BiggerPockets

My first investment was about 5 or 6 years ago as a flip. It was my sister's neighbor and they were walking away from a house that was worth more than what they owed.

Tried to get people to partner with me and nobody wanted to get in on it. So I did it myself and made 20k.

The market turned shortly thereafter and I've been buy/hold ever since. Some of my first deals weren't very good by today's comparisons but they're all cash flowing.

I currently have 18 SFH's averaging about $350 per month net before repairs - most of which were bought pretty much for no money down. Although I have been starting to put some money into some of my deals these days (5 to 10k).

Typically, I buy with private/hard money and then refi into conventional or a commercial loans to exit out of the private/hard money.

My goal is to keep adding sfh's as fast as I can at these prices but typically the most I have been able to do is about 3 a year.

When the market returns and the houses won't cash flow at these rates any more, my strategy is going to be to try fix and flip. Then take the profits (20k?) and use those to buy down the purchase price of another house to cash flow where I'm at now.

I want to keep chunking in the cash flows as best I can. I like to think of my rentals as employment insurance. If I lose my job, I can get by on my rental income. Maybe not indefinitely but at least long enough til I find the job I want.

Eventually, I want to move toward multifamily. Even though, right now, I don't see the numbers in multifamily making sense when compared to the SFH. And I love how little effort I spend managing my properties.

I recently was able to put together a deal with a bank to buy 4 duplex lots. Put down 15% and bought the lots for 22.5k (they were going for mid 50s to low 60s back when builders were building).

Goal is to build duplexes and hold them. My estimates are that I'll need to come up with about 35k to 40k for each duplex (on top of the lots I'm already putting money into) and should be able to make about $600 a month per side (before vacancies and repairs).

Figure thats one way to lock in some pretty good cash flow at a later date. The taxes on the lots are only $5 a year so the only real expense is the interest.

Financing. I need all the financing I can get my hands on. Specifically, I need end loan financing to get out of the private/hard money loans. The house will typically be at an LTV of 70% or better.

I am also on the lookout for SFH's with a minimum of 1,200 sq ft, 3+bdrm 1.5+ bath that will appraise out around 120k+ and I can be all-in for 65% LTV or better.