All Forum Posts by: Ryan Cole

Just my two cents, but it happened to me. Before I committed to getting into real estate investing, I didn't think it was very well known. After I joined BiggerPockets, listened to Podcasts daily, and talked to friends and family about it, I realized how many people are actually involved. For me, once I was awakened to RE, I then understood how many people are doing it. More of a perception vs. reality thing.

@Michael Spence I've inquired with a few banks the past 6 months, and so far none of them had said there was a closing cost to a HELOC. They said there are only closing costs with a home equity loan rather than a HELOC.

I'm by no means an expert and am just speaking on my experience talking with a few banks, but that is the only thing I noticed may not always be true.

@Edward B. thanks for the explanation on the 80%! Now that you say it, I think I have heard that before but couldn't remember how the math worked.

Following as well as this is an option for us. 

Could someone run through with some numbers? Like house appraises at 250k, have 100k in equity, and get approved for 80k line of credit in the HELOC (80% of equity)?

Also, how does the interest only payment work? My reservation is that you take money out of a HELOC to put down on a rental property, but now you have two payments (one to pay back the HELOC and one to pay the mortgage). Wouldn't that just kill most of the cash flow?

Wondering if anyone has done this. I didn't even realize this was an option, but saw today that I can take up to $6,000 out of my 401k for Hurricane relief with no paperwork or proof of hardship (and only a 10% tax rate). I live in the heart of Florida where Irma came through. The property didn't have any real major damage, but there are some upgrades I want to do. Would I be able to use this Relief withdraw for some upgrades?

Thanks!

Hi there! 

While I'm not necessarily an experienced investor (closed on my first home 2 years ago and closing on my first investment property in 3 weeks), I do have a good deal of knowledge of the area since I have lived all over Central Florida for the past 10 years along. I'll give the best advice I have:

1) For the most part, College Park is very, very nice. In my opinion, it gets nicer the more northeast you get and away from Downtown (as I feel it is in most cities). Note it is also very eclectic, a lot of artsy character. The Northern part has a beautiful golf course called Dubsdread. To the East you get closer to Rollins College, one of the nicest in the Country. Several US Presidents and political figures have spoken at Rollins, most recently Barack and Michelle Obama.

2) Depending on the property, 900-1000 should be easy. 900 would be the absolute lowest unless the place is very run down. I'd even say 1100-1150 would be possible. Rent prices have increased slightly in Orlando for every year I have been here.

3) I don't have any personal experience, but my neighbor recently relocated to California and she used Bluesky Property Management to rent out her home. She is very pleased with them and the tenants they brought it are excellent. Not sure if they go as far as College Park (I currently live about 30 miles from there), but that's the only PM company in the area that I have a personal reference for.

@Justin Stiffler your comment has made the most sense to me thus far. There is a lot of back and forth here like one is right and one is wrong. It depends on the type of investment. I'd personally love to have my self set up with five 30 yr MFH and five 15yr SFH by the time I am able to leave my job and commit to REI full time. Optimally the MFH would bring in majority of the cash flow and the SFH would provide equity to leverage when needed and then eventually in the long term add a large amount of cash flow after being paid off.

I'm very interested in purchasing these, my only question is that since these are all in PDF format, what options do you have as far customization go (such as security deposit size, move out notice, etc.)? Would this all just need to be completed on the amendment form? 

I'm under contract for my first rental property and have been going back and forth on this. Leaning towards managing myself. But just curious, do PM's just charge 10% of the rent for the most part and that covers everything? Or do they also charge a fee each time they take a call from the tenant, call a contractor, set up a repair, etc?

If I'm already paying 10% of rent to a PM, I would expect that my only other expense would be if something breaks and I have to pay for the physical work of the contractor. I didn't know about "up-charges". If you get a fee each time they do the property management piece of dealing with the tenant, what is the 10% for?

Yes that does, thank you! A very similar house our neighbor put up for lease (she got a job transfer in California) was filled by a young couple within 2 weeks. They signed at $2,000/month. Assuming I can get someone to sign on to rent at around $2,000, would you say that is solid ratio? I keep reading that new construction and single family are the least lucrative to cash flow from, but it being my first purchase, I really wanted to start with something I'm already familiar with but can still achieve cash flow.

Hi All!

Wow, what a cool community. I've been looking through BP/listening to Podcasts for several months now, and am finally starting my REI journey. I've come to my first decision I need to make, and I'd like to make a solid one to start out!

Here is my situation. The only property I own is my primary residence, but am looking at my first rental property. I have a single family home, and I owe 196k on a 236k loan with 3.75% interest. My first rental property is going to be a single family home in the same area (it is one of the hottest markets in Florida, our house appreciated 14% in the first 12 months). 

The property I am looking at is a 200k 3-2 (new construction). I'd like to do a conventional fixed rate loan. Here are my financing options:

1. Use majority of my savings (40k)

2. Refi-cashout my house (I've shopped a rate from my current lender, who estimated the appraisal at 270k and could get me about 20k minus closing costs. Only issue, they can't get me an interest rate lower than 4.4%. I prefer not to alter my solid interest rate I already have.)

3. HELOC

4. Home Equity Line of Credit

5. Combination of option 1 and option 3 or 4. 

What do y'all think? Thanks for the advice in advance! I can't wait to get more active in this community and hopefully as I gain knowledge be able to help others out as well.