All Forum Posts by: Zach Lemaster

@James Wise Great run down! The attraction to Poinciana from an investment perspective is the proximity to Orlando. This area is significantly less expensive than Orlando, but rents are still high and it's close enough to commute to Orlando. Many families are moving to these adjacent markets for more affordable cost of living causing high rent demand and growth. We are happy to discuss this with anyone that has any questions.

I appreciate everyone's input on this thread!  We are always here to answer any questions anyone has.

@Erik Browning for which loan product?  The 5% down credit union investor loan?  There are many unique options available, but I assume you are referring to that one.  I am not the lender, and I don't have a product matrix.  We are the seller with many different lender resources that we share with our buyers.  The buyer can ultimately use whatever lender they want.

Here is what I know on the 5% down investor loan.  We've had over 100 investors close loans with this product.

-Portfolio loan unwritten and held with local credit unions

-No pre-payment penalty and no PMI

-Non owner occupied, this is a true investment property loan, and you can do up to 5 homes at once with it!

-30 yr am, 10 yr term

-Each individual can buy up to 5 homes at one time with this product

-As little as 5% down, but you can put more down if you want to.  You can combine this 5% down option with our 10% kickback on select new build homes to actually get paid 5% to invest in a property with no money down!  That is where it gets really creative!

-Available on SFR and Duplexes

-Available in about 30 states, but not all

-Below 43% DTI, min 680 credit, rates vary based on credit, etc.

This is about all I know on this loan to the best of my memory. We've had many investors that used this product to rapidly scale their portfolio by buying more REI with less money down on each property. For example, instead of putting down 25% on one property, they put 5% down on 5 properties to spend the same amount of capital. This allows to 5X tax benefits this way, especially if doing cost seg. Obviously each person needs to determine if this is right for them & they need to actually qualify for the loan. Also, cash flow will be lower with a higher loan amount on a property. It's our goal at Rent To Retirement to bring the best turnkey deals across the country to our marketplace and to help our investors find the best financing options that meet their goals.

Hope this helps.  Reach out with any questions.

@Sara Conner Fantastic!  He will be able to give you absolute clarity on this and ensure you have a full understanding of all the different inputs/outputs for each specific deal as they all vary.  Having a call with the team to gain clarity and directly answer your questions is the best thing you can do!  We look forward to speaking with you.

@Sara Conner This is very helpful. Thanks for sharing details. The pro forma the builder put on our page shows 11.5% CoC ROI (if you look at the bottom of the page where the ROI is broken out). The 16% ROI includes the loan pay down after year one coming from the amortization schedule along with breaking out other ROI considerations. I think the other discrepancies are likely from these inputs:

-closing costs at 5% would be too high for this type of home.  We are not seeing closings costs at the $8K range on a $150K home.  You are likely about half of that if (unless you pay points to buy the rate down).  Please note the builder on this is buying the rate down for you already some.

-20% down vs 25% down will affect ROI as well.

-Property management is 0 for first year since mngt is covering that, but you would want to increase it to 8% for year 2.  However, you would also need to increase rent by 4% for year 2 since the team builds in a 4% rent increase year two.  Don't forget to increase rents over time just as you would increase maintenance, etc.

-Insurance seems accurate.  You certainly could include 5% capex, but this seller has not as the home has been recently renovated or newly built, meaning you would not expect large capital expenditures within the first 5 years at least.  I think after that timeframe it would make since to include capex.  Completely up to you of course, but on a new construction home or renovated property, the first few years should limit capex unlike a home that is not new construction or renovated.  I assume that is where a good portion of the variance is coming from.

Great job diving into the numbers on the properties as that is always good practice and allows you to better understand what numbers you want to input on the various types of assets you explore investing in.  On the RTR website under education, then tools, we have a free portfolio calculator that I highly encourage you to play around with as well as that allows you to evaluate both individual properties, but also a portfolio as a whole.  Most importantly, it helps you future project anticipated equity, cash flow and net worth based on whatever variables you want to input for things like appreciation, rental increases, loan terms, etc.  We developed this out of necessity for our own investment planning as we simply could not find a portfolio calculator online that also allowed for this.  I'm sure that will be a very valuable tool.

Hope this all helps.  Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions at all.  We are here to assist you with any properties you are looking to invest in on our site or anywhere.

To your success, 

Zach

@Sara Conner Thanks for the interest.  I would help to know exactly what numbers you are inputing into the calculator and what deals you are evaluating.  I think the majority of the confusion likely comes from the fact that most all of the builders that have inventory on our marketplace are offering unique incentives like extensive rate buy downs, free PM & maintenance guarantees, up to 10% price reductions or up to 10% cash back, etc.  Things like that are often challenging to translate exactly to a rental calculator if you are not quite sure how to input these details.  So it would help to know the specific numbers and exact property you are considering so we can help you identify what numbers may be input incorrectly.  We are here to help however we can. 

I also forgot to mention that Rent To Retirement Academy members get access to biweekly group coaching calls, our private Academy group, and biweekly presentations from industry experts.  This is everything from tax, to legal, SDIRA/Solo 401(k), creative financing, market updates, software, mngt, etc.  We call these SME webinars that are live every other week where members can engage with these professionals to get all their questions answered.  Just some additional value the Rent To Retirement Academy members receive.  As you can see here from Dennis, there are many Academy members that are crushing their goals and very excited about their progress!  At the end of the day, it's all about taking action consistently towards your goals!  If you need structured education, coaching and guidance to do that, then I would argue there is tremendous value to participate in a program like the Academy that aligns with your goals.

@Dennis Dougherty Thank you for the detailed review. It is great that you took the time to share your experience. Most importantly, it's great to hear that you found value in the tools and resources we spent years putting together in an organized fashion to help newer investors both start and continue to expand their investment portfolios. I'm sure the BP community would love to be updated on your continued progress and we encourage you to continue to network and collaborate with other investors. Real estate investing is a lifelong journey! Just know that like any online forum, there are many people that will question and challenge you. Not necessarily a bad thing, but don't let it deter you from the goals you've set out to accomplish. Advice is best received from those that truly understand your goals and from those that have accomplished something similar to what you want to achieve.

@V.G Jason

thanks for the input, but why not be supportive of Dennis?  Myself and the Rent To Retirement team put in over a year of our time, energy & dedication to produce a comprehensive and detailed investment course we possibly could to set new investors up for success. We have many investors' success stories to show for it, including more 5 star reviews (250) on BP than any other company that is on this website (https://www.biggerpockets.com/co/RentToRetirement).  Most importantly, I feel very proud of the thousands of investors we've helped get started in real estate, and the many that have achieved their investing goals through their own hard work. That is what it's all about at the end of the day.

Yes, you can find a great amount of information online for free, but not in an organized fashion that is tailored to your individual goals.

Here is a summary of some of the value adds for the RTR Academy:

-most importantly, reimbursement of your course fee by actually investing in real estate!. Why?   Because we are not here to sell you a course, we are here to motivate you to actually take action and invest! Who else in the education space offers this?  No one that I can think of.

-VIP access to our off market deals prior to the general public.

-Complementary SDIRA

-Free consultations with REI specific attorneys and CPAs, like the top CPA recommended on BP and BP author, Amanda Han!

-Investing partner program where you can get up to 10% price reductions or 10% down payment credit on a new construction home from a national builder. That is a $40K discount or $40K cash back to you as an Academy investor on a brand new $400K home from one many national builders across multiple different markets.

-Over 150 hours of educational content that is available at your own pace to take you from very basic investing concepts to very advanced topics on tax strategies, raising private capital, STR vs MTR vs LTRs, legal, how to scale your portfolio, etc.

So no, you cannot receive that for free on BP forums, and you cannot access that kind of value and deals as an individual investor. My company, Rent To Retirement, does thousands of transactions annually with the largest builders in the country, and that is how we are able to take institutional type of discounts to pass that on to the individual investor in some of the best markets. I hope that adds clarity on the value Rent To Retirement provides to our investors.

I see you are very active on BP forums daily.  Why not be more supportive of new investors that are excited to share their wins and experiences!

@Dennis Dougherty thanks for the mention!

I'm excited to checkout your YT channel!

@Pinny T.

Thank you for the interest in Rent To Retirement.  We have many reviews and threads on BP for over a decade now that I've linked below.  This will be helpful in your research.

Rent To Retirement actually has more 5 star reviews than any other company on Bigger Pockets, so I recommend doing your own research from people that have actually invested with us and understand how our process works.  Here is the link to our BP page showing over 250 - 5 star reviews: 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/co/RentToRetirement

To answer your question, there are many reasons to consider one market over the other.  Among the top reasons, I would recommend understanding what different price points look like in different areas along with taxes, legislation, population/economic growth, affordability & rental demand.  Some markets have lower price points that allow for more cash flow, while other markets likely have better appreciation, but upfront have higher price points & possibly lower cash flow.  All depends what matches your goals the best to get started.  

I'm happy to answer any additional questions you have at any point in time.  Just let me know.

Here are some other threads to read about Rent To Retirement, Turnkey investing, different markets, etc.  Hope this helps.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/765347-rent-to-retirement-review

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/1116050-a-huge-win-with-cori-from-rent-to-retirement

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/850/topics/895660-my-first-investment-property-an-out-of-state-deal

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/1047543-big-profits-from-new-construction-sfr-build-in-cape-coral-fl

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/983659-first-investment-property-with-rent-to-retirement?

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/1162779-rent-to-retirement-academy-experience?highlight_post=6630770&page=1highlight_post=5677176&page=1#p5677176

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1122318-quality-turnkey-companies?highlight_post=6413855&page=1

https://www.biggerpockets.com/co/RentToRetirement

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/929410-rent-to-retirement-updates?highlight_post=5508807&page=1#p5508807

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/893621-rent-to-retirement-review?highlight_post=5222888&page=1#p5222888

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/915728-experience-with-rent-to-retirement-turnkey?page=1#p5345200

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/808479-rent-to-retirement-experiences

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/518583-feedback-on-renttoretirement-and-zach-lemaster?