All Forum Posts by: Ryan Allison

@Viktor Zguro you're spot on.  In my opinion, WH is good for a house hack, but as an investment, generally speaking this area doesn't have good cash flow.  If you do find a deal w/ good cash flow in WH, it's a needle in a haystack.  

Correct, @Stephen Cornell is spot on... from what i've noticed, a lot of municipalities are opting out of ADUs... but it seems like this property has the units within the SFH, not an ADU outside of the SFH.

My guess is that this is zoned as a SFH and in order to change you would need to get a variance. Tough hurdle to get over. you might be able to rent out by the room to get around this though.

Is your first deal a house hack?  Seems like a good start if it is.  If you can keep doing that, I would highly recommend it.  House hack residential properties to start....

If you find a commercial deal you like down the line, can always do a 1031 exchange and sell the residential properties that you have acquired.  Seems like the rite of passage for a lot of people.  

I'm looking at a deal where a subject to or assuming the current mortgage is in play (& honestly probably only way this would make sense)  

Anybody have experience with doing a subject to deal, especially in Connecticut?  I'm aware of the risks (due on demand language) but anything else I should be aware of?   

Congrats @William Collins, that's awesome stuff.  Were you ever nervous you weren't going to find a deal on the back end when you starting the 1031 process?  

@Greg Kasmer @Matthew Ranucci there are banks that lend on investment properties.. i've used PenFed Credit union to get up to 80% LTV. I think it depends on the type of investment property that you're trying to pull equity out of though. There is a thread on here somewhere that lists a bunch of banks that will do HELOCs on investment properties.

I prefer a HELOC as you only pay interest on the amount outstanding and the closing costs are much cheaper than a Re-fi. Re-Fi's are good too but it depends on your goal. For now I don't mind the variable interest rate w/ a HELOC but if rates ever start to creep up i'll probably lean towards doing a Re-Fi.

@Jason Piccolo take this with a grain of salt because i don't invest in commercial real estate or in Hartford.  But I can promise you that if I were to invest in Hartford, it would absolutely have to be higher than a 6 cap.  

It depends what street in that area, but generally speaking it's an OK area.  

@Roy Marks they should be but sometimes some are harder critics than others, at least in my opinion.  it also has a lot to do with timing of comps, some help and some might not.

@Roy Marks for CT, there's several real estate groups on facebook that would be a good place to start if you wanted to sell your property on your own.  

Working with an agent is ultimately your decision.  I would probably recommend one if you don't have a good pulse on the market or if you want to outsource all of the work to list the property.  If you're willing to roll up the sleeves and know what the deal is worth, in my opinion an agent isn't necessarily a must with the big perk of saving the realtor fee.  

You do need to work through a title company or an attorney since it's in CT.    

You will have to provide disclosures to the buyer, I would work with your attorney on this.  Generally speaking though, selling "as is" puts a lot of onus on the buyer to uncover issues on the property.  

As far as improvements, I'd focus on what you can do to the property to get the best ROI, every property is different in this regard. I wouldn't power wash a house that needs a substantial amount of money, why put lipstick on a pig? But if the property is in great shape and just needs a polish with a power wash / paint, that can be a great improvement and appealing for buyers. Curious what others think on roofs, but I think it's tough to get back your investment on that, unless it was an absolute necessity to make it qualify for financing. Personally, even then, I'm not sure I would do it.

If you have a cash buyer ready to roll, id work with both your attorney and the buyers attorney to get things properly under contract and close out the deal.

For pricing, agents can be a big help with this, or you can try to run comps yourself to get a feel for what the house is worth.  You can also hire an appraiser to independently evaluate what the property is worth for a fee, usually several hundred dollars.  

Does anybody have any credit unions or good lenders (licensed in FL) they recommend for competitive cash-out refinances for a SFH investment property? It seems every broker or lender I talk to seems to say that they are limited due to the FM / SM restrictions right now.

Might not be out there, but it would be awesome to get 80% LTV.

Thanks!