All Forum Posts by: Travis Beehler

If total income and financial peace of mind are critical. Then the only point at which you should quit your w-2 job is if you are reasonably sure that you can increase your yearly return by 150+% of your gross salary with the extra hours gained by quitting. In 99.999+% of cases, that is not possible.

@Travis Beehler

My returns have been great, but I don't think my properties can be compared to the model and properties that HomeUnion currently sells.  I bought through HomeUnion when they were still selling turnkey properties and before they really got into asset management.  So the process was different, as well as the costs associated with the process.  They were certainly a professional organization, their model just didn't work as well for us as we went from passive investors to active RE entrepreneurs.  I haven't looked at their current inventory to be able to compare my properties to what they're selling these days.  I recommend reaching out to someone on their Solutions Team to discuss your questions.  They should also be able to refer you to a more recent client that has purchased through them using their current model, so you can get a better idea for what predicted vs. actuals would look like using their current model.  I hope that helps, best of luck!

Jacob

@Indra H. 

Sorry I didn't see this sooner!  I have purchased three properties with HomeUnion now and continue to work with them.  I don't work for the company but have been generally happy with their services.  For my first two properties I worked with HomeUnion to identify turnkey properties in the Cleveland market that have performed very well.  My third property is a duplex in Indianapolis that a HomeUnion agent helped me identify and negotiate on.  I'll be honest (and I've told HU this) that their new layout has put more of a burden on the investor on the front end.  This is because the investor now has to do more analysis and work in finding an investment.  They now provide much more support on the back end if you use their asset management services.  I see them as a manager for your property managers basically.  So if you have properties in multiple markets under different management, HomeUnion will be your sole point of contact.  So for truly passive property investing, they provide a great service.  

I'm now staying open to buying properties outside of HomeUnion because I think I can find better deals off market but will likely continue to work with HomeUnion for more rent ready properties.  I just don't use their asset management because at this point I don't mind working with the property managers directly.  

I hope this helps!  Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Disclosure: I don't work for HomeUnion but the company has recently started offering incentives for referrals.

Originally posted by @Travis Beehler:

Originally posted by @George P.:

Originally posted by @Ryan Billingsley:

Congrats!  What is your strategy to purchase?  Buy cash, rehab cash, rent, then refi?  Or do you leverage from the beginning?  Or something different.

Thanks

we have a LOC and use it as cash to purchase. When it runs out (lets say we get 3 with the LOC), we combine the 3 under one loan (at 75% LTV) and refill the LOC again. the LOC is at 4.5 % interest only, so the faster we pull the loan (20 yr at 4.95%), the better it is.

this way has helped us grow significantly. otherwise we would have to wait for months to save up the cash!! just last november we were at 14, i believe. i just signed the PA for #20 last week, still need a thread about that. :)

Nice work! You're right where I want to be! :) So the LOC, is it just a standard line of credit, or anything special about it?

Also, how long did it take you to go from say 1 unit to 17?  I'm always curious how people got their start in things and more importantly, how they grew to where they are. :)

 we started in the winter of 2010 and it's been a blur after the first 4. we got the first one in march of 2010. second was in  December of 2010. 

2011 - we got 2. 
2012 - we got 2.
2013 - we got 3
2014 - we got 6
2015 so far - we have gotten 5 and have 1 under contract.

we had no idea what we were doing in the beginning in terms of the person on the loans, so we were both on them, even though we could have gotten them with either of us. that slowed us down a bit since we hit 4 loans and had to find banks that could do 5-10. then we stalled again trying to find banks that could do 10 for me and 10 for wife (that's where it hurt us that both were on the loans for the first 6.

then we just said, screw it, let's look for a bank that give us a LOC. after 55 calls to local banks, i found one that took 7 of our homes under a 20yr 4.95% and gave us the LOC. that's been super helpful.

To answer a previous question, i dont like to refi and pull money out since i want to have a large cushion of equity. we can always pull money out, but i dont mind struggling and finding ways to get the next one with what we have.

i had to get 50k out of my 401k and borrow 60k from family which is being paid off now.

but nothing could have happened if we didn't have good jobs. that's why it's stupid to quit your 8-5 too early in the game.

Originally posted by @Travis Beehler:

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

@Mike Carino

  who finances homes in Detroit once your past your 4 or 10 mortgage slots.

and how does it go with appraisals... when you have so much wholesale activity.. where an investor buys a home for and in rehabbed etc  40k  and then says its worth 80k... I would have to think lenders understand there are two values there one the real value and that's the 40k and the other a paper value the 80k since NO one would pay 80k for the home.

Are there portfolio lenders in Detroit allowing people to ramp up and own 20 to 50 homes or more.. will B2R or Colony lend in these areas ?

 Once you get up into those numbers, I'd suggest looking at traditional commercial financing.  There's a TON of lenders who will be happy to lend to do, especially large national banks.  

 Hey Travis

Thanks for chiming in.  The issue Jay was pointing out is not merely in the number of units, but in where the units are located.  A lot of banks are willing to make those commercial loans in a lot of areas, but might shy away from the Detroit Metro area.  I've reached out to someone at B2R to see if they will lend in the area.  I've heard feedback both ways at this point, so I want someone from the group to answer me directly.  

Originally posted by @Ryan Billingsley:

Congrats!  What is your strategy to purchase?  Buy cash, rehab cash, rent, then refi?  Or do you leverage from the beginning?  Or something different.

Thanks

we have a LOC and use it as cash to purchase. When it runs out (lets say we get 3 with the LOC), we combine the 3 under one loan (at 75% LTV) and refill the LOC again. the LOC is at 4.5 % interest only, so the faster we pull the loan (20 yr at 4.95%), the better it is.

this way has helped us grow significantly. otherwise we would have to wait for months to save up the cash!! just last november we were at 14, i believe. i just signed the PA for #20 last week, still need a thread about that. :)

Howdy all,

I am finally closing on my first investment property tomorrow. This post might be a bit premature for a "success" story, but I'm very confident that this is a good deal. It's a 4 bed/2 bath built in 2006. Inspection shows it needs very minor repairs. There is currently a long term (>3 yr) tenant who is on section 8. She is a single mom with 6 kids. Considering this, she keeps up the place very well. The Durham Housing Authority pays the entire rent amount of $1050. Purchase price is $94,500, PITI is $530. The house is located in South Durham which is seeing a lot of growth recently, and is only about 1 mile from my house. I want to thank the BP community for the incredible amount of help/knowledge you have supplied me. Hoping to purchase my second property within a few months.

@Mike Carino

  who finances homes in Detroit once your past your 4 or 10 mortgage slots.

and how does it go with appraisals... when you have so much wholesale activity.. where an investor buys a home for and in rehabbed etc  40k  and then says its worth 80k... I would have to think lenders understand there are two values there one the real value and that's the 40k and the other a paper value the 80k since NO one would pay 80k for the home.

Are there portfolio lenders in Detroit allowing people to ramp up and own 20 to 50 homes or more.. will B2R or Colony lend in these areas ?

Why invest in real estate?

After all, there are lots of things to invest in -- stocks, bonds, precious metals, collectibles.  What makes real estate so attractive to you?  Is it because it's tangible -- you can ride by and look at your investment?  Is it because that's what you heard rich people invest in?  Because it's "passive"?

If you're already a successful real estate investor, why did you come this route?

If you're hoping to enter this field, why?  Why not all the other ways you could make money or invest your extra savings?

What are your hopes and dreams about owning investment property?

@Amadeus Hladun

Welcome to BP ... depending on what you mean by 7-figures (equity, revenue, cash-flow, etc) it is possible in Canada ... though probably easier on this side of the country.

One of the best skills you can develop as a real estate investor is patience.   A week is not a long time.  It has been almost 2-years since we last purchased a property ... simply because we cannot find anything priced such that the numbers make business sense.

You should take a little longer to get to know the local market and establish an understanding of the price points at which residential properties are currently selling. If you are looking on MLS, be advised that this is the season of hopeful pricing (spring summer).

Finally, if you see a property of interest, gather the information and carry out your analysis.  If you analysis says the property is only worth X, then decide if you wish to offer X, else move on to the next potential deal.