All Forum Posts by: Trevor Lohman

Thanks @Matt Devincenzo !

@Mike D. I'm a regional director for a healthcare company, most stressful job I've ever had, I feel like I've aged 25 years in 1 year lol. and @Scott French I managed to get out of school debt free, not even a car payment or credit card... lots of part time jobs, even worked nights at target... which blew by the way.

@Simon Campbell and @Rick Baggenstoss Okay this makes sense. It is a regional bank that I'm currently working with and I'm okay with 20% down. Again, I don't really like debt but I recognize some of its advantages in Real Estate Investing and I actually don't have enough cash to be 100% in anyways. Appreciate your help. I like to sound somewhat educated when I speak with these guys.

Two other questions if anyone has the time.

1.) I additionally make another 35k teaching night classes, but its contract pay... meaning my contract could cancelled any given quarter (unlikely from my perspective, but who knows). When we were looking to buy a residence out here in California I wasn't allowed to include that as part of my income. This would have been a significantly larger fha loan though so maybe thats why. Should I include those pay stubs as well?

2.) Lastly. I'm the sole owner of the llc, and I still have to sign the loan with my personal name. So am I really getting much protection from using an llc? All it will really do is sign the lease I'm going to guess. It seems a tenant could just look me up and sue me if they really wanted to. I mean I'm not planning on giving the tenant any reason to want to sue me, but it sounds like some people just like to sue people.

What do you guys think?

Hey Everyone,

I'm starting to talk to conventional lenders a bit about purchasing a SFR in the 25-40k price range. I could potentially pay for roughly half of this in cash, but am trying to finance about 75-80% or more of the deal if possible. I'm just curious what you think my chances are of qualifying for this type of arrangement based on the paperwork they're asking for.

They're looking for 2013 W2's and last pay stub of the year, my two most recent pay stubs, and a couple years of tax returns as well as a couple other things.

Currently I make over 125 thousand dollars a year which will be reflected in the three pay stubs being asked for. However, and I don't have it front of me, but I'm guessing I probably made under 15k in 2013 and roughly squat in 2012 (I was in school until June 2013 and was hired in October) which will be shown on my tax returns.

So, will conventional lenders lend to a first time investor with little work history like me? Oh one more catch, I'll be purchasing the property through an LLC. I told the lender this and it didn't really appear to change the conversation, but again, we're in the very very early stages (1 email).

Thanks for the help guys,

Trevor

Thanks @John Hostetler

I'm always amazed by the quality of advice on this website, and so much of it is actionable right off the bat. I will have an inspection done for sure, at least at first. Thanks again.

Anyone have advice on finding deals out of state? Do you really just need to put some faith in a good real estate agent or real estate agent/PM?

Also, LLC's sort of seemed like more trouble than they're worth when I was looking to possibly invest in california. But now that I'm looking to invest out of state should I reconsider. What do you out of state investors typically do?

Thanks Everyone!

@Steven J.

Thanks Steven, always good to get some validation. Appreciate the advice, youre not kidding. Even if I go all the way out to Victorville, which may as well be another state, I'm looking at 150k dollar houses in the middle of the desert. Nothing wrong with Victorville, just saying thats one of the "cheaper areas" out here.

Sweet website by the way! Is that a wordpress template or are you a web developer extraordinaire?

Hey Everyone,

So I've been starting a few threads on here lately to try and learn a bit about "passive" investment opportunities, and wow its amazing how much you can learn from this website and its members.

I'm at the point now where I think it's just time to finally become a real estate investor. I might not make the perfect first deal, but I know my 10th will be a whole lot better than my 1st, and I'll never get there if i just keep googling and reading into the late night hours.

So, I've landed on out of state income property investing... I know I know plenty of reasons why you should stay local, but even the "cheap" areas within 2 hours of me are expensive (in absolute terms), have bad demographic trends, and are a little rough (I know this last one isn't a big deal, but combined with the first two...)

So, there are a couple areas I'm interested in and have been talking to some local Property managers in the two areas I'm considering (and they're BP members which seems like a plus). I'm starting to take the first real steps towards making my first investment and thought I'd throw a couple questions out.

I had completely ruled out LLC's because in California they're more or less cost prohibitive for small investors. Should I reconsider since I'm now thinking of investing in other states? (Indiana and Tennessee)

Any tips on finding a deal out of state? Its tough to do anything but look at MLS homes with a real estate agent from way out here. What about property managers who are also real estate agents? Anything wrong with buying through your PM, assuming the deal looks good? Again as far as you can tell through pictures etc.

It seems like either way you have to put a lot of trust in your PM, which is why I'm looking to start small, but it seems if you find a good one then out of state investing (for me at least) is the way to go.

Well BP, looking forward to what you have to say.

Thanks for the feedback,

Trevor

Ooops, this got duplicated for some reason (clicked too many times). Please don't respond to this post.

Hey Everyone,

So I've been starting a few threads on here lately to try and learn a bit about "passive" investment opportunities, and wow its amazing how much you can learn from this website and its members.

I'm at the point now where I think it's just time to finally become a real estate investor. I might not make the perfect first deal, but I know my 10th will be a whole lot better than my 1st, and I'll never get there if i just keep googling and reading into the late night hours.

So, I've landed on out of state income property investing... I know I know plenty of reasons why you should stay local, but even the "cheap" areas within 2 hours of me are expensive (in absolute terms), have bad demographic trends, and are a little rough (I know this last one isn't a big deal, but combined with the first two...)

So, there are a couple areas I'm interested in and have been talking to some local Property managers in the two areas I'm considering (and they're BP members which seems like a plus). I'm starting to take the first real steps towards making my first investment and thought I'd throw a couple questions out.

I had completely ruled out LLC's because in California they're more or less cost prohibitive for small investors. Should I reconsider since I'm now thinking of investing in other states? (Indiana and Tennessee)

Any tips on finding a deal out of state? Its tough to do anything but look at MLS homes with a real estate agent from way out here. What about property managers who are also real estate agents? Anything wrong with buying through your PM, assuming the deal looks good? Again as far as you can tell through pictures etc.

It seems like either way you have to put a lot of trust in your PM, which is why I'm looking to start small, but it seems if you find a good one then out of state investing (for me at least) is the way to go.

Well BP, looking forward to what you have to say.

Thanks for the feedback,

Trevor

Ooops, this got duplicated for some reason (clicked too many times). Please don't respond to this post.

@Will Barnard Wow that is interesting. Note investing is something I've meant to read up on but it seems to be a bit harder to find info on than some of these other investing types. I'm headed to the note investing threads now! @Jerry K. and @Duncan Taylor I've purchased shares of a few agency REITs (annaly, Agency Capital), and even a physical triple net REIT (Realty Income), and have done pretty well.. are these the type of REIT's you are referring to? Or are there much smaller regional REITs that aren't publicly traded that I could become involved in? Forgive the naivety, gotta learn somewhere! Appreciate the help,

Trevor

Thank you so much everyone, this thread has been incredibly helpful for me and I am sure for many others. I still don't know exactly how I will move forward, but I am without a doubt more educated now and have many different things to read and research. @Adam Gerig Your philosophy sounds ideal. The main thing preventing me from going the turnkey route is knowing that I am instantly losing a not insignificant percentage of my original capital invested to fees. Now, obviously the turnkey provider has to make money, I just am having a hard time getting past that. While you do obviously charge a fee for your services as you should, it sounds like you see both sides of the arrangement and do your best to be transparent. I'd love to learn more about what you do if you have time. Everyone else... Holy cow, thank you for all of the feedback and advice. Best of luck to all of you!

Thanks again,

Trevor

@Will Barnard Haha yes you are correct, 25k buys you a fruit stand out here in Orange County if you're lucky. I was really hoping to do out of state deals, which may be a whole other can of worms.

Yes, I am not an accredited investor... which is really what led me to posing this question. I think your advice may be the very best way to increase the capital I have at my disposal, but I will likely just stick to saving half of my income and trying to be patient if my only options are between flipping and saving... but who knows! I will definitely try to continue soaking up all of this great guidance and advice.

Thanks,

Trevor