All Forum Posts by: Travis Beehler

 Welcome Valerie!

I agree 100% with you.  I looked at my Social Security and my 401k and thought "This isn't going to cover anything more than the basics!".

That being said, educating yourself and understanding what your goals are are key.  My personal goal is to be retired with greater than $40k a month net income per month by age 50 (I'm turning 42 in a few weeks).  I set out a series of smaller goals, and make movements towards them little by little.  I currently have 7 units, and should have an 8th by sometime in the fall.  Next year, I want to be at around 15 units.  Year after that, 25 units.  It's aggressive, but I think very doable.

That being said, what goals do you have?  Have you set out a basic plan on how to get there?  

Travis

Greetings from across the river in Vancouver!

I'll ask a better question here: Why are you looking to put $420,000 down to make a whopping $9,600 a year as your goal?? That's only 2.2% COC if my numbers are right. You could do WAY better than this deal if you've got that kind of cash available.

 Hi Alex,

One tip I will give that you almost never hear:  Keep focused and adapt when obstacles are put in your way.  I've seen WAY too many people get discouraged, give up, or think that something is "impossible" to do.  Persistence is key across any strategy that you use.

For example:  I've been told "no" by 8 banks, had 2 break in's at the same property, experienced a bank cut me off because they were bought out, and their new rules said they couldn't loan to out of state investors, had my "worth his weight in gold" property manager get cancer, recover, and move to a property management company that doesn't work with small investors like myself, ran close to out of money a few times, been jerked around by US Bank a few times, had to pay $2,000 for a CPA to do my taxes last year, etc, etc.

Any one of these events could have easily discouraged me towards getting out of the rental business.  But tenacity, and keeping my eye on the larger goal (early retirement with plenty of cash flow), has kept me in the game, and I'm glad I did.

 I fully agree.  However, #3 is tricky.  Some banks want 12 months, others 6.  There's even a bank I deal with that will do 90 days.  So, I'd say for OP to do his homework in finding that perfect bank.  Getting the Refinance part of the R's quickly is crucial in the beginning if you want to grow quickly.

Hi Jim!

The lenders I have at the moment, they only lend to their respective areas (Saint Louis, MO).  However, there are national banks that do commercial loans like US Bank.  I assume you're wanting lenders in the New York area?

Check out commercial lenders or portfolio lenders. I have a commercial lender who'll happily do what you are talking about, however, they need a seasoning of at least 6 months. I've got another lender who teased me with a 3 month seasoning timeframe. But, you'll need to set up an LLC and a few other minor things for that.

Offer her a lease, if not, I'd start the eviction process.  15 years rent free is absolutely on them, but do everything by the book for her.

Yes, everyone should be doing that. Fire any loan officer that doesn't know that. Fannie has basically three different ways of calculating cash flow; Freddie and most jumbo follow Fannie's lead. There are several ways you can arrive at the exact same number; I've found the quickest is to take gross rent, subtract recurring non-PITI expenses, divide the resulting number by 12, and subtract actual PITI from that.

If you want to argue that something is a non-recurring expense that you shouldn't be hit with, like a massive electrical upgrade, be ready with receipts and invoices. 

If you want me to use rent * 75% instead of the Schedule E calculation, because it was a BRrrrrrrrrr that so far looks like crap on your tax returns, and you REALLY want to avoid the back and forth BS with underwriting (trust me your LO hates that more than you do!), be ready with all the invoices, and ideally show me a crap ton of before and after  pics (that might be built into the photos in the purchase appraisal and then refinance appraisal, but take a dozen before/after pics from the exact same angles anyways), paired with invoices/receipts that dollar-for-dollar match your tax returns. Line 19, "Other (list)" is a great place for your CPA to put "See Stmt 1" and then Statement 1 has itemized expense (1), (2), (3), etc, that matches a bunch of invoices or receipts that you've written (1), (2), (3), etc, on, and oh look I even have before/after pics with (1), (2), (3) written on them! CPA may want to put it under "repairs" and lump it all together -- no no! We want it broken out so we can overwhelm underwriting with evidence!

 Hey Chris,

Wouldn't at some pThanks!oint a person hit the 10 loan limit?    Scratch that.  Answered my own question. :)

 No problem!  Glad to have helped!