All Forum Posts by: Taj Hayden

@Derrick ACuff  I will look into that font, thanks for the reply!

Hi BP Nation,

I'm looking at wholesaling as a way to fund future buy and hold investments. I was driving for dollars this past weekend, just looking at SFH's near my house. I looked up the addresses on pellegro.com because they have a link to the County parcel number so I can look up tax info, etc.

I focused on a "last sold date" of 10+ years ago, with the assumption that this could equate to higher equity.  My list isn't big but I wanted practice looking up properties on the King Co. website, etc. I have a spreadsheet with the following columns:

Address , Year Built, Size, Bed/Bath, Last Sale, Parcel No (as a hyperlink)., Assessed Value, Annual Taxes, Tax Address different than property addres? Rehab Estimate, Rent Estimate, ARV.

The rehab, rent and ARV figures have not been verified but I was using Pellego.com which filled this in for me (I need to read J. Scott's book on estimating rehab costs).  

Since it's such a small list I was thinking of doing some short, handwritten letters. What do you think?  Are there other columns I should add in the spreadsheet?  Thanks in advance for the input.

Taj

@Megan Hirlehey I was just speaking with a BP member about my situation which is very similar to yours. One slight difference for me is that I do plan on remodeling my kitchen as I'll turn my current house into a rental one day. We were initially talking about HELOC's due to the flexibility you mentioned and here's what the investor said:

"Have you considered doing a cash-out refi instead? You'd have a lower rate than a HELOC, and a lower payment as well which would help your DTI and enable you to do more with real estate in the future. If you're interested in going this route, try www.better.com. They're the cheapest (no origination fees!) and fastest residential mortgage company I know.

If you refi up to 80%, you can pull out HELOCs above that (even up to 100%). Sound Credit Union can do this. My entire team has utilized Sound's 100% HELOC."

FYI - Sound Credit Union is in WA but you may find a local CU that can perform this as well.  Hope it helps.

Taj

If you are new, like me, why not learn while driving (or sitting) in traffic?  I have been listening to the BP Podcasts every day for the past week and a half and I love it (you know the commute is no longer stressful when you find yourself driving slower so the podcast ends, just as you reach home).

I think it was the second podcast where the guest said her goal was to be a "boring success".  I absolutely love that.  That's like driving a 4-door sedan with 500hp under the hood....you can give it some gas when needed and otherwise just cruise down the highway.  Thanks BP and guests for producing such great content.

I have decided to work through the recommended steps in the BP Podcast 200 (step by step guide to buying your first REI). Time is on my side & this approach will allow me to:

-  Build knowledge/confidence as each step is achieved (and ultimately be ready to act when the steps have been completed)

- Force me to be specific about my REI plan and will help identify gaps I need to fill to give myself the best chance at success

-  Focus on progress, not perfection

If you haven't listened to the podcast (or downloaded the pdf they mention) I would highly recommend it.  Thank you to everyone who contributed, I greatly appreciate it!

@Jonathan R. To truly invest in my area may mean looking at condos. I would need to understand the potential concerns around those (besides HOA fees) to see if my risk-meter gets pegged or not.

@Michelle R.  The number I had in my head for true cash flow is $200/home, unit, etc.  I'm hoping that's a conservative number (that was my goal anyway) so I would need 10 homes in 2 years and 30 in 7 years to hit my goals.  I don't know what I don't know so if it takes longer it's not the end of the world, as long as I'm close to my $200/unit target.

I'm curious, are you getting +/- $200/month on your units?

@Ivan Mares I've thought about your 2nd suggestion but that much leverage makes me nervous. I expect to pay "tuition" by making some mistakes but I don't know that I want hard money to be one of them; at least not this early in the process. I would probably be more comfortable using hard money for just the rehab portion but I'm no pro at estimating ARV, getting a fair/accurate quote for rehab and ensuring it's done on time so I don't increase my carrying costs.