All Forum Posts by: Tandi H.

I just wanted to follow up and mention that we used a white melamine Closetmaid system from Home Depot.  It was $99 for the basic unit that included a center 2' wide shelving tower, two rods on one side and one rod on another, for a total 10' wide closet.  We got 3 additional 4' shelves for above the rods, with brackets, for another $50.  So about $150 into the system, and it looks cleaner and took less time than buying the wood, cutting, assembling, and painting ourselves.  We'll see how it holds up but I'm pleasantly surprised.  

@Andrew Postell

Thanks Andrew for your thorough post and sorry for not responding quicker. We are going ahead with the refi, not the HELOC, for the reasons you mentioned. We certainly don't want to get into trouble. Also, we are wary of variable rates and would rather have the predictability of a 30 yr fixed.

Your point on points (lol) was great, and thanks for bringing it to my attention.  We are reevaluating whether to use points or not.  With a 9.75 year pay off, paying points probably doesn't make sense.  We want the flexibility to reappraise and refi, sell, etc, within that timeframe.

Our new home purchase and the refi are through the same lender, so they are aware of everything going on with our situation.  While we don't need the cash from the refi for the new home purchase, they were pushing to set those on the same day, Dec 21.  Is there a benefit for them with a same closing date?  Or is it convenient?  Or perhaps they want to get both loans on the books for 2017?

@Account Closed

Hi Spencer, can you elaborate? Do you have turnkeys, if so, where? Is NNN nationwide a provider?

Bumping this thread - any updates from other investors?  Is Memphis played out?  How is Kansas City doing now?  

Does anyone recommend Arizona or Nevada?  What about Utah?

OK so as I understand it, here are the pros and cons of a HELOC vs a REFI in my situation:

With a HELOC the rate is variable. Right now I saw rates listed online at 5.4%, and I'm sure that's a low offer to get people to click. So potentially 6% and going up as prime rises, which is the most likely scenario. However with a HELOC we could get up to 90% LTV - that's a lot of cash available, like $180k if our property appraises at 200K. So enough to pay cash for a flip house...very tempting. And 6% is less than borrowing 10% for private money to get an all cash deal...

The Refinance option would marginally raise our current rate, from 3.25 to 3.75%, which isn't very much. We would then have the cash in the bank. However it wouldn't be nearly as much as we could get at with a HELOC, because not only can you take out a larger amount LTV with a HELOC, but you aren't paying off your old loan, so all that is available....

There's a bit more predictability of future payments with the Refi, the HELOC makes more money available. Does that seem like a good comparison?

One issue with getting a HELOC is that we are set to close on a new property at the end of Dec which is being bought as owner occupied...wouldn't a HELOC broker see that loan in progress and ask if we were moving out of our current home, making us ineligible for a HELOC anyway?

@Corby Goade - thanks for your input on the HELOC. My only concern is that HELOC rates are higher... a quick google search shows around 5.4% right now? Does that seem accurate? I don't know that much about HELOCs, do they have a term of use and is the rate fixed for that term?

Would your advice change in these scenarios:

1.  We use the money to purchase on one or two new properties during the next couple years;

2.  It may be up to 5 years before we use it for additional purchasing properties;

3.  Money is used to remodel and expand current property and create additional rental unit in next couple years;

4.  Some is used for property and some is used for "family investments" like travel, etc., in the next couple years.

We are looking at doing a cash out refi, wondering what you think.

Currently we have a 30 yr fixed at 3.25% and we are 5 years into it, $75k left on mortgage.  Property will appraise around $200k.  So this would give us a good lump sum to reinvest into another property or other investment.  This property has been our home but we are moving and will turn this into a rental which will gross around $1200/mo.

We are being offered a 30 yr fixed at 3.75% with 1.676% points, I'll attach a screen shot of the details. This would bring our monthly payment to about $800 PITI. (Current PITI payment is at $720).

I think we would cashflow about $250-275 a month after payments.  This seems like a no brainer to me, pull out at least $130k, after paying current mortgage and closing costs ($80k) have $50K left to play with.  

It brings up the old debate about how much to pay down mortgages and how much to free up for leverage...I don't know that there's one answer to that question....but I'd be interested to see other's take.  How much equity do you like to keep in your properties?

If it matters we also bought two other properties this year so we're up to three.  Others are right around same interest rate and 10-25% down.

@Marco G. @Zach Bartelt

We are newbie investors as of this year.  I used AIM loan for the first property we purchased which closed in September, a duplex.  They beat everyone's rates by 1/2 point offering 4% and low closing costs (don't remember exact amount, but it was very low) for a 30 year fixed.  AIM was easy to work with, and prompt at responding to emails and calls.  I really appreciated that they sent frequent emails outlining each step of the loan process and indicating what step we were at and what to expect next.  

A couple weeks ago we found another place to purchase, this time a single family home that we would owner occupy.  I contacted local lenders and AIM.  Once again, they beat everyone, this time with 3.75% for a 30 year fixed.  The lowest I found was 3.875% locally (and that was only after I showed him what AIM would do, his first offer was 4%).  And we were lucky to get closing costs of only $182.00!   

They have a system where rates and closing costs (or actually the rebate that they offer on closing costs) are tracking the bond market (I'm pretty sure that's what she said)...so they will send you a live rate sheet that you can go and check as often as you want and see the closing costs change throughout the day.  For example, this morning the closing cost listed for our rate was around $1200, but a couple hours later it dropped to $182.  This is an unusually big drop and big rebate according the person I'm working with, but not unheard of.  Even last Friday the closing costs were only $580, and I thought I had missed my best opportunity...then then $182 showed up and we locked.  

Another thing I really like about AIM is that I was immediately connected back to the same agents when I called about this second loan - I haven't had to send much new info, just updated pay stubs and bank accounts.  Even though we are working together at a distance, I feel like I'm building a relationship with the two agents who have assisted me on both loans.

Now we are considering doing a cash out refi our current home, also with AIM.  I should have done this first before starting to buy a new primary, because now I am refinancing as a rental.  20/20 hindsight.  In any case, they are very clear about my options on rates and points, and they always send a live rate sheet with a wide range of loan types represented (30, 20, 15, and 10 year fixed, as well as 10/1, 7/1, and 5/1 ARMs).  Everything seems very transparent. 

When I ask them how they can offer such good deals, they explain that they deal in quantity and have low overhead.  They just have one office in San Diego and everyone that I've dealt with seems to work very efficiently.  

As you can see I'm really happy with their service and products.

We are fixing up our first property, a duplex, in a college student/young professional renter part of town.  It's a 2 Bd, 2 Ba about 1000 sq ft.  The bedrooms are pretty generous at over 13x13 each.  Not much storage in the house other than the closets in each bedroom.  One bedroom has two existing closets each about 4' wide, with a single door access to each.

In the second bedroom we are building a new closet along one wall (it didn't have any storage at all).  The closet will be 10' wide, about 31" deep.  Two sets of frosted glass panel sliding doors in front for 8' of access.  My question is what to put into the closet - do we just go with the basic shelf and hanger bar below, or put in a closet maid wire system, or ?  What do renters want and what is durable?

We are buying our first property in Abq, in the Nob Hill area. It's a duplex in a mixed SFR and multi unit area, close to Central. I'm also concerned about crime however there is a lot of new development happening in the neighborhood (pretty nice condos mainly) so I'm hoping that things are improving. We do have close proximity to UNM here which creates demand. I'm not sure what the monthly cashflow will be but I'm hoping for $250-400/mo net. If anyone else is in this area I'd be interested to hear their experience of the Nob Hill/UNM area.