 years ago we did a cash out refi and used that cash to renovate our home and up the rent we charge on the beach house.

My name and my mothers name are both on the property. Cash out refi is in her name. Her DTI is about 50% only because of the home equity loan and the taxes. No other debts.

My DTI is 57% for my house, car and student loans. 

I have a property that will produce a nice amount of cash that I can fund with a DSCR loan. Just need the cash down to make it work.

I’ve made it my life goal to find a way to unlock our equity to benefit my family and leave a legacy portfolio for my family so we aren’t land rich and cash poor. What are some ways to unlock our equity? 

I’ve looked at companies like Unison. They offer an “Equity Investment”. They will give us cash equal to 17.5% of our home equity in exchange for shared equity contract on our house? Would you do a shared equity contract?

Are there any other ways to turn the equity into cash? 

Thank you!

Ive been digging into DSCR loans lately. Its my understading is that the ratio is just a metric that measures Debt Coverage as noted in the name. From a lender perspective they have their minimum DSCR that they are comfortable with lending and qualifying the loan for. From the Investor perspective, the higher the ratio of above the lender requirement the more comfortable I would feel about doing the deal and taking on the debt. I think its also safe to say there may be a correllation between a higher DSCR and higher cash flow. If thats the case I just spoke with a lender that discussed paying for points since the DSCR loan interest rates are higher which may be of value with a higher DSCR.