All Forum Posts by: Steven LaLonde

Hi @Elizabeth Lozier , my wife and I are investors in the Albany area. Specifically focused on SFH's and duplexes (we own a few buy and holds) in high-quality suburbs around Albany. Hard to find deals lately for us but in the process of closing on a duplex now. We grew up in the area and now live in NYC but plan to potentially relocate upstate in the coming years. Happy to stay networked with you all and best of luck!

Hi Everyone, 

I just had an offer accepted on a duplex which is listed by a realtor as an "Assignment of Contract" and they require it to be a cash deal.  I will have my lawyer review all paperwork etc., but I am just wondering:

A). If anyone has any advice or things to look out when on the buying side of an "Assignment of Contract" deal?  

B). Is there any way to require the seller to disclose to me what they acquired the contract for before planning to "assign it" to another buyer?  Property is in NY.  I want the property either way, curious more than anything. 

Thanks for any advice as I've never bought an assignment of contract deal.

Steve

Happy to network - my wife and I are in a similar boat. We own a few buy and hold SFH rentals in the general Albany area (just starting out and still learning!).

Live in NYC now but have family up in that immediate area.  Plan is to consider moving back upstate within a few years after further scaling our current rental portfolio.  

Thanks everyone for the advice and offers.  For now I am calling small / mid-size area banks and building relationships with them where possible.

Hi all,

Currently, I own a small portfolio of rental properties which are fully paid off and cash flowing well. Looking to expand now, and will need to have access to fresh capital for cash deals when they arise, I am now looking for a line of credit. After talking to several banks I realize it is hard/impossible (?) to get a HELOC against my investment properties since they're all held in LLC (even though they are paid off, etc).

My RE business/LLC was created less than one year ago, so I'm not sure it's 'seasoned' enough for traditional commercial lines of credit, as another option.

I wanted to ask if there are any other ideas for someone in this scenario (fairly newly formed LLC holding paid-off cash flowing houses, looking for ~100k LOC).

Thanks for any/all advice.

Best

SL

@Sam LLoyd I really appreciate your response and input. Needed to be inspired to keep going at it. Got to think big! At this point after more thought, I will either work my butt off in my current W2 job and try to go ultra-frugal and get #3 done without any or much financing (one more SFH). Can't shake the conservative side of me yet I guess. From there I'm envisioning a refi or 2 to pull some cash (safely considering vacancy etc) outta my owned outright properties.

At that point depending on a number of factors, maybe I can swing for something big with a lot of units since I should have a good amount of equity.  

I appreciate the thoughts!

Hi everyone,

Thanks to this forum and a personal + family network of good real estate advice, we bought our first property earlier this year, which is cash flowing very well (I think we got lucky, finding an all cash deal that needed some rehab, and renovating it for reasonable costs).  

Fast forward to today, and I have another deal tee'd up which is another SFH in a good area. The house needs nearly zero investment to be ready for tenants. Cash offer again, hoping to rent it for 1200-1300 a month.

At this point, my reserves will be pretty much wiped out for the time being, but we'll be cash flowing nearly 3k gross per month without mortgages, and looking to scale further.

As I'm now into this journey to financial freedom, I'm asking the experts for opinions on what's next. I am considering the "refi" part of thee BRRRR strategy on property #2, or both properties #1 and #2. To get into #3 and then perhaps #4 (all SFH)... but am open to other ideas. I am generally risk averse, and this is why I waited until I had significant cash reserves before getting into the game, but appreciate hearing from folks who vote for getting levered or using OPM to get there.

How do I get to 1m/yr from here (someday)? :) Seems tough to scale SFH's that way but I understand it can be done?

Hi William, 

Welcome!  I am a new investor focusing in / around Albany NY as well and just bought my first (single family).  Currently being rehab'd and getting tenants.  Maybe we can share ideas and connect at some point.  

Thanks @Jeff Rabinowitz I appreciate it - I did an LLC for this one but for future reference it's good to know that it might not be required; I'll research further.

Hi everyone,

After 4+ months of waiting, my cash offer on an investment property short sale in upstate NY was accepted!  Very excited about this and looking forward to the closing this month.

My question is really around fully protecting myself during this process, the reason-being, we're buying this short sale all-cash and the cash comprises the vast majority of my savings and liquidity.  It would be devastating to lose all or a large chunk of this.

What are the "must-do" things now to make sure we are:

-- Insured (fire etc) from the minute we take ownership?

-- Protected from any other issues that could risk losing this $

-- LLC (I'm told that's a must-do now, to get the LLC created and buy the house under the LLC)

Any help appreciated - thanks!