All Forum Posts by: William Sing

I'd talk to an HVAC company about potential solutions. They will most likely lean towards doing the more expensive thing, but ask for what potential options you would have besides ripping out everything. 

Hey @Adrian Diaz, 

Looking at the time horizon for the money and using it is a big factor. Many people will put money into real estate during inflationary periods since it holds its value better. They do the same thing for physical things like rare metals (gold, silver, etc). 

I'd ask yourself what you want to optimize and consider time/effort as a factor. You can get into rentals using a turnkey company, but you might not have as great of a return. Ask yourself what you want to optimize with the time, money, attention, risk, and then figure out the investment fits that the best. 

Hey Joshua!

Congrats on starting to learn! That in itself takes a lot. 

1) Find a Realtor/Agent. Interview them to make sure that they actually work with investors. I know BiggerPockets, in general, says to find off-market deals, which if you want to you can, but having an agent who knows what they are doing is like having training wheels and will at least get you started. Below is a list of questions I used to interview realtors. You can search BiggerPockets or Zillow, but I'd interview a handful to see who you like. They will let you know what the difference is in terms of what is a big issue vs a small issue. The realtor will most likely have connections in the local investor community as well. I am a realtor, so I am slightly biased I will admit but I bought my first property with a Realtor and transitioned into becoming an agent later. 

2) Find a lender, especially one that is well versed in VA loans AND has done multifamily deals with those loans. You can use them for small multifamily last time I checked. You can ask the realtor for recommendations or find your own! it is up to you.

Having these two people in your corner will be tremendously helpful. If you are looking to self-manage, look into local landlord associations for classes where you can learn the local laws and regulations. 

Hope this helps!

Agent Questions:

@Dustin Le for any of the permitting, I'd reach out to FasterPermits. They might be able to help you out (for a fee of course). Rob and Nate, the owners, are pretty good guys and can at least see what some timelines might be. 

1) Any advice on where to look for properties? Maybe an area I haven't considered that gives you optimism.

I would look at widening your search. Not sure if you have any location restrictions but looking in submarkets like Gresham or Tualatin would be a good area. In the PDX, I have been seeing maybe 1-2 good duplexes a month. If you are looking at Triplexes or Quadplexes, Umpqua has a really good program. You can talk to Jolin Warren there! You can check out this video going over a recent deal that is pending right now - https://vid.us/ufdif0

2) I may look into a single family prop in solid neighborhood as my entry point into investments. Good call or keep pushing the multi-family route?

I think single-family is great for starting, but just know you have a bit more competition in this market since inventory is so tight. Houses that would of sat on the market for a while are not anymore. If you can find one that needs a lot of work, you might be able to use a 203k loan (rehab loan) to fix it up. In term's of which one to go, It is more about your long-term goals. PDX is an equity market so the more you can leverage in terms of the price of the property, the more equity gains you will see that can be used to roll into the next property. 

3) If single family, is FHA loan a good idea if planning to rent out in 1-2 years from now?

For FHA you just need to live in the home for a year (I believe). I'm not a lender so double-check with someone. If you want to get more money for the DP or need additional financing I'd look at the portland housing center (https://portlandhousingcenter....). They have 6mo-2yr programs that will help you get more for your money. If you want to refinance to get the PMI (mortgage insurance) off the FHA loan, just know that the rates will most likely be higher. I'd talk to a lender when that time comes to crunch the numbers and see if it is worth it or not to get the Mortgage insurance off or not. It is more about the monthly payment in my opinion.

4) what's the best step afterwards (i.e. refinance option, etc.)

Some options you have after you do purchase any home is to get a HELOC once you get enough equity, which will not take long in this market. You can also do a cash-out refi, but crunch the numbers to see if that would work. Not sure if a 1031 exchange might be possible, but would be a good idea just to see if that is possible.

DM if you have any other questions!

For the interest usually it is around the current rate banks are providing. If you can get it lower, that would be great but would make sure that it is a fixed rate since interest rates will most likely be at least in the mid 4's. 

Hey Kaira!

I'd check out these places for forms since they have been reviewed by lawyers and are more specific to Oregon. 

https://www.multifamilynw.org/order-forms##

https://store.oregonrentalhous...

I'd also keep an excel sheet of people who do apply so that way you can keep them in order. Also, go a bit higher in terms of the rent you think it'd go for and then go down from there as some advice. You may get a lot of applicants if it is too low. 

If you don't want to go through the burden of doing everything, some property managers will just do the tenant screening and selecting process which can help. You can take over from there. 

Hope this helps!

1. Check with your local laws. There usually is a landlord association in your area that can help with this as well. In Portland, OR there is an entire process but usually, you always have to give them the option to apply. Only after they apply can you formally deny them. I have a legal form I bought from my local landlord association but it can just be a letter. 

2. Always give them the option to apply in my opinion. If they are not a good fit for any financial reason, i.e. Credit score is lower than your STATED required amount in your policy or they don't have enough income, you can reject them on that ground. If you want to keep a record of your communication, you can just use an excel sheet or a CRM if you want to be fancy. It can also be an email to yourself after the conversation as well. Whatever written internal process you want. Just write down the facts though like current income being X or such. 

Hope this helps!

Good call contacting your real estate attorney! They will have more of an idea of what options you have based on the contract you have written with the seller. 

Hey Assad, I would start looking around some new construction lenders. What they can do is finance the construction side of things and then would buy out the current loan (like a refinance). Each lender might have slightly different DTI and other requirements as well. You might want to even start with finding a builder depending on how much time you have. They usually have connections with lenders that help them out on their own projects.