All Forum Posts by: Justin Zoeller

@Frank Patalano As for myself and the analogy of not pulling the trigger; it is more along the lines of, I’m pulling the trigger but the gun is only shooting blanks. In elementary school, junior high and high school, my summers and weekends were spent working on my fathers rental properties. Now that I no longer associate with him due to unrelated reasons, I have started fresh. Those years of learning everything from painting to roofing to etc, has put me in a unique situation as of today. I currently own one rental which came from the purchase of my first residence, but I want more. Since I moved out of my first residence into a bigger home, for my growing family, I have been grinding. I have listened to every BP podcast and Money Show podcast, read books, picked the brains of locals, but I cant seem to get a bank to back me on a loan to prove myself, even with a 700+ credit score and a well paying career. All I hear is “we need 20%”. Nobody locally understands or cares to try creative financing (that Ive found). My issue is finding the funding. Putting the sweat into it isn’t the issue but understanding that “cash is king”, is a struggle. I know my market; I understand all the processes to getting started and continuing growth, I just need an opportunity.

@Frank Patalano, finding a bank that will work some creative financing. Seems like everyone wants 20% down but I need that cash for fixing the place up.

Thank you both so much!

@Grant Rothenburger, you are the man. Thank you. If I sold my rental at what I bought it for, I would obtain 15k equity for the multifamily. I assume I need to run the numbers for my area on multi families to see if that 15k would even touch a down payment amount suitable for a reasonable starting complex. I will also continue reviewing and looking for seller financing opportunities. 

Hi all! I am here in Bloomington/Normal and have been looking to meet up with other investors and see how I can get my process started. I currently have one rental but looking for the next step for financing and how to grow. I have done EXTENSIVE research through bigger pockets and listened to many podcasts as well as other sources to determine how this all works. I see something posted about a weekly Tuesday investors meet up...? Is this something I would be able to attend or is it private? I am eager to meet with other investors who are likeminded, hear their stories, and work together to grow. Thank you all.

@James Masotti, @Harjeet Bhatti,

Thank you for the responses. I did some investigating here at a local bank and I do not have enough equity in my rental home yet to be able to use it as collateral. Therefore, I am stuck on that option. I was advised just as you advised me James to either open up a credit card for the necessary amount to get the down payment, seller financing, private lender or sell my rental house and use that equity to buy the next. The only problem with that last option is that it seems to defeat the purpose of cashflow if I sell one rental and buy another. Now I just need to figure out what the best option is. Thank you for both of your help and if there is any other advice from here, I would be grateful.

Hi all! I have a tough situation I would really appreciate some help on. Heres the situation in a quick paragraph: I house hacked my first single family home 8 years ago. 1 year ago I moved out of it and into a larger home for my new family. I still currently have my original home as a rental. I am trying to establish how to purchase my 1st actual investment property (not by house hacking) with little or zero down. What would be the best option to take here? Is HELOC on my first home the best or a possible option? Thank you SO much!

George, thank you so much. I need to evaluate that situation on if I plan to sell or keep. I lead more to keeping but I also need to get another project going to help fund the next one and so on. The $300/month I make in cash flow now just wont cut it. Therefore, any additions will have to wait til I have more to spend on doing it. I could cash out refi but I would much rather keep the lower payment. I will have to look into that option as well. Thank you!

Thank you so much Jeffrey for taking your time to respond. You have opened my eyes even more with these scenarios and percentages. This definitely helps me with a decision on selling. Sounds like my best bet may be to do a cash out refi or come up with the funds to do my own addition to make it a 3bd 2bth where I can charge more rent to increase cash flow and it wont raise my payment. I will keep you updated. Thanks again!

Abel, thank you so much for your reply. The $707 is my total monthly escrowed payment. It does not include maintenance, etc and they pay their own utilities. The house was a brand new remodel in 2010 when we bought it so no “maintenance” other than cleaning gutters and low budget landscape that is needed. They mow the grass as well. When purchasing my new home (to live in) my realtor said i should charge 1200/month and my loan officer said he would charge 1000/month. I thought both sounded high but its within 10 blocks of 2 major universities (Illinois State University/ Illinois Wesleyan) and from the research ive done, rent is very high around those schools. Yes I am unexperienced but I feel it is a tricky situation and struggle with the next step. I dont mind selling, cash out refi or leaving it the way it is  but I am just trying to do the best thing here. It is the best looking house and one of most expensive on the block but probably one of the smallest so if i add on with a cash out refi, over time, i will lose money on the addition and assumely be paying more in monthly payments which cuts my already low cash flow. What about if i save the money and do the addition myself without the refi? Cash flow can then be higher (charge $1200/month for a 3 bed 2 bath) and same monthly payments to the bank (not including the raising taxes from an addition)? Thank you!