All Forum Posts by: Stephen Spradley

I can definitely say that while I was renting, one of the best things about moving into a new unit was the brand new carpet that the apartment complex was nice enough to put into there. Probably not a deal breaker if you don't replace it, but that's just my two cents. 

Hello BP, 

I'm wondering if somebody could answer some questions I have about HELOCs, as I've never had one before. My situation is fairly simple, I only own my primary, and bought it a little over a year ago. Because of the way the market has been this past year, I believe I have around 30-50K of equity in it. That assumption is based purely off of Zillow's estimate so who really knows, but in any case,

- Would it be wise to go ahead and obtain a HELOC on the property even if I don't plan on using it for awhile? I don't have crazy high interest debt I would pay off with it or anything like that, but it seems wise to go ahead and secure the line of credit while homes are appraising so high. I do have some renovations I would like to do later on and if I can secure a low interest HELOC right now before the market starts to pump the brakes a little bit then I don't see why not?

- Are you able to increase the line of credit if the value of your home increases? Say I get one now and the market doesn't slow down.

I'm sure more questions will come to mind as people respond, but for now I appreciate you guys taking the time to give me some advice. 

I saw DeLand come up in this post. Is DeLand really a good rental market? I grew up in the area until High school and make it back about twice a year to see family.

Hello BP. I’m extremely uneducated when it comes to air conditioning systems, and have a question about our current properties filter setup. I went to go change the filters and found two of them stacked in there. Is this normal? The depth of the filter housing does seem to be about 4 inches so I could see why they would have 2 2-inch filter put in there, but is that the most ideal way, or should I go shopping for some 4 inch filters (if they even make them)?

Hello BP, 

I'm looking for an affordable market in Florida to start acquiring some multi-families in the next few years. I'm from there, and usually make my way back at least twice a year. After some light research, Jacksonville seems like it has a sizeable MF inventory at an affordable price. This location would also work well with me since the majority of my family still resides around the DeLand/Daytona Beach area, and this isn't too far from Jville. I would love to hear some insight from local investors about the area, the good, bad, and the ugly. I would also love to connect. Feel free to leave a comment sharing your opinions about the local market, and thank you for your time. 

@Jacob Shawler

Great job! Gotta love that VA loan.

I’m just smart enough to know that I have no idea what the future holds. Call me crazy.

One strategy is to find a beat up home in a nice area,

the one with the old smelly carpets, bad paint jobs, etc. Use a nice owner occupied low or no money down loan to get into it. House hack to the extent of your comfort level to minimize expenses, and spend the year fixing it up and adding value. Rinse and repeat. It’s not as sexy as acquiring multiple units a year like you hear about on the podcasts, but it’s one of the easiest ways I’ve found to break into an expensive market and start increasing your wealth.

I would have to agree with @Brett Rosenbauer

I’ve lived in Fort Collins for a few years now. I work for a large aerospace manufacturing company here in town that moved a lot of its operations out here from California about 2 years ago, and a bunch of the guys came out here with it.