All Forum Posts by: Terry Singh

i've been looking at condos as well and comparing it to 4-units and 8-units. on the surface condos seem appealing because property management is not involved so to speak. HOA is the property management and that alleviates a lot of things that new investors (like myself) are not familiar with, or think they can handle it or are simply not aware of what is waiting on the other side of the turn.

I think @Andrew Kerr's comments was the most helpful. 

I am looking at a condo right now and plan to call the HOA and ask them a lot of questions to get a clear sense of year over year HOA increases, how many special assessments they've had to do, how many renters they allow, is there any assurance that I can buy as an investor and get clearance to rent? I think the way they answer these questions will help me know how they really feel about renters.

Hope that's helpful to others in the same position.

Lane, did you mean to say "it just did not make sense"? 

With commercial loans, is the expectation that the buyer (me) would bring in 30%? 

I am trying to understand how to get hard-money-loans, then use this money as the down-payment and get a commercial loan for a multi-family, in the 20-50 unit range.

What is the sequence of events, that will be most helpful as starters.

i didn't realize that about having to put down 5%-10% if its a vacation home. thanks for clarifying. 

hi there i have been going over so much of what BP offers that its overwhelming. i have turned down all the noise in my head and arrived at the following starting out proposition - really looking for others who may have started out this way or can share their experience.

i have a home in southern california for 6 years. will stay for another 4-5 years more there. both my wife and i are on the deed but i have the mortgage.

TO start out, i am thinking to start the investment in southern california.

* buy a home at least 50 miles away as a vacation home. 

* one under myself and another under my wife's name.

* assuming a second-home loan applies to each of us.

* put down 3.5-5% so as to preserve my capital (for out of state for instance).

* rent it - to cover all expenses; not looking for cash-flow

* this is more for experience and confidence building

* this is a buy-and-hold, not a flip - house is newer built (2000+)

Now I know that only after finding a home and looking at everything like P+I, expenses, taxes, and rental income will someone truly be able to assert if its a "good deal" but I am more interested to know if this strategy to start out makes sense and it would be nice to hear from some folks who have done this so i know how they felt about it as they got more into investing.

thank you!

great to hear about the different stories and stresses that everyone openly talks about. as a bystander investor, reading through these help me agree with myself that having a W2 full-time makes sense while i spend hours and hours of my waking time convincing myself to go and do it.