All Forum Posts by: William Walker

i would keep it. 
for me it’s hard to find good rentals right now. Everyone is acting like you can find a great rental at the drop of a hat. If you sell it you’re going to have to pay realtor fees, spend time finding a new place (sounds like you don’t have time), pay closing costs, etc. yes you’ll have to keep 20% if you refi...guess what...if you buy a rental you’ll have to put 20% down. 
you know the current capex expectations and the area, sounds close enough to manage yourself. I’d keep it and keep the cash coming in. If you find another rental take the equity out of this thing 

You guys pay your tenants utilities???? What!?!?!?

I pay HOA ($100/year), otherwise tenant pays trash, water, electric, cable/internet

Someone mentioned it impacting your credit??  Nope, they put the utilities in their name, does not impact me at all. I wouldn’t want to be managing the bills for multiple rental properties. 

How fast are you able to save up reserves?

If it’s gonna take you a year to give some padding and you’ll be unable to manage a major replacement, your realtor has a point. You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re hoping everything goes perfectly smooth every month. You need some reserves for the things you don’t plan for. Quick vacancy, major repair, or other costly inconvenience could cause major problems if you don’t have some padding.
you can definitely start with multi family but be weary of the people telling you to jump right in with no contingency plan. We all want to invest and growth but you got to be smart about it to be successful 

My PM takes a small % of the late fee. If your PM takes the whole thing you should shop around. Maybe that’s what your local market dictates, maybe your PM is just garbage. 

@Shaun Weekes Thanks - that's the kind of advice I was looking for.

@Caleb Heimsoth  So kind of unrelated to this is that we are selling our current primary residence and are building a new house that will be done in 2.5 months, would likely use the rest of that cash to furnish the new place.  And I have looked at comps in the area and I really think the appropriate value is around $190,000 to $195,000, I'm worried the appraiser (who doesn't even visit the home) will look at Zillow and give us $180,00, but I'm not really familiar with that process.

So I am think about refinancing a current SFH rental property. I have been discussing it with my mortgage company and they gave me full numbers, I'm just not 100% sold on it.

I bought the property in 2015 for $134,000 and put 20% down.  Original loan was for $107,000, I currently owe $96,200.  Current interest rate is 4.25% and it's a 30 year fixed.

Prices in the area have gone up considerably, a house 2 doors down from me with the same sq. ft., not as nice inside and no garage sold within the past month for $187,000 after it was listed for $185,000.  Zestimate for my property says $180,000, I'd like to think closer to $190,00.

The mortgage company is offering me an interest rate of 4.875% (since it's an investment property and not a primary residence) for a 30 year fixed.  They have plugged in $180,000 as the value based on Zillow (don't get me started) and have put estimated closing costs at $3,342.

My new monthly payment would be $880 compared to $680 current payment.  They are giving me 75% of the value (75% of $180,000) so a total of $135,000.  After escrow and closing costs I would get $33,903 back. 

I have some credit card debt that needs to be paid off which is what I would use the money for.  Current interest rate on credit card is $20,000 at 12%, $3,300 at 13%, and $2,700 at 11%. 

The house currently rents for $1,350 so I'm ok with the increase in mortgage from $680 to $880.  Biggest question is should I jump now while home values are high, or just continue riding what I have.  Any advice is appreciated and let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks!

@Joe Prillaman I agree with the buy and hold strategy.  I just don't think the numbers make it worth keeping this one.  Our other rental we owe about 95k on the mortgage and it's worth ~185k so I think we will take some equity out of that one to buy a new rental property, sell our current abode and take that cash to pay off debt.

Hey all, looking for some help evaluating selling our current house.  We live in Wilmington, NC and have one rental that has done amazing.  We are building a new house which will be done in August and have been back and forth on renting vs selling.  I'll post the numbers below, let me know if you have any additional questions.

A realistic selling price for the house is $175,000. Our current monthly mortgage is $1,000. My wife bought the house in 2010 for $145,000 using a FHA loan. We currently owe $124,000 on the mortgage. Out of the monthly mortgage $278 is towards principal, $516 towards interest, $206 escrow. The house was built in 1997, 1,100 sq feet on .30 acres, 3 bedroom 2 bath. Roof replaced 2 years ago, HVAC replaced last year, new SS appliances 2 years ago, new wired shed, renovated bathrooms with everything new except shower and floor, new kitchen counters and sink. Realistic rental rate is $1350. The market in Wilmington is fantastic with house prices and rental rates going up. Due to the hurricane late last year there isn't much housing available so it's a great market to sell and rent.

The reason we wanted to keep it as a rental is that we already have 9 years invested into it so we are starting to make some process on the principal and we are wanting to grow our rental portfolio.  Realistically we'd be doing ok breaking even with cash flow at the end of the year, but we'd be paying off more of the principal.  If we sell we'd take the cash to furnish the new place and pay off some credit card debt that has interest >10%.  I think all signs point to selling but curious on other peoples thoughts.  Thanks!

Thanks for all the replies and education.

Talked with the builder and was more direct with questioning.  The answer is that they won't give any money towards upgrades, closing costs, or anything else for me not using a realtor.  If I use one or don't use one, it makes no difference to me financially.  

@Dmitry Shmelev Not sure if that would work with this one as it's a new build, but I'll look into it.  Appreciate the info.

@Wayne Brooks & @Tchaka Owen the building company won't contribute anything.  And finding an agent that would contribute to my closing costs would be ideal!

@Lien Vuong I wouldn't say I'm "trying to skimp" on the purchase.  I'm trying not to throw money out the window.  And I'm not considering foregoing a realtor as there is no benefit to me financially.  

If there are any realtors in Wilmington NC that know a good real estate lawyer I'd appreciate a good contact.  Thank you!