All Forum Posts by: Troy Jaster

Greetings all, I'm also a licensed agent in SA. I've lived here since 2003 and have started my own investing portfolio in the past 2 years. I'd love to connect with others in a similar mindset or space. My priority right now is finding private money. 

@Bernadeau C. We used Frost bank which is a local/regional bank in Texas. I’m not sure if they do HELOCs on investment homes.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in San Antonio.

Purchase price: $190,000
Cash invested: $19,000

This was my personal home for about 6.5 years, until December 2019. When we moved out, we turned it into a full-time rental. We also did a cash-out refi at the time of the tenant moving in.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We knew we had great equity in this house and when we moved out, we put it on the market to sell or rent because both avenues showed favorable projections. Additionally, it was our intent to use the equity (had we sold the house) to go buy the next investment property...so, the last time I checked, not selling a house is pretty similar to buying one, right? :-)

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It was a standard MLS purchase in 2013. I was not yet a Realtor, so we used a great agent, and loved living here. When we bought the house, it was not our intent to turn it into a rental but we also bought this house prior to me being introduced to BP.

How did you finance this deal?

Original purchase was a fixed rate 15 year loan with 10% down. For the stage of life that we were in when we purchased it, it was great because we slammed the principal of the loan for 6+ years. We used a HELOC on it to help flip a property in the summer of 2019. When the tenant moved in (Feb. 2020), we did a cash-out refi and now have a fixed rate 30 year note on it.

How did you add value to the deal?

After we moved out, we replaced most of the carpet, painted most of the house, repaired a stretch of the fence, and just made it look pretty again. During the time we owned it, the only sizable updates we did were HVAC (approx. $6k) and tile flooring (approx. $3.5k).

What was the outcome?

From the day we bought this house, I've loved it. It fit my family's needs for several years and was a very wise investment. Our current tenant is in the house until 5/31/21 so we'll see what the sale and rental markets look like at that time and decide how we want to move forward.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Be willing to be flexible. I was wringing my hands on whether to sell or rent this after we moved out until my investment mentor simply said, "Why don't you just try both and see what happens." I knew that the numbers looked good in both scenarios and I was too hung up on do we take the "good" route or the other "good" route. It took someone else to tell me, to basically allow the market to decide.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Myself

@Eva Dees I sent you a PM yesterday. Though my house is on Medina, I also know Canyon and the GBRA lakes very well so I can walk you through the good and bad of each. I’ve sold several homes in the Spring Branch area too.

@Eva Dees Hey there! I love your plan and would totally be willing to jump on the phone with you to share more of my experience and see if I can offer any help. I’m actually at the lake house right now, as we are most every weekend. I’ll PM you my contact info so we can schedule a call.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Lakehills.

Purchase price: $185,000
Cash invested: $25,000

This is a part-time personal vacation home on a lake that we also part-time Airbnb.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Owning a lakehouse was a long time dream for my wife and I.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Listed on MLS. It started at $240k when we first looked at it - which was too high. We kept our eyes on it as the Realtor (also owner) dropped the price a few times. It was listed in the upper $190s when we put it under contract. We were also helped by an appraiser who didn't know the area and valued it lower.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional 2nd home loan, 10% down

How did you add value to the deal?

Simple stuff. Cleaning up any random junk, painted the inside to make it more modern, add a floating dock.

What was the outcome?

Presently still using it on a regular basis with my family and friends. We also have it available for Airbnb probably less than 50% of the days during the year. We've only done it for about 13 months (2.5 of those were totally closed due to COVID) but we've nearly covered all monthly costs (mortgage, utilities, etc) for the year. So...almost free lake house? Yes please!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest challenge has just been learning how we want to use it on Airbnb. In the summer of 2019, we had a LOT of guests come through the house and it was sometimes stressful to get one group out, cleaning crew in/out, and be ready for the next one a few hours later. This year, we took the COVID break to force a slower pace. We now only allow one group of guests per week with a mandatory 2 night minimum. So far it's been better.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

ME! :-)

@Jay Hinrichs We’ve been doing plenty of that! :-)

@Jonathan R McLaughlin Thank you!

I’m a real estate agent and just bought a vacation home, our first investment property. We plan to use it for ourselves as much as possible and may pull some Airbnb action on occasion. What are some basics that I should know in regards to this first investment property?