All Forum Posts by: Sarah R Pullen

My husband and I are trying to form our goals for real estate investing over the next several years but are feeling like we need advice on what options our best based on our unique situation and objectives. I’ve tried meeting with a traditional financial advisor but they’re primarily focused on stock market investing. We’re not ready to buy yet so we don’t need a realtor or a lender. 

Is there such a thing as a real estate focused financial advisor or consultant?

My father has expressed interest in investing with my husband and I on a multi family rental property. My husband and I with our kids would live in it and house hack and manage the property. Neither my husband and I nor my father have enough cash to cover the full cost of a property so a traditional lender will still need to be part of the scenario. Since we will be residing in the property, we will also probably use a 3.5% or 5% down payment loan program.

What I can’t figure out is how to structure a deal so that my father will make a profit  within a few years. And hopefully want to invest with us again. Lol. My initial thoughts are that he would be a cosigner and provide the down payment. But he probably does not have enough to cover 20% down payment. So when it comes time to refinance in a few years and get him his money back plus profit, how would I do a cash out refinance and leave the typical 20% in the refinanced loan and be able to pay back my fathers investment plus a percentage of profit? It seems like we would have to bank on appreciation, which seems risky and not guaranteed.

I feel like there’s something I’m missing, since people do deals with private money all the time. I would love some experienced private investors to share what’s worked well for them. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

If you are running numbers on a more updated property that is in good condition and has newer roof, AC, etc. I think it is reasonable to place repairs and vacancy at 5% because things will break less and your tenants will be happier as a result, which will hopefully lead to less turnover.

Welcome, Luis! I am also newer to real estate investing and climbing over that learning curve. If you haven't already, I would really recommend listening to the BiggerPockets podcast. It's very informative and inspiring at the same time. I feel like I'm getting a college degree almost just by listening to it. 

Have you and your wife thought much about how you'd like to get started in real estate investing (multi-family units, single-family properties, flipping, wholesaling, etc)?

I think there are a couple of things worth considering here. Firstly, why is the population declining and will it continue? Did a major employer shut down, are crime rates high, does the city have an improvement or development plan on the horizon, etc. Then I think you have to decide what your primary goal is. Are you primarily interested in cash flow from tenants or is long-term appreciation more important to you. Even in small towns where the population isn't growing or is even declining, there can still be a good rental market, because people aren't as interested in buying single-family homes in a depreciating market, but they still need a quality place to live. But if appreciation is super important then this may not be the town to invest in. I know achieving both is ideal but if you're just starting out in real estate investing and hoping to do additional deals in the near(ish) future, I think cash flow is probably more important to achieve early on.

It looks like the MLS had a glitch. For a few hours that day, all multi-family listings disappeared from Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin, etc. But then showed back up again a few hours later. It really threw me off there for a minute!

Hey San Antonio people, does anyone know what just happened on the MLS with multi-family properties? I've been tracking about 10-15 multi-family units that have been sitting on the MLS for several weeks. Last night they were still for sale. This morning they are all "off-market". Did some investment firm from Cali come in and buy all of them, or something???? I would love some insight, if there is anyone out there in the know.

@Tim Herman thank you! That’s what I was afraid of.

So I'm a new investor and connected with a private lendor via a REI facebook group in my area. These are the terms of his lending. If you're an experienced investor can you help me determine if these are good terms?

Loan Terms And Conditions
This is to inform you that before you will be qualified in getting a loan from me, you will have to agree with the terms below:

1. Loan Size: 50K - $50Million+
2. Interest Rate: 4% fix
3. Lending Programs: All types of loan.
4. Prepay: No Prepayment Penalty
5. No credit check, Asset Based Lending
6. Closing in 3-5 business days
7. Collateral: All Commercial RE Property Types, including Specialty Uses and Land.
8. Repayment Type: Fixed and balloon instalment available to choose by the borrower.
9. Term: Short & Long-Term program tailored to fit different loan scenario (6 months - 30 years) with 3 month grace period before making first repayment of the loan.
10. Recourse: Recourse and Non-Recourse are available for all borrower's.
11. Loan-to-Value/Loan-to-Cost: Up to 100% of Stabilized Value is available.
12. Borrower are to provide processing fee of the loan amount upfront after pre-qualification prior to Approval which is to be refunded at the closing of the loan.

@Richard A Young is there any way that the start time could be a little later than 5:30? It’s super hard to get there by then with work ending at 5:00 and rush hour traffic.