All Forum Posts by: Victor S.

Thanks for a quick reply, Michael. I will do some additional research as well. Didn't mean to derail your thread, btw. Keep us posted on this process, please.

@Michael Goodman

That's what I've read about HS. Do double-check with your guy and post back, please. I'm in the market for one as well.

You are already saddled and stressed with debt, I don't think you need an additional dose with hard money, unless the deal is one in a life time. Like Scott said, why not get your own house with 3.5% down (look for grant programs that will help you with this as well - free* money). Find something that will need work (use 203k or HomeStyle loan by FNMA) and has instant equity. Live in it for a bit, pay off what debts you can and see what happens with your property value by that time. Move out and rent this place out. Hopefully by then you'll have more cash to put down and a lot less debt to worry about. It's paramount to have as little (bad) debt as possible. 

*grants do pay your down payment, but the interest rate might be a bit higher as well, so a refinance in a year or so might be a good idea. There is no free lunch :)

Subscribed. HS loan seems the way to go, but that 60 day closing... HM lets you get it sooner, but you end up paying for it, of course. Did you find a local lender or someone online, btw?

Gift card tricks are very hard to come by nowadays since most CCs and Retailers have caught on to the manufactured spending. Paypal might be risky as well. I have thought about doing this before, but sending the cash to my brother instead, who would then send it back to me. You could definitely still utilize the balance transfer checks, though I would not max out the cards. Still a good way of extracting the cash you need for less than what HML would charge, if you have large enough credit limits.

Do find a great Realtor and/or somebody who understands property values and what "is" a good deal, not what "you" think one is. I thought one house I was looking at was great, until my realtor told me a few things about the area. It's paramount to know what people want and where they want it. Also, make sure you have an exit plan, should the property take longer to sell or not at all. 

Didn't want to create a new thread. Would rather expand on an ongoing (from the looks of it) conversation. 

Preface: I'm a total newb, but wanted to learn a new kind of investing. I did some searching around and found two different "handy men" companies below. Both seem to have good reviews and plenty of pictures of their work. Squared Away has a good rep on Angie's list, for what it's worth. Crews are small, so availability would definitely be a bottleneck.

http://www.squared-away-handyman.com/index.html

http://www.hdymanpro.com/home

Anyone dealt with them before? Any other reputable companies around that you use/used before? 

Thank you.