All Forum Posts by: Steve C.

Thanks @Alexander Felice, I've been at the Foundation Room in Mandaly Bay for over 10 years now. Many locals I speak with there didn't realize you no longer need a membership to come up, but we are open to the public. Investor-friendly happy hour is 5-8 Tuesday-Thursday on apps & drinks & I'm there those days & hours. On Fridays at 6, we have a resident HOA attorney on drinking schedule until 9 that'd I'd love to introduce you to, as well as sporadic visits from some great members in the insurance industry. I'm always looking for good R/E conversation over the bar. Stop by any time, or bring some colleagues for an unofficial meet up in a nice space to converse.

Welcome Michael! Fellow bartender/investor & agent here in Las Vegas. One word of advice, knowing the industry, what ever you're going to do & where ever, be sure you're claiming those tips! Showing a track record of provable income will become key when it comes time to finance & leverage whatever property you purchase. One small piece of advice that came to me from my mentor behind the bar that become a huge part of how I know have two properties over time is pick a number. Every night you work, set that number aside out of your tips & forget about it. Over time my mentor amassed almost 200k & now owns two bars of his own in Texas. Maybe you'll need to trim lifestyle a bit, maybe not. In the end it's worth being the only one on the team that doesn't go out for $50 worth of drinks or tips on comped ones after shift. Stay focused & keep feeling out your niches. Best of luck & keep us updated!

Sarah, I just felt with a similar situation. I had a tenant who'd filed 2 years ago, due to divorce. I required 1st & last month's rent, reviewed previous rental history (no late payments), employment (horizon looks stable), and income (more than 3x monthly rent). His credit score was just over my threshold, so other than the BK, he looked ideal. We decided to go ahead and rent to him. We're less than a week into tenancy, so I don't have much to report other than both cashier's checks have cleared fine, and he is very happy with our property. I'll keep you updated. One thing I learned on here was using Cozy.co to collect payments electronically, can also report rent paid as a positive trade line. This can incentivize a tenant who had a bad situation to help them selves by paying you rent to rebuild credit. Something to consider if you otherwise feel ok with the tenant.

Maybe... Just maybe, the term resonates with a younger generation, who sees 'hacking' as manipulating for favorable result, and also happens to generally have less kids, grumpiness, and credit/income to get started investing and a lifestyle that allows house hacking to be a great option for getting started. 😉

@Cameron Norfleet, thank you & great advise. I'll be collecting landlord contact for previous 5 years & contacting every one.  One thing I've definitely learned from the 150 or so biggerpockets podcasts I've heard so far is to screen on the front end to minimize headaches on the back.  Open ended questions on the landlord's part is sage wisdom for sure.  Thank you all so much, I'm excited to be officially joining the pack!

Thank you @Lisa S., I do use Cozy.co for my background & credit reports & that's a good point about building a rental history, they also report to credit bureau for rent as a real estate trade line.  I suppose the best way to tackle this is treat it the same as if they were two unrelated co-tenants, even though dad alone qualifies. 

Thank you @Rob 

@Rob D.undefined.  I appreciate that.  Those were my feelings as well, my wife wasn't sure.

Hello all & thanks for reading. Apologies for not being on the forums for a while, I felt I'd learned all I needed to get started & now I'm screening tenants for my first rental property! I have a SFR for rent, i'm using the application from Brandon Turner's book on managing rental properties & the qualifications listed there in. I have a tenant with a 610 FICO, a recent BK from a divorce (so no debt going out each month), however he has a son over 18 who is splitting time between him and mom.

My question is, what do I do with the adult son? Background/credit? Co-sign the lease? Nothing if listed as a dependent on tax returns (did some searching on the forums already).  A little background on the tenant, he lives in the area in a rental with some serious plumbing issues & has said they're willing to let him out a month prior to lease end due to circumstances, or if they won't honor that statement, he's willing to leave early & double pay rent that month to not loose our listing. No evictions or late payments, 30k in the bank from sale of prior home, social security of rent due each month & still working bringing in 3x rent each month. I like not paying holding costs by getting it filled, but don't want to get into a situation if son may be a problem. What would you do/have you done in a similar situation?

I should mention that my PMI is there until I pay down 80% of the INITIAL purchase price, and it stands independent of 2nds or HELOCS. Also that HELOC can be taken based on Current home value. So if you've had a property for a few years paying it down, and you've been fortunate to have it appreciate, using HELOC to kill PMI would be a viable option. But again, exercise control, don't buy a boat.

One situation in which I see this being valuable, if you have a low introductory rate in your heloc, AND that low rate can be paid off prior to its expiration is if you currently have PMI on your first and you are close to paying your loan down to where the PMI will go away. PMI pays nothing down, it's an extra cost because your 1st is over maybe 80%. My first home is an excellent example. It's fixed at 3.5% for 30 years. We've been paying an extra $135.00 each month bc I like the round $1000.00 payment and want to eliminate my PMI of $124.00/month. We are now close to paying off 20% and then my payment will reduce by $124/month. If I wanted to take a heloc at a low interest rate and use it to bump my 1st below the PMI threshold, then $0.00 are going to costs that aren't interest or principal. However, in my situation we're so close I don't need the heloc to do it, I can use savings. Some may analyze their situation & realize it makes sense for them.