All Forum Posts by: Sam T.

The privacy factor you get from a SFH is something even the nicest apartment will never be able to compete with, IMO. Having a substantially greater housing supply would in theory lower market rents in the area, but there will still always be folks who'd never consider an apartment over a SFH. I personally wouldn't sweat it too much.

@Matt Pastier Ah ok you're talking about facebook groups, got it. I'll try that, thanks a lot.

Originally posted by @Matt Pastier:

@Sam T. In addition to Zillow and other RE sites I also use Facebook and that’s how I found my last tenants. I joined a bunch of the buy/sell/trade sites in my area first. Then I put my ad in the Facebook marketplace and also had them post on the buy/sell/trade pages. I recieved WAY more responses this way vs. Zillow. You can communicate via messenger to keep it organized, and refresh the ad once a week to keep it toward the top of the listings.

 Can you give an example of a buy/sell/trade page? I'm not aware of anything like that. You mean like craigslist?

Originally posted by @Rick Momsen:

You will typically need 80% loan to value and debt to income ratio below 50%. There's one lender that goes to 85% LTV but that's the best I've seen. Your going to want to find a lender with no pre-pay penalties, many have a 2 year pre-pay penalty and low points. 2 points is pretty average right now for hard money.

 When you talk about the debt to income ratio, is this referring to just consumer/personal, non-mortgage debt? Or does that include loans on houses?

Congrats man that's awesome. Can you share how long it took between the time you found and decided you wanted to flip that last deal, looked for HMLs, and ended up getting the funds and closing? I mean was that a 1 week process or more like over a month?

What are a few good online autopay services/methods you'd suggest? I see you use eRent Payment.

Originally posted by @Jacob Cohen:

There is a meet up I was invited to in Gainesville. Couldn't make it because I work evening shift. I'll send you info in their next meet up.

 Hi Jacob, is that Gainesville meetup public? I wasn't aware of one up there but I'd definitely be interested in attending. I like that area a lot.

I live in GA but travel through Charlotte at least a couple times per month, so I'm definitely interested in attending. Are out of state investors like myself welcome? *fingers crossed*

Hey everyone, I'm in the process right now of trying to fill my first rental and I'm kind of just figuring things out as I go along, regarding the smaller details anyway. I'm starting to generate interest in my property and I don't have any formal application yet for would-be tenants to fill out and submit.

Would directing everyone to my ad on zillow and having them apply through there be a good way to go for now, as a small-time landlord? I like that tenants can pay for their own background and credit checks and do everything through there. Seems pretty simple on my end.

Any suggestions?

@Tom S. Interesting. That does help, thank you. I hadn't thought of that. Here's another question then, since I won't be buying anything until some time next year, do you think I should start working on relationships with local banks (and HML people) now, or when I'm starting to shop for deals I'd actually buy next year? I'm trying to set myself up for success as much as I can in the meantime while I'm getting my savings together.