All Forum Posts by: Laurie Williamson

Hi Jesse,

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and answer my post. I really appreciate it! Both you and Eric have brought up some ideas I had not considered previously. I am not sure how the numbers would look on our house, but I will ask a realtor to check rents for me, in order to get a good idea of what I could charge — and also to give me an idea of what the sale price would be. 

I had dismissed the idea of renting our house in the past, because it's more expensive than the rentals I was looking at for ideal cash flow. For example, the rental I currently own was $122,000, and rents for $1250/month. After paying property management fees and my mortgage, I get about $300/month from that property. Our home was bought for $169,000, but may be worth $180,000 - $200,000 now. I'm not sure -- property values have gone way up all across the Dallas area, even though we are in a suburb. However, I don't know if my house would rent for much more than $1250/month... Our suburb, Garland, is more of a working-class area and not a high-rent place. (People would rather be in Dallas, or Frisco, or Plano. Garland just isn't "cool" right now. :)

Since our property is paid off, I suppose that if it did rent for even as little $1250/month, it would still bring in $15,000 before property taxes and insurance... if 100% occupied and no maintenance problems. (Ha ha.) But, if I pulled out equity to finance our second house, that would affect my cash flow, right, because I would be re-mortgaging it?

Hmmm... I will do some reading on home equity loans. I had never considered them in the past, but if it makes financial sense, it would certainly be worth looking into. Eric's comment on fixing and flipping also has me thinking about whether it would be worth it to do some renovations on our house (bathrooms and kitchen), to help us get more money when we sell it. Again, due to our neighborhood and Garland in general, I'm just not sure if it is worth it to put more money into our house. Maybe I can get some help from my realtor friend and run the numbers.

Thanks for the excellent idea!

Thank you, Eric, for the very thoughtful reply. I've been hesitant to try a fix and flip since I can't do much hands-on work with small kids, but maybe it would be worth it to subcontract. I will definitely think about it.

I am a new investor -- just bought my first single-family rental about six months ago. I would like to transition to multi-family as soon as I can save up enough capital. However, I just had a baby in September, and now that my husband and I have two small kids, we would like to move to a newer, larger home within the next 2-3 years. This has put my investment goals on hold, because I want to make sure that we are easily approved for a loan to buy the home we want together, before I buy my next rental. My question is, what is the best way to invest (or save) my money in the meantime?

I would love some advice from the BP community. I apologize for this question being kind of long. I could not figure out how to say it much faster. I would greatly appreciate any advice you could give, and THANK YOU in advance if you take the time to read this!

A little background: We own our home now; just paid it off. We would like to sell our house, and use the money as the down payment on our new home, probably taking out a loan for 300k. I bought the rental in my name only, and put 25% down. I owe about 90k on that loan. I am self-employed, and am able to save up some money through my bonuses each quarter. How much I can save varies each year, but it is possible that I might be able to save 20-30k/year if I work very hard and am frugal. I am considering the following options:

(a) Use the next 3 years to pay off my rental property. Then, after we buy our own home, sell the rental and use the money as a down payment on a small multi-family. (b) Keep the rental, which is earning about $300/month in cash flow. Put my bonuses into a savings account, and after 3 years, buy our new home, and use my savings as a down payment on a multi-family, but KEEP the single-family rental. (c) Keep the rental, and purchase 1-2 more SFH in the meantime… if I can get approved for a loan. <- but, if I do this, will it make it hard for us to buy a house for ourselves?

We both work full-time, but since I am self-employed, it was a little challenging for me to get the loan for the rental using traditional financing. My husband is supportive of my real estate goals, but he is not investing with me at this time. I'm doing it all through my own funds. One more thing to mention is that the reason I got interested in real estate is because I wanted to increase my income so that we could buy a larger, better house. While I do care about saving for retirement, it is really important to me personally to be happy and enjoy life right now — so I’m not interested in buying a fixer-upper or living in ¼ of a quad.

So, what makes the most sense – a, b, or c? Or is there a “d” option I have not considered? Thanks again for your advice and patience reading my long question. Love BP!!

Hi Henry and Karen! Thanks for the welcome. Henry, I will look into the meetup. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks, everyone! Anthony, I don't know much about wholesaling, but am interested in learning. I'm adding you to my colleagues and a cup of joe sounds good, especially after I have read up a little on the topic and am a bit more informed. Jessica G, I would love to meet for lunch or a playdate! Adding you and will send you a PM.

Hi all, I just joined the site a couple of days ago, and already I’m hooked. So much helpful and interesting information! I am mostly here to learn as much as I can while I am saving up the down payment for my first investment property. I’ve been leaning toward multi-family investing (want to buy a fourplex), which will take longer to get started, but which (I’m hoping) will cash flow better. However, the more I read, the more I’m becoming open to the idea of single family homes as well, which would allow me to make my first purchase much sooner. Also, I discovered a major flaw in my math after listening to a BP podcast yesterday (Thanks, guys!), so now I’m re-evaluating… I’m looking forward to meeting other like-minded investors, especially in the Dallas area. I’ve also met with a couple of local groups (Lifestyles Unlimited and NTAREA). Any opinions on the best local groups to join are welcome — also, please add me if you’re in the area and want to network. I won’t bother you; I’m just trying to learn more about the local market, so if you write a blog or an article, I will probably read it. Thanks!!

Thanks, Jon! OK, I will.

Hi Kyle,

Good idea! It's cool that you are getting started so young, and it should give you a major edge to have family in the business. I am also new to the site and interested in multif-family investing in the Dallas area. We live in Garland. I'm 34, married, with a 2-year-old and another baby on the way, and recently became interested in real estate investment when searching for ways to increase my income — particularly passive income! There are only so many hours in the day! I wish I had known about the idea of living in one unit of a multi-fam years ago... but happy to be getting started now. Unfortunately, I can't see moving my family out of our current home and into a multiplex, so I'm working to pay off our house and save up for the down payment instead. That way, we'll have some financial security before we buy a new property. I'm not sure how the "add as a colleague" thing works on here, but I'm thinking we could compare notes on the local market — and I would be interested in seeing where your investment journey takes you. I want to learn as much as I can about where to buy in Dallas, what to expect, things to look out for, etc... It will probably be a year or two before I buy my first property, unless I change my mind and start with single-family. I'll try to add you. Best of luck with your endeavors! (Also, I love the Rockwall area!) :)

Laurie