All Forum Posts by: Kelly Spafford

I'm a local investor looking for solid leads on flips in Clark County -- willing to entertain Cowlitz County as well.  I would welcome ANY leads!   Thank you ...

Very well said, @Daniel Lane.  New investor myself, with lots of questions and things to learn. The level of rancor in some of the dialogue is a bit startling - and seems completely unproductive.

Hi Alan ...

Sorry, I'm probably making it overly confusing and mixing two related topics. We put our home on the market in June with the intent of moving to acreage. We have not had any success selling it. To make it marketable, I decided to take on some short term debt. At this point, we will likely stay in our home. We have no intent of selling it for simply what we owe. I don't like debt and reasoned that it was OK in this instance because we could pay it off as soon as we sold our home (we have significant equity in the home).

So, I'm simply trying to understand how to properly view this short term debt that resulted from exercising my line-of-credit on our personal residence. Am I better off to get rid of it ...or simply service the debt for now, until I build up cash reserves. The mortgage note was simply one way I could pay off this short term debt ...but the 12% is pretty attractive and the payments are pretty solid. i.e. I'm not concerned about not collecting payments at this point. I don't like the idea of getting rid of the mortgage note ~ and would do so simply as a means of paying off my line of credit.

In terms of selling the note, my father would likely just assume the note and cash me out (for the balance of the principle).

I hope that is clearer. Sorry for the confusion.

We want to begin investing in real-estate and prepare myself financially to move in this direction.

Question ~ we took out a line of credit to make some improvements to our home about 9 months ago. We live in an upper scale neighborhood and believed we needed to make some upgrades to make it marketable. We spent about $55K. Our home has not sold and we may simply yell "uncle" and stay in the home. If the home had sold, we have plenty of equity in the home and would have simply paid off the loan. We're making interest only payments ~ and the interest is tied to prime (currently I think we're paying about 5% or so). Also, we have a small mortgage note that is earning 12% interest. The remaining principle is close to what we owe on the line of credit. Should we get rid of the note and use it to pay off the line of credit? Or, given the respectable interest rate we’re earning ~ should we keep the note and use part of the interest income to service the debt on the line of credit? We plan to began buying SFH's for rentals. It is not obvious to me what kinds of things we will run into as we began the process of trying to get financing for investments ~ and what would be the best move financially.

Advice or thoughts ?

Hello Will

Thank you for your reply. It is zoned C1, so could be used for most anything commercial; except school or church. Ultimately we would like to leverage into a home, so trying to figure out a way to extract value out (vs. keep). I like your idea of self-directed IRA owners; I had not thought of that. I do currently have it listed on Loopnet (free listing) ~ have not decided whether to pay the extra money to get broader exposure. The more I talk around, a "trade" is looking pretty challenging; for the reason you describe. In good times, the property would have sold very quickly. Obviously, if someone bought it they would not be able to get their money out quickly ~ they would likely have to buy it to add to their inventory with the intent of developing it someday (or selling it when the market comes back). Thank you again. Kelly ...

Thank you, Jim. Perhaps we can catch up some time. I'm just learning ...but, really intrigued by the potential of real-estate investing. Thanks! Kelly

Thank you, Kenneth

I appreciate the welcome. I will check out Ray's material. I need to decide how serious I am. I'm quite intrigued by all that I have read over the last couple of days. My father has been telling me for years that I should turn some of my attention to real-estate investing. With nine precious children there hasn't been a lot discretionary time. However, I'm getting to the point where I would like to learn more. Thanks again! Kelly
...

Hi all! My name is Kelly Spafford. My wife and our 9 children (no typo :D) live in southwest Washington, right across the border from Portland, Oregon. We love the Pacific Northwest! I actually stumbled across this forum, as I was scouring the internet for help and advice. As I mention in my first post below (Commercial Real-Estate Investing), my father recently acquired a piece of commercial property through a foreclosure. He told my wife and I we were welcome to use the property (after we covered his costs) to try and leverage into a larger home and acreage. With 9 children, room for a couple cows, some chickens and a large garden is starting to look pretty attractive. At any rate, I’m trying to educate myself on how I can leverage this property into a home and/or use it as a way of entering the world of commercial real-estate. I'm starting out pretty flat-footed, so any comments on my initial post below (Commercial Investing) or other suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you,
Kelly Spafford

My father recently got a piece of commercial property through foreclosure. He has offered it to my wife and I to leverage into a larger home (if we cover his costs). It is a beautiful piece of property on the freeway with stunning views of Mt. Shasta.

Questions:
1. Is selling it a rational option in this market?
2. If so, what is the most effective way to get it in front of the right audience (Hotel Developer?)
3. Alternatively, is it reasonable to consider trading for a piece of commercial property (using as an entry point into commercial real estate)?

Thank you for your help & advice.

Kelly ....