All Forum Posts by: Stefan D.

@Curt Smith I've got to disagree with "most or all brrrr leaves cash in the refi". I'm on my 3rd BRRRR now, the first 2 I got all my cash back out. This 3rd one I did go way over budget, so we'll see how it ends up, but I could easily get lucky on the appraisal. Maybe there is some luck involved, but it's totally possible, this rookie did it. That being said - the strategy still works if you leave some cash in the deal, as long it doesn't stop you from getting the next deal.

@Krystal Marquez I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet - but you could be using the BRRRR strategy. First you'll need about $100k (if you don't want to use hard money) - you could sell the two rentals you've got to help get you there. It should be easy enough to get two rentals a year with the BRRRR strategy, and your $2k a month in savings will help you if you go over budget while you're figuring things out.

If you or a relative has a lot of money in their 401k, doing a 401k loan is a great strategy.  Usually how it works is that the fees are very low, the interest is around 4% and you pay that interest back to yourself.  The payments are deducted from the persons paycheck.  You could essentially promise a relative a raise if you pay them an interest rate higher than 4% (or whatever the rate is).  Plus, the stock market is at a record high but the economic fundamentals are shakey - it's a good time to get out of the stock market and into other investments.  

As a disclaimer, I haven't done this myself yet, so there might be a little more to it than this, but I think definitely worth looking in to.

I don't like that the article turns this into a left vs right issue, and uses the "socialism" boogeyman - plenty of people hate landlords.  Ultimately what real estate investors need is to band together and do a better job with PR - there's plenty of investors out that provide great places to live with 0% eviction rates.  We do need to propose our own solutions to these problems though - for example increasing funding for section 8 would decrease evictions AND be less of a burden on landlords than eviction moratoriums.

@Linda Thomas It's clear from the comments here that many people (your tenant included) don't understand that masks are more for the safety of others than for the safety of the person wearing it - so it might just be a question of asking nicely and explaining that.  However if she doesn't budge just figure out a way to move past it, 6 feet of distance and open windows would keep the risk of transmission very low.  

Hey @RiChai Johnson

Congrats on the first deal!  I used to live in Pittsburgh, but now I invest there remotely, in single family homes and duplexes.  Always happy to chat real estate! 

@Kunal Lakhwani

Sorry about the tough first month.  I'll tell you my story, incase it makes you feel better: With my first property 3 years ago I ended up losing $20k in the first year - I needed a new roof and windows.  I made all sorts of rookie mistakes with the purchase, I probably should've done more research but in the end I learned a lot and I would absolutely do it again.  Now I'm up to 8 units.  Good luck with the racoon - make some calls, put in some work and figure it out, you're going to be just fine.  

All of my investing has been long distance, but I started out with two properties that I bought with a conventional loan first. That definitely taught me a few things before I moved into the BRRRR strategy.

It's 100% doable for you to start with long distance BRRRR's but it would really make everything go smoother if you had either a) experience with real estate, or b) experience managing people. If you don't have either of those you might want to consider buying a property that's in good condition first - it'll give you some experience and you can start building your team that way (real estate agent, and property manager).

I have never hired a lawyer - but it can't hurt, if that makes you feel comfortable you should do it.

Living on the West Coast is super helpful - I call all my contractors first thing in the morning before I start my normal job - it's 7am for me, but 9am for them.  

@Chris Collins I haven't been in your situation, but here are some lenders for non-conforming loans that have given me great quotes and don't seem to care as much about income: Mofin, Finance of America, 11 Capital Finance.

Good luck!

For an initial purchase or for refinancing a rented property for a BRRRR? There should be plenty of lenders out there for the latter since at that point the properties rent and debt to income ratio become the most important. I don't know anything about the former.