All Forum Posts by: Scott Price

Hi John, welcome to the BP community.  I own a small multi-family in Port Orchard, so if you have any questions about that sub-market let me know any time.

Best Regards,

Scott Price

Welcome to BP, @Shaan Mathur !  Nice to see you try to regain the momentum after you sold the triplex.  I also live in the Seattle area and own multi-family properties around Washington (plus other types of real estate), so let me know if you have any questions any time.

Best Regards,

Scott Price

@Robert Szalay 

Hi Robert,

If you have sufficient income to handle your personal loan commitments plus a new mortgage on your mother's/sister's home, then you can generally co-sign as a personal guarantee on their mortgage.  Having a good credit score will help significantly there as well.  It would be analogous to the more usual situation of a parent co-signing on the mortgage of their child who does not have sufficient income or credit score for a loan, but in combination of both parent(s) + child the loan gets approved.  You are just doing that scenario in reverse regarding the generations.  In these cases, you do not necessarily need to own the property, depending upon the lender.

You should determine what DTI ratios (Debt To Income) ratios your lender will allow. They generally have two DTI values. First is the amount of PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance) mortgage payments(s) you would pay each month divided by your total monthly income (they generally prefer regular W-2 income with at least 2 years of experience in the same job or type of job). Second is all of your recurring monthly debt payments (PITI, auto loans, student loans, minimum credit card payments, etc.) divided by your monthly income.

So, as an example (specific numbers would come from your lender): a lender may allow a maximum 33% for the first DTI calculation and maximum 45% for the second DTI calculation, and they will require that you are within both ranges for both ratios. They will generally include your mother's and sister's income too (though you mentioned they don't have much/any) if there is any to add there. This can be helpful in easing the ratio requirement, so include any Social Security and other income payments they may receive.

Good luck!

Best Regards,

Scott Price

I agree with Isaac on the importance of CPAs and attorneys personally thinking and applying the latest and greatest to themselves, which they can then pass along to their clients.  Ask them to describe their type of investing and properties too, to ensure it is applicable to you plus recent.  Also:

1) Ask for at least 3 references of people with similar situations to yours.  Call every one of them, and ask about what areas the CPA/attorney could improve upon, what are their best areas of service, and how have they compared to other CPAs/attorneys in the past?

2) Are they active in any local real estate organizations?  Not imperative, but it can show involvement, interest in staying current, and connections in the field.

3) Sometimes a professional will say they "specialize" in real estate.  Then I always go to their web site, and it is incredible how many times the CPA's site just lists the normal laundry list of preparing personal and business taxes, or the attorney's site emphasizes irrelevant litigation support, estate planning, and such with "Real Estate" as bullet #20 on the generic list of 30 "specialty areas".

4) Ask investors and local REIA not only for referrals, but also ask what they have heard of your candidate if your candidate's name does not come up. This can lead to independent references that may show a fuller picture than the pre-screened references mentioned in #1 above.

5) Check independent rating and consumer protection web sites, but always take small numbers of reviews with a grain of salt (whether positive or negative).

6) Ask them how and what they would recommend for your particular situation.  Even though they won't know many specifics yet and will say as much, you can get an idea of their thinking process and how it aligns with your goals.

7) Ask where they align on the "conservative to aggressive" continuum, and ask them to provide specific examples.

8) If you are approaching an attorney for a specific scenario, then ask for specific examples of how they have addressed it in the past (not hypothetical, but real examples).  They will need to protect client privacy, but they should be able to give other specifics to tell the tale.

9) If approaching a CPA, ask how often their tax returns get audited, what has been their success rate in those audits, and how are fees handled for audits (the latter can range from "included service" to "separately billed" to "don't do").

Best Regards,

Scott Price

@Ryan Staggs 

Hi Ryan, for standard bank financing you should look into local banks and/or portfolio lenders.  They may support the non-profit's intent, or be able to point you in the right direction to another locally minded source.

I also know some of the people who have created a peer-to-community platform for providing financing specifically to non-profit organizations.  They link investors with non-profits to create non-bank-based financing opportunities at relatively lower cost to the non-profit.  You can learn details about them and their funding process at www.semble.com.

Regards,

Scott Price

@Evan Higginbotham 

Welcome to BP, Evan.  Definitely leverage that background.  Good combination to have, even if you scale your business so that you end up not doing the work yourself.  You will be able to estimate, spot good/bad deals, and "walk the talk" on rehabs.

I live in southwest Seattle and am primarily a buy and hold commercial investor, though I have done a couple flips too.

Hopefully see you at a REAPS or other Meetup in the area soon.

Best Regards,

Scott Price

@Eric B. 

Actually, medical office buildings can be an interesting investment option in the right location and with the right tenants, though you need to be prepared for extended vacancy between tenants sometimes. I own a small pure medical administrative office building and another property with 2 clinic facilities. Both have great tenants and are effectively NNN (tenant pays the bills and takes care of maintenance). My only thing coming close to "crazy stories" are from my multi-family properties, not my medical buildings. :-)

Best Regards,

Scott Price

Hi Daniel, welcome to BP!  I'm from south Seattle area, and own a variety of real estate asset classes.  Sounds like you are getting started the right way, so congratulations on taking those important first steps.  Let me know if I can ever be of assistance.

Best Regards,

Scott Price

Hi Frank,

Welcome to BP and congratulations on starting your journey!  I'm an active real estate investor living in south Seattle, currently owning multi-family, office, retail, SFRs, and land in various locations around Washington.  And I'm an active buyer for both buy & hold and flips, so add me to your buyer's list right now.  :-)

Best Regards,

Scott Price

Welcome to BP, Eric! I live in Burien just north of you, though all of my investment properties (office, medical, multi-family, retail, SFR, and land) are in other areas around the state. I'm also active in REAPS and other local investor groups.

Again, welcome!

Best Regards,

Scott Price