All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Barton

thanks @Mitch Messer for your reply.  I will take a look.  Always looking for new information.  I declined this person's request to rent to own our property.  We aren't interested in selling at this time.  We would be more interested in selling to an interested tenant than an outside person wanting to purchase.....

I have a person inquiring about renting to own one of my rental properties.  I'm not exactly sure how this works.  I'm open to the idea, but would appreciate someone with more experience than me to offer some explanation about how to conduct this operation.  I look forward to hearing from bigger pocket professionals.  

@Frank Patalano we live in oklahoma.  We invested in our home town of Muskogee, OK.  Now the fun begins, looking for a quality tenant!!! Wish us luck.

So excited, my husband and I closed on our first 2 properties this afternoon.  We're so excited to start this new venture of land lording.  Just wanted to share with my bigger pockets colleagues.  Time to celebrate before tomorrow when we start improving properties and thinking about finding the right quality tenants.  :)

@Brandon L. thank you so much, I will check these out.  My husband and I close on our first 2 properties in a week.  We are so excited but a little nervous about becoming landlords.  We need all the advice we can get and I will definitely be taking advantage of what BP has to offer.  :)

Thanks for your input. Both houses are in good neighborhoods and we got great deals on them. 1 needs more rehab than the other but we will put some effort into both!!!

What are the most cost efficient ways to force appreciation in order to refinance and pull money out of the property to pay off HELOC??? I know paint and updating fixtures, but wanted some input from the pros. Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

I can definitely relate!!! I am wanting everything to happen and happen yesterday.  I have to remind myself one day at a time and eventually we will be where we are trying to go.  So much is happening so don't forget to celebrate your small victories!!!! Having houses under contract, getting your first tenant, and so on.... best of luck and you're not alone.

Thanks all for your responses.  Putting cart before the horse may in fact be true, but here we go nonetheless.  Even with their estimation, we would still get enough money to make the down payments.  I will try to negotiate a bit, but even if I have to settle for now and take the money in order to obtain the properties then I'll do what must be done.  We will consider this a lesson learned for future purchases.  :) thanks again for all the input. 

Okay I've got a question for the professionals out there. My husband and I have applied for a HELOC to help make the down payments on our rental properties that are under contract and to help pay for the updates to the properties. Our house appraised for 157K when we bought it back in 2005, we have since refinanced our house and put it on a 15 year note and only have 92K left to pay off on our mortgage. We estimated our house to be worth around 160K and this is after many renovations that we have done since we have lived here that include: remodeled both living areas and a bathroom, new tile in the other bathroom shower, foundation repair, new A/C and heating unit, new carpet in den, new paint almost throughout, new energy efficient windows, among others. The bank sent an appraiser to our property and per my recent conversation with them estimated our house to be worth 152K. My question for the pros is this, is the appraisal value negotiable??? It's even lower than what Zillow estimates our house to be worth. Also, is it common for interest rates on a HELOC to be above 10%???? Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions. We really need this money to make our down payments on our properties.