All Forum Posts by: Zach Lemaster

@Havan Surat you need to call them yourself to see if you qualify if this is something you are considering using for your investment portfolio. They only lend in a handful of states. These are portfolio that are underwritten and held in house. They are not conventional loans that many newer investors are used to using. They have successfully closed hundreds of loans for our clients. RTR is impartial on who your lender is to close deals. However, we do have a list of some of the top recommended lenders across the nation that offer any kind of loan you need to fit your goals. This include conventional, creative options like this 5% down option, DSCR, non-recourse, commercial, LOCs, HELOCs, installment loans, bridge loans, etc. Our goal is to put you in touch with the right lending team to accomplish your goals.

@Henry Lazerow happy to answer any questions you have.  There is strict qualification criteria, but we have seen hundreds of investors use this creative loan product to buy more real estate with the same amount of capital.

I'm here to assist however I can.

@Andrew Postell

I haven't found a credit union that offers the 5% down investor loan in Texas yet, so maybe that is why you are having difficulty finding one. We do close a significant amount of properties with credit unions that finance investors with this 5% loan product, mainly in FL & AL. The credit union that does the majority of those is all in credit union. It's a portfolio loan they underwrite and hold in house & have strict credit/DTI requirements (as they should) since they can leverage up to 95% on pure investment properties. For the right investor, this could be a strategic option to scale quicker and maximize tax benefits like we do.

I have worked with GR quite a bit in the past, especially with loan blocks for rate buy down.  That has mainly been with Richard Advani on your team.  Tell him I said hello!  ; )

Hope this helps.

@Nick Benedick Congrats! I'm right there with you! My daughter is 9 months & son is almost 3. I love REI, but not when it becomes another full time job that takes away from family time.

Check out our website link in my signature to set up an appointment with our team to learn about your investing goals, answer your questions & give you more information about how we work with investors.  After you have that initial call with our team, drop me a message so we can connect directly to make sure you have a clear vision on what the next steps are to accomplish your goals.

Regardless of how you ultimately decide to get started in REI, the first investment property is so essential to get under your belt mentally & emotionally. This will allow you to get into the investor mindset to be able to focus on how to scale & expand your business over time!

Appreciate you reaching out & we look forward to connecting with you Nick!

@Nick Benedick

Thanks for the interest with our team!

You bring up an interesting point about the "entrepreneurial spirit" around REI. In my opinion, the best thing you can do when building any business (including a real estate portfolio) is learn how to work ON your business, not IN your business. This means to focus your time in the areas that have the greatest value & impact such as how to scale your portfolio vs working in the weeds on things like property management, repairs, rent collection, etc. Your time is most valuable learning how to build a scalable business model, if that is what you want to do ultimately. All the successful investors on BP (myself included) have teams doing work for them to find, acquire & manage properties. That is how they create scalable businesses well beyond just owning a few rental properties.

A great book to read that explains this is The Entrepreneurial Myth (The E-Myth) by Michael Gerber.  Definitely recommend this to anyone in business or real estate as it explains the ideas of focusing on your business and not in your business.

All this being said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with acquiring your rentals on your own.  Rent To Retirement just tries to make that process easier for you to expedite your success & scalability.  We do this by allowing you to immediately tap into our teams/systems we already have in place in some of the best US markets while providing mentorship on how to effectively scale a portfolio.

Thanks for letting me throw my hat in the ring on the topic.

Of course, reach out anytime with any questions.

Here are some additional links to other threads where people are talking about topics like out of state investing, TK, Rent To Retirement, etc.

Best of luck to you!

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

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/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

@Colleen Weaver

Thanks for the interest in this loan product. We are happy to provide you contact information for the credits unions that offer this product. This is not a Freddie/Frannie product. This is a portfolio loan offered by local credit unions where you can buy up to 5 pure investment properties with as little as 5% down if you qualify, which you do have to qualify still with DTI, credit, reserve requirements, etc.

There are different credit union options that would be best to connect with based on where you are investing and your situation, so that is why it's important to connect with our team to guide you on the right path on where to apply so you are not wasting your time and having multiple unnecessary credit pulls. Just send your RTR rep a message and we'll get you on the right track.

This is an excellent loan option that will allow investors to scale quickly and maximize tax benefits!!

@Havan Surat Thanks for the interest in this loan product. We are happy to provide you contact information for the credits unions that offer this product. This is not a Freddie/Frannie product. This is a portfolio loan offered by local credit unions where you can buy up to 5 pure investment properties with as little as 5% down if you qualify, which you do have to qualify still with DTI, credit, reserve requirements, etc.

There are different credit union options that would be best to connect with based on where you are investing and your situation, so that is why it's important to connect with our team to guide you on the right path on where to apply so you are not wasting your time and having multiple unnecessary credit pulls.  Just send your RTR rep a message and we'll get you on the right track.

This is an excellent loan option that will allow investors to scale quickly and maximize tax benefits!!

@Gwen Stauffer

Congrats Gwen!  Thanks for sharing your experience.

DSCR loans can be tricky to navigate. I'm excited that you were able to use that to accomplish your goals!

@James N Beliak

Welcome!  This topic can be very specific to each person's situation.  I personally recommend speaking with a CPA that specializes in Canadians investing in the US and how to best prepare your investing strategy along with understanding what taxes would look like for your specific situation.  I would be very cautious to take general advice on this topic as many people may make assumptions without fully understanding your situation, goals and the international tax scenario.  We work with many Canadian investors and have some good CPA recommendations for you should you need them.  My wife is Canadian (from Alberta). 

The best part of investing in the US is the ability to write off the majority (if not all) of your tax liability on rental properties if you have the right strategy.  Just my humble, non-cpa opinion!  ; )

Here to help however we can!

Some additional references:

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

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

@Savannah Walbert

I personally like the SE with new construction below $300K that still cash flows well AND appreciates in both rents and market value.  

We are very active in Huntsville, AL (and surrounding areas), SWFL, San Antonio, along with other locations in the SE with BTR properties.  Definitely worth a look!

Hope this helps!

@Zach Strong

Welcome!  Your team is essential to success long term.  Each person is in a different stage of their investing career depending on your experience level, goals, resources, time, capital, etc.

Can you clarify more what your goals are so we can be more specific with recommendations?  Are you looking to learn, raise money/find deal partners, or just looking to get into that first investment property that you plan on financing yourself?

Generally speaking, I think having a quality agent/broker is essential, but make sure they are an experienced investor themself. I also think having the right lender and property manager are very essential as well regardless of market. As you grow your portfolio, I recommending finding a real estate savvy CPA/tax strategist, attorney or LLC specialist.

Early on, finding a quality mentor or expert in the niche of investing you are looking to do is probably the most important person to connect with early on that could likely help you piece together or recommend all the other professionals mentioned above!

-Best of luck!