All Forum Posts by: Chris Jackson

@Gerald Harris I think maybe I didn't really explain myself correctly about the 'size of the list' idea.  What I meant was when I was creating my list whether I should hit 10 towns by selecting the entire county that I want to invest in or if there is some reason why it would be better to create 10 identical lists; one for each individual town.  Does that make sense?

Hey guys!  Does anybody have a postcard template that they find works more effectively than others?

Also, I am trying to develop a list right now from Listsource.com.  Can somebody with experience tell me if it is more effective to do many smaller lists (a list for each town/city in my county) versus one bigger list (the entire county), assuming all of the criteria are equal (equity, age of owner, last sale date...)??  

@Dziko Thunde what progress have you made with this property a week ago?

Hey BP. I am about to acquire and fix up a downtown rental in a low income part of town. Could anybody give me advice on how to get certified for section 8 housing, and if there are any pitfalls I should watch for? If I apply for section 8, for example, do I Have to rent only to section 8 at that point?

Is it more difficult to get mortgages on these sorts of properties? Or easier?

Alright, you creative people. Here's my problema: I'd like to get into a 9-bedroom duplex close to my local university. I do not have the $40k needed to get into this $200k rental. Since I am not looking to fix and flip I don't want hard money to help get into the deal, right? What other ways are there to get into this deal and still cash flow? It is producing almost $3k a month.

This is some advice from experience but mostly from a podcast that I heard on BP... and a question that I don't know the answer to.

1) Can you end the tenant's M-t-M lease giving them a one-month warning? If it's a good part of town, then that is really good news, and it shouldn't be hard for you to keep it occupied.  I owned a personal residence duplex and I was always able to keep it filled without missing a month and I only ever used Craigslist.  I don't know where you live at all though.

2) Maybe be willing to accept the pets (in the future) but make sure that the owners give you an extra-large deposit when they move in, and then charge a little extra each month for Pet-Rent. These things should help you to financially be able to deal with the animals.

3) Make sure in the future when you're screening your own tenants that you do a better job than this guy did.  haha.  Get their credit scores (make them pay for this) and call their past landlords to check them out.

@John Fiastro So for right now I am going to let the duplex go. I had another investor 'accidentally' buy a triplex on auction. I am trying to get a deal to work to buy it from him for $65K. It is unoccupied and I do not plan to live in it, so the 203K isn't going to work. That being said, a local bank I am working with is willing to work with me to fund a renovation loan. They're also willing to allow me to use my unsecured line of credit for the 20% down. So this deal will be no money out of pocket to get in to. My real estate agent pulled two comps (aren't many for this sort of building) and one came back around $110 and one cam back around $180. My place is old and has no off-street parking. So I wouldn't assume it'll sell on the high-end of the scale, but I image if I am pulling in around $2,000 in rent I ought to be able to get it sold for maybe $120K? The bank also said if I do everything in-house, they wouldn't have a seasoning period on refinancing the loan. The woman I was talking to said their refinance rates on an investment and their renovation mortgages are both 3.99%, so there wouldn't be any point to refinance once the work was completed - but she's wrong, isn't she? Won't refinancing the property allow me to pay off the 20% line of credit draw which will have a much worse percentage rate than the refinance rate of 3.99%? I thought this was the BRRR strategy? Or does that not really apply when the refi has the same percent interest as the renovation?

@Abraham Saldana @Jeremy Trubenstein Thank you so much for posting your question Jeremy, and your answer, Abraham. I have always thought commercial loans were more scary and difficult to get in to. Are there commercial loans available for residential purchases too - such as duplexes, triplexes...?  I know they're not considered to actually be commercial until you hit five-plexes.  Also, how much do you have to put down?  Are there any low-down commercial loans out there? 

@John Fiastro I guess you did say 75 days, which is significantly less than 4 months. I missed that on the first read - I just read the Oct-Jan part.  So that is less daunting.  Is there any sort of delayed-payment plan for the loan since it takes so long to actually get the property rehabbed?

@John Fiastro WOW!  Thank you for all of that information!  I haven't delved into the world of 203Ks yet because my lender doesn't do them. But it sounds like what I might have to do in this case. I just talked to a local bank that will probably also finance a construction loan, similar to that but with less structure and safeguards.  Being that this could be my very first rehab, I DO like the idea of those safeguards being in place. I'll see if this bank's loan is similar to that.  

My biggest concern is the time frame!  I understand that your time frame perhaps was a little longer than normal - but I am thinking of a triplex that I am thinking about buying - and it is totally unoccupied.  I don't know if I could sit on that property for 4 months without any rent while all of the renovations are being completed.  I'd like it to maybe be a little faster than that...?  

Or is that just pie-in-the-sky from somebody who's never rehabbed a house before??