All Forum Posts by: TJ Dittmar

On a lighter note. I am curious as to how RTR works exactly? I get the premise of buying turn key investments but how is it they can offer in some cases 0 down and mortgage rates well below current market value? I hear their ads on BP all the time but I'm just confused on exactly how it works. 

@Nathan Gesner this is amazing! Thank you for taking the time to type all of this out and break it down for me. This will take my market analysis and make it even better. For my situation I will be handling all of the properties myself. I'm currently in the saving phase right now. I'm about 70% there to have enough for a down payment. Credit and everything else is good and I'm already pre approved, have an agent to work with, and the market identified. 

I'm looking to purchase my first rental property within the next few months. What landlord software do you recommend? I'm looking for an all in one type of software where I can have a tenant portal for applicants, run background checks and credit checks, pay rent, track maintenance, as well as have a book keeping service for taxes at the end of the year. I've heard about turbotenant but I'd like to review a few options and not just go with the first one I've learned about. 

I'm a beginner and I'm looking for tips on how to perform a proper market analysis on houses to buy and hold long term and rent out.

Right now I'm looking through all the MLS websites and finding properties in locations and within my price range. Then I'm looking at the active comps in the area as well as what the market in that location has done over the past month. Then once I find a property that I like to buy I'll start looking at the comps in the area that have been rented and are currently on the market to be rented and make sure that my mortgage payment will at least break even with the rental comps.

I'm using rough estimates on Zillow and websites alike. The ones I'm very serious about I'll call and get a home owners quote and verify the current assessed taxes to give me a more accurate mortgage payment. 

Is there anything else is should be looking at? Formulas I should be using?
Pieces of information I'm missing?

From an outsider looking in and a beginner can some break down these calculations and what exactly your looking for to make a determination if this is a good investment or not? 

I am currently in the process of saving my 20% + 6 months buffer for a rental property. My target goal is $30,000 and I'm currently at $17,000. It should take me around 3-4 more months to save the additional funds. But since I'm in the learning/saving phase I'm thinking ahead on other ways to accelerate funds fast to make deals quicker. I have a W2 job and I'm already working overtime and picking up as many saturdays as I can within my current family obligations. What would be some ways to find financing that wouldn't require 20% down. 

At the end of the day I'm ok with taking the slower path of saving up the cash for the down payments and buffer but if there's a quicker way that I'm not aware of I'm open to all options. 

P.S. I can't house hack because of the family situation so I can't be approved for regular loans that require you to make the property your primary residence. 

@Jaycee Greene not quite that high I'm seeing comps in that area averaging $1300

@Jaycee Greene correct that is right in line with what I'm looking into. 

@Allie McAlister I'm looking to stay local to begin with. I have so much to learn starting out I don't want to add any unnecessary risk or headaches dealing with out of state properties or long distance rentals. 

I'm currently targeting single family and multi family properties. I'm looking at a purchase price of under $175K. I'm looking to stay away from fixer upper BUT I'm ok with general repairs and small work like paint and flooring. Something as close to turn key as possible but it doesn't need to be perfect.