All Forum Posts by: Steve Clifford

Quote from @Aleksandr Shmidt:

Hi, Everyone! 

I'm new here. I'm looking to sell my house this November and would like some advice. I bought it in 2020 for $575,000 and I'd like to avoid paying taxes (legally) which is why I've held onto it this long, and lived in it this whole time. 

My question is. How come the RedFin estimate is at $811,843 and Zillow is at $676,100? The house had $112,000 invested in it by the seller that sold it to me. Completely remodeled. New roof (in 2019). 1,500 sq ft 4 bedroom 2 bath rambler with a nice private paved driveway. The house is perfect. Realistically I'd like to keep it and rent it out. But a part of me wants to sell it. Any thoughts or advice? Thanks!!! 

All the best, 

Alex 

 Hey Aleksander,

The Zestimate can be wildly off depending on all of the information that Zillow has about your home. The one true way to get the actual market value of your home is by engaging a real estate professional who is familiar with your market. A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home should be free from any Realtor in your area. I know I don't charge for mine, however, Maple Valley is a bit out of my service area unfortunately.

I always discourage anyone from a for sale by owner sale, as there is FAR more to the real estate process than most people realize.

If your Debt to Income (DTI) ratio would allow you to keep your current home, rent it out, and purchase a new home, that's the way to do it. Don't sell a piece of property unless there's a very good reason to do so. That's my opinion at least! :)

 Hey David,

I'm surprised that there hasn't been anything within a 3-4 hour drive of Seattle. Would you mind providing a few more specifics of the price range in which you're looking? I'm also happy to have a conversation privately if need be. Feel free to reach out and I would love to help you achieve your goal of owning your first rental property.

Phew you've got quite the conundrum on your hands! 

I'm a huge advocate of the HELOC, or Home Equity Line of Credit. It can usually be done at your local credit union and is usually far less expensive than a cash out refinance. This would allow you to take a HELOC out on all three homes and hopefully utilize that equity to get them to rentable condition. This would allow you to pay yourself back on the HELOC from the generated income allowing you to increase the values of the current homes without putting your personal assets/liquid cash at risk.

I hope this helps and that's 100% the route I would take if I were in your shoes. Depending on where they are, you may consider STRs and generate even quicker cash flow. You'd want them in some pretty tip-top shape if you were going to take that route though. I'm confident that if you took that route you'd be able to pay yourself back in just about half the time though. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss further. I'd be happy to help. I live in the 15th and Union area myself, so I'm very familiar with the area.

Hi guys,

I love the idea! A great way would be to take out a HELOC, or Home Equity Line of Credit, on your current home. This can easily be done through your local credit union. This allows you to access the equity you have in your home as a line of credit and pay yourself back over time. Depending on how much equity you have in your home, this could be a fantastic option to help you build your DADU and use the rental income to pay off the HELOC which is usually less expensive than a cash out refinance. I hope this helps you achieve your goal!

Hey Chris! My partner and I ran into a somewhat similar situation. We currently own our home and were looking to purchase a second home as our new primary residence. We looked at a long-term rental option and quickly realized we could get more than double that monthly rent if we went with the short-term rental situation. 

I love a HELOC for downpayment, but conventional is the way to go if you're able to come up with even 10% down. Many lenders now offer a 10% down program for investment property. If yours doesn't, get in touch with me and I can help you find a few! Having the right lender and Realtor are extremely important when navigating investment property waters.

@Jerryll Noorden Hey Jerryll. Guess I just don't get the attitude. Seems like you'd do well to learn that professionalism gets you much farther in life than whatever it is you're doing. Glad to hear your day is going well. I don't think I've needed to save face with anything I've said, considering all you have to do is double tap and text a prospect. Sorry it gets under your skin so much. :) 

@Jerryll Noorden I think you're missing the point again. This person requested information on what works for texting and calling prospects. I provided those. I guess I'm confused why that makes you so mad. I hope your day gets better, Jerryll! :) 

@Jerryll Noorden Glad you have an opinion, Jerryll. That's the beauty of providing ideas to people new to cold calling/text. Of course you want to find the people who want to sell their homes. That's literally the entire point. I think you missed the point of the original question. Best of luck out there man!

Hey Elliot. I've worked with Scott Kagi at Edge Home Finance quite a bit and he has been absolutely fantastic, not only for my investor clients, but my first-time homebuyers as well. You can reach out to me for his information and I'd be happy to provide it to you!