All Forum Posts by: Tiana Engstrom

I enjoyed reading about your history. We have a similar story. We just relocated to Anderson, IN and love it. Own 2 houses here and 1 we are doing a complete gut on (hadn't planned that but could not leave major issues for someone else to deal with). Our current plans are buy and holds. The sheriff's sales are good to check out but can be competitive. It sounds like real estate auctions might be a good place to check.

Thank you @Eric Carr, @David Kramer, @Mike Roy and @Ross Denman for your responses.

I like the HELOC for the fact that its there when and if I need it and it will give me negotiating power by making cash offers. We really don't want to sell the CA property just yet because I think we eventually will but probably after we have more experience and can put the proceeds to better use. Our goal is to have 5 cash flowing rental properties by next year so we are not trying to scale quickly but more a slow and steady pace. We don't plan to use more than a third of our HELOC at any one time so our payments should never be outrageous and then we can refinance the property to pay back the HELOC.

@Kate Johnson Thank you for your response. You make a good point. I just worked my numbers and Santa Rosa house will cash flow well enough to cover our heloc at the worse case scenario of 17%. I'm really glad you mentioned it because it's good to think of worse case scenario and make sure you don't get caught in a bad situation.

@Phil Goodwin thank you for the reply. I do like the fact that you only pay on what you draw and it would be nice to have it sitting there in case of emergency. Thanks for the tip on the bank I will check them out.

@Michael Tripp thanks for your reply. The house here in California will be cash flowing pretty nicely once rented (which we already have a renter lined up). We don't really want to sell this property because of the area we are in (Santa Rosa) just got annexed into the city and we own just over an acre of land. We are watching all the new construction going on and know the land will be worth more in the future (and rent is higher because of the land) but right now it doesn't make sense to lot split and build due to the sky high costs.

Hello All,

We have a unique situation and I would like to get your opinions. We decided last year to move out of California and decided to move to Indiana so we went on the hunt and purchase an off market deal that was being sold under value. Since we could not move till this year we rented it out on a year lease. Now our plan is to keep our house in California as a rental. Our house in California has a loan on it for $220k but is worth about $600k and since we are still owner occupying it we are thinking of pulling out a HELOC on it so that we can use the money to purchase a couple for rental properties once we get back to Indiana or just have it available for any major future problems. We still have our jobs and look good on paper as borrowers but when we move back to Indiana we will be looking for work.

My question is the HELOC a good idea or should we do a cash out refi. or do you recommend something else.

That one was for $150k but I just called my contact at the bank and asked if they had a minimum because our next deal would probably be in the $40-$80K range she told me "it just has to be in good condition"

I'm currently located in California and I used First Merchant Bank for an investment purchase in Anderson, Indiana last August. Rate was 5.675 for a 30 year loan. I liked them and they were pretty easy to deal with. They won't loan on complete tear downs or really bad places but otherwise they seem pretty reasonable.

I would be interested but I wont be in Indiana until June.