All Forum Posts by: Susan Maneck

It is virtually impossible to get HELOCs on rental properties anymore. I used to get mind through Wells Fargo but they don't even give them owner occupied anymore. 

When I acquired my own portfolio I did so largely by my own version of BRRR which involved paying cash for a property, fixing it up, renting it out and then a year later getting a Wells Fargo HELOC on them and using that money to buy another house. WF would offer teaser rates for the first year, but once you paid them off you could get another teaser rate. So I was playing musical chairs with them much as you might with credit card balance transfers. Unfortunately WF no longer does those HELOCs and I don't know anyone else who will do them for rental properties.

His email address is [email protected]

I can send you contact information regarding the real estate agent I currently work with. She is also my property manager and her husband is able to handle most of the repairs, which means you don't pay a lot of extra fees every time a plumber is called. Her business is called Dove Realty and her name is Katrina Hawkins.  As for real estate attorneys. I would recommend Stephen Younger. He is good for the unusual kind of closings. For a standard close I would recommend Luckett Land and Title. 

You are asking for two very different things. A real estate attorney doesn't normally take pictures for you. You would likely have to ask a real estate agent for that kind of help. 

I would think a bed and breakfast in Vicksburg would be great, although Natchez would be even better for that. I've never done a fix and flip myself, I've always stuck with BRRRR because rents were the only thing that can be counted on. Some of my best properties were often from people who tried to do fix and flip and ended up losing their shirt. The profit margin isn't that high, but I see a lot of people seem to be doing this in the area now. The people I know who made money doing other kinds of short term rentals had properties in the areas of Jackson right around the hospitals; the Belhaven and Fondren neighborhoods.

You really can't count on properties appreciating in Jackson. I bought my properties towards the end of the Great Recession which Jackson was slow to recover from. It took until the pandemic for my properties to appreciate much. The good news is that the returns in rent were always enough to make it worthwhile. 

I've always invested in the Jackson area, mostly because that is where I lived and worked and I knew the neighborhoods. I live in California, having moved here during the pandemic to take care of my 91 year old mother, but I still own a fair bit of property there. Most investors seem to prefer the area around Memphis or the Gulf, but like I said, I invest where I know. 

Is this a cash deal? Because lenders often won't loan on a property with foundation problems.