All Forum Posts by: Shawn Couch

@Bud Dwyer, I think both options may be good. You will definitely have more down payment cash if you go the route of the sale, but you will have to pay long term capital gains unless you performa 1031 exchange. A refi would likley get you enough to buy one or two financed properties in the Phoenix area. I sold my triplex there last year for about $110K and the 3 units generated about $1200/mo in gross rents. If you can buy FHA, it may make sense to pay the capital gains taxes and just buy the first owner occupied property, then buy an "investment" property. If you already own your primary residence and can't go FHA, I would consider the 1031 plan.

Both @Joey Dwyer and @Jesse T. make good points above.  San Diego property is always a good long term investment, especially if you can maintain cash flow.  However, condos aren't the most efficient way to own investment property and an assessment would hurt cash flow, but you will likely have plenty of equity to tap again in the future as well.  Maybe think of it as your future retirement residence when you "burned out" (literally) of the Phoenix heat :)

If you want, I can run comps for you too for comaparison.  Just message me

Check your email for a rent roll.

Chicago MSA (specifically NW Indiana)??  I'm sending you an email.

@Charles Cho

I would have to agree that you will get the best overall rental return in buying a 2 to 4 unit property. You should see what loan amount you can qualify for through FHA, and/or conventionally. Obviously if you have limited down payment funds, going FHA will be the better route. I've owned both SFH and units in San Diego and elsewhere and you generally will pay more per door for the house versus units, and the rent will likely be a higher precentage of return (e.g. 1% & 2% rule) when analyzing units. The flip side to that is that there is more buyer demand for the SFH so they are easier to sell when the time comes. It's the demand that drives the answer to why the SFH costs and appreciates more.

Send me a message if you want to learn more.

I'm going to Chicago, but my properties are in NW Indiana. Better taxes, better landlord laws and still a suburb of the third largest city in the USA. 40 minute drive to downtown, or you can ride the commuter train. 

@Colleen Pelliccia lavin

I live in San Diego and although I do have a rental property here, and one in Phoenix, I recently decided to search the country for the "ideal" rental home market.  I looked at Florida, Birmingham AL, Detroit, Chicago, Philly and several other areas.  My goal was to try to find a working class area and stay away from the "war zones."  I also took into consideration the property tax rates and the landlord/tenant laws.  Ease of travel was my final criteria as I figured I would need to go check up on my places from time to time.

I did a lot of recon using Bigger Pockets and that led me to some turnkey companies in many of these locations.  Unless you have someone local that you can trust to get the rehab work done, you are likely to want to go the turnkey route, with a Tenant already in place and paying rent.  You pay a bit more for these deals, but managing a rehab long distance can drive you crazy.  I did that in Phoenix, and it was very hectic.  You may be able to work out a deal with a turnkey operator to get a better deal by purchasing the homes yourself, and then paying for the work plus a fee to the operator for handling the coordination.  Paying the fee does make me cringe a little, but I have some really great deals, about a 2% gross rental return monthly, and a fair amount of paper equity from the deals I have done so far.  My partner is great and we have also done a couple of flip deals to boost our respective rental housing funds.

I closed my first 2 deals in Fall, and purchased 4 more so far this year.  I'm heading to my market tomorrow to go to an unpaid property taxes sale and then the Sherriff's foreclosure sale as well.  Hopefully I will come home with 2 or 3 good new deals.  Next on the list is to get a blanket loan to get my cash back and then try to do it all again.  I'm having a blast getting a bigger and bigger rent check every couple of months or so.

Let me know if you want any more info.

It sounds like the point of this meetup is to have one in San Diego, so I'm not sure doing it in the OC makes any sense. I like the Kearney Mesa idea for a SD meetup. I'm totally up for meeting local BP folks and seeing if we can make some deals happen together. Someone just pick a day, time n place and let's go. 

@Elle Scott, are you not renting the house out currently?  Rent in San Diego is high and so are home prices, but paying rent in SD and a mortgage in Idaho just for a write off isn't a very good use of your income.  You should check with your CPA, but if you had purchased a condo (or even better a 1-4 unit property) in Sam Diego, the larger payment would help your tax right offs better.  You should probably consider renting the house is you can get a positive cash flow, but if you made a substantial amount of equity with your deal, it may make sense to sell and redeploy your capital.  I'm happy to look at your actual numbers and scenario and give you my thoughts.  Feel free to reach out.

@Greg Downey, Make the request to your realtor, and if you can't get her to list the property for 5% total, or less, reach out to me to discuss a strategy to get the home sold for the price you need to break even.

I have an SFR I am acquiring for $525K and it needs a $100K rehab. The ARV should be about $900k. My goal is to purchase and fix the property and then refi, if needed, and keep the property. I am looking for a lender that can hopefully find a one stop hybrid loan product, or perhaps provide private money and then the permanent funding later via two separate loans.