All Forum Posts by: Joshua Shepherd

I believe that type of loan program only allows you to have one active property in the VA loan program at any one time. You can always re-finance out of the VA and that would make that option available again I think. I am spit balling a little here, but I know FHA and RD loans also only allow you to have one property under that loan type at a time..

We currently have an FHA on one property and had to purchase our second through private investment. We are going to now re-fi the FHA and likely do another FHA once it is a conventional loan. It's like a rotating wheel of options. If you don't have good re-fi options, I would sell and get ready to invest here in Maine, market is going well if you know how to watch it and get deals.

Anyone in the state of Maine involved in private financing and been involved in investment properties as flips? My wife and I have done our first successful purchase, renovation and rental, but we are looking to flip this time in order to build capital on great deals in the area. 

I am a construction project manager myself and looking to partner with the right business mind to put finances and a plan together and make some money locally. Anyone have connections to funds for great projects? 

Thanks.

Hello Brendan, 

It sounds like you are in a perfect situation to begin a solid investing career given you build some local relationships. I have a solid group of contractors and subcontractors I can be in touch with for projects. 

I am currently finishing up the final touches on my wife and I purchasing our first duplex in the Farmingdale area with renovations that involved a 203k rehab loan. We will be looking for another project to begin very soon. I work closely with my brother who is a general contractor and I also do commercial and residential contracting as a career. I went to school for Architecture & Civil Engineering an have been researching real estate investment for over a year. I would be interested in partnering abilities and background knowledge with the right individual on a future project so we can expand as well, so please feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss any opportunities. 

Good luck with everything and I look forward to talking some time soon!!

Joshua S. 

Amy, 

Thanks for the reply and a little direction to consider. I will do as much looking in HELOC as I can because it is fairly unfamiliar to me.

I have been considering the Real estate license ever since I thought of investing. It seems to make sense to have access to all properties quicker. I have put together an excel sheet for viewing potential properties and have analyzed many. I am already wanting to explore creative financing so I am not always locked into a government loan, but Private money lending often has intense interest rates.. do you happen to know of any financial roads that would include partners? Have you ever partnered with anyone or do you operate solo?? People often talk of partnering, but no one seems to have experience doing this.. or at least having something to bring to the table other than an interest in investing.  

I had recently posted about our first successful purchase of a duplex, which we have also very quickly found a solid tenant it seems. This has spurred my thinking again immediately on the next step towards purchasing and repeating this over and over. My wife has now got the fever after the thought of our mortgage being covered by someone else which frees us up to possibly invest again very soon. 

I am not limited to duplex/triplex situations and I am seriously considering running some quick flips on single family home based on wanting to get quick cash return. What have successful flippers found in central maine helps move a house quick? Time of year factor in? Has anyone accessed or used a home refinance or a home line of credit on a current property to pull out equity for a re-investment situation/How soon can you do that after owning your home? Or can that be done.. or am I wrong in thinking this is an option?

We utilized the 203K loan on the FHA the first time around, but I want to explore other more creative money saving opportunities because the loan has high fee rates and is initially a higher cost out of pocket. Any central Maine friends have private money lending friends or connections that might be interested in getting involved with someone who does Construction Project management for a living? I could seriously see myself looking to acquire 5-10 houses/projects over the next couple years and I am looking for that ever creative way to work together with like minded and driven individuals. My biggest area of weakness at this point is understanding creative financing and Tax situations and advantages.

If I was to invest and begin acquiring properties very quickly, what would be the biggest tax decisions I will be facing and implementations I need to get in place before I make such an investment? I constantly hear how people "throw money away" when not fully taking advantage of the tax code when getting into real estate investing and want to avoid that. How important is the LLC phase of investing and when should I begin? Anyone recommend a good advisor in this area?

I know there is a lot here, but please feel free to discuss any/all of it.. Thank you! 

I have been holding off discussing this because the process we are going through on our home closing has been crazy. I am in the General Contracting Business as a Project Manager and naturally wanted to take on a renovation project on our first property. My wife and I have just gotten our clear to close on our first FHA with a 203K rehab loan attached. We have been working for a couple months to build and establish relationships with people near us to take on this renovation of our new home as well as gathering all the necessary information. It was a daunting process with lots of paperwork...

BUT, the good news is the loan has been cleared to close as of yesterday. We are signing on the 6th and we are very excited. We looked at several properties, some single families and some duplex/triplex and found most places were absolute dumps and required $60 - $80,000 investment to really get them livable. As a first property we wanted to stay away from that type of project. 

We found a great duplex and put in for the FHA loan with the 203K Rehab loan to invest a small amount to upgrade some things in the "owner's unit" where we will be staying.

Home location: Farmingdale

Price of the Duplex: $66,900

203K loan amount: $27,000

Total investment: $93,900

Unit rental $: 750 per unit/tenant pays electric and hot water is on electric. 

We were looking for the best place we could find with more cosmetic issues while cutting our living costs to a minimal amount with the ability to have a tenant pay the mortgage. Hopefully this will allow us to re-invest soon as we look forward to adding many more properties to this one and continue to refine our process. Who knows maybe the next one will be a flip?? This is kind of a test run with our GC we have chosen to do the work and the subcontractors and see how our relationships develop. 

We will be moving into one unit and renovating the other. We will do some touch up work on the unit we stay in for a bit and then transition over. We are shooting for a 4 week renovation and look forward to being settled finally in our new place. We may even have a solid tenant lined up already for when the renovation is completed. 

Just wanted to share a little of this story and adventure we are on in little old central Maine so others can chime with their unique projects and challenges they are facing. Always looking for like minded individuals who share a passion for this. Have a great 4th of July weekend all! 

I am still in searching mode myself. I have seen a few different realtors in this process already because people have been poor at getting back in a timely manner. Several have said they would "keep their eyes open for deals" in a particular property category for me.  Since these conversations, I have found several more properties popping up in the area and cycling into the market and no one has contacted me. I feel like I am doing all the following up on all the leads myself just by scouring the internet and listing sites. There are a couple interesting properties in the area for sure. I am looking for a duplex/triplex house hack situation hopefully and I am also open to some single family homes in the area for flipping/renting. What are you currently looking for?

I am currently a project manager with a construction company and I am just around the corner from making an offer on a property to get started in investing.  I have studied several areas in central Maine and feel there are several properties that could be a great deal, but would like to know how other investors have been fairing in the Waterville/Augusta/Mid-Coast Maine area. I am always open to partnering with someone who has been experienced in this area of our market. 

I have also recently been thinking a lot about getting my real estate license. I am looking to utilize all the tools I can to get the best deal I can and I am wondering how much of an upper hand do you have as a real estate agent when going and getting or finding deals?? Does this help expedite the buying process being an agent yourself? I was wondering how long this process can take (getting licensed) with the online course that is offered in this area? I have found it a little difficult up to this point in finding a good real estate agent to work with and someone who is experienced in investing and knows the market. Thanks for any feedback. 

Hello gentlemen. I am in the same boat of beginner but feeling confident things will begin moving in the right direction. I am in the Augusta area and looking at properties around central Maine. Nice to see guys from the area. 

Excellent points. I am definitely going to do more research on this topic before pulling the trigger. Thank you for bouncing some information back.