All Forum Posts by: Sandra Andrews

@Marek Ma Curious as to whether you ended up finding a STR property manager that you liked in Pittsburgh. I'm looking for one myself.

That's not how I started on my RE investment journey, but I would say that having a HELOC in your back pocket is always a good idea, even if you don't think you need it right away. If you don't use it, there's no down side that I'm aware of, but if the right thing investment comes along, you have cash at your fingertips.

Sounds like a great strategy. So far, I've only invested in long-term rentals but am definitely interested in STRs. However, I'm curious about your numbers. You say that the unit usually rents at $1300/mth. Is that the long-term rental rate? If so, I'm wondering whether having a STR that rents for an extra $200 more per month than it would as a long-term rental is actually worth it. I've run some numbers on a unit I own. I could definitely be running the numbers incorrectly, but for me, making an extra $100 or $200 a month doesn't seem worth the aggravation. Please tell me I'm wrong :-)

Regular finance.

 Please let me know if you know of a lender who will allow ONLY a 20% downpayment on a non-owner occupied loan.  The banks I've spoken with need 25% down these days.

Hi - I'm looking for a local lender in Pittsburgh for a duplex that I'm looking to purchase.  I would appreciate your recommendations.

Next time, not only would you check the leases, but ideally you would ask to see the tenants' lease applications and rent rolls.  Just because they have a lease doesn't mean they are paying.

I would offer cash for keys and hope that a lump sum of money is attractive enough to make them leave.

Best of luck!

@Jay Hinrichs  I'm glad that Oregon is clear with you.  I've called a couple of states before and they don't even know whether a debt buyer's license is needed when buying mortgage notes!

@Herbert Lewis Since you are a seasoned investor and know the Baltimore/Harford county area well, one thing you can do is consider continuing to invest in the area from California. So many people from California and other expensive areas invest long distance because they want to invest in areas that cash flow but they don't know the areas.  I'm not trying to put you off note investing, but if I had your experience in a particular market,  I would leverage that.

@Tracy Cummins Venmo has a weekly limit (I think its $5000) so if the rental is in a high rent area, Venmo may not work.