All Forum Posts by: Alicia Hensley

I have a SFR rental in Utah. It makes about $140/month in cashflow. The city it's in is growing quickly (new hospital, a new high school, businesses, etc.). I would like to free up some cash from the property and I don't think I can get any sort of line of credit, or equity loan (still waiting to hear back from the loan officer though). I have about 20% equity.

I have a couple of options:

#1. Keep as a rental to gain equity and rental income. I would sell in about 2 years depending on the market. 

#2. Sell when the lease is up this spring and use part of the the money to buy a primary residence using a FHA 203K loan, and use the rest to reinvest in other real estate.

I want to walk away with a minimum $30,000 with the sale of the house and use that for real estate investing. If I waited, I could get more (from equity and rental income), but if I sell in the spring I can use the money for other investments...which could, in the long run, possibly mean more money if everything goes well. 

I've been going back an forth about this for a while now....thoughts? Ideas? Advice? Thanks. 

 Yes, a construction contractor. He'll be licensed and insured by the end of the year (Utah has a lot of hoops to jump through to get a general contractors license).

I'll be sure to put in the contract who would be responsible to pay for materials and permits and whatever else would be needed. Excellent reminder. 

I didn't even think about the taxes. I'm not quite sure how that would work exactly, so I'll have to talk to an accountant.

Thanks for the post. It really helps!

 It helps to see it written down like that. Thank  you!

Has anyone done any creative financing with trade work? My brother is a contractor and is toying with the idea of trading a down payment on a lease option, or something like that.  Any tips for doing something like this? Anything to look out for?.....Thoughts?

This has happened to me before also. The guy I hired said he said he's had years of experience, done a ton of jobs like this, blah blah blah. I only asked him to do a small shower and floor in a small bathroom. It took him an entire day to do 1/3 of the shower. When I went down to check his work it was BAD, I had to tear everything down quickly...luckily it didn't ruin all of the travertine that I used. I fired him the next day and cancelled the check that I had written (I had purchased the materials, so he wasn't out any material money). 
So, for the future, always check on their work during the process and it's okay to fire someone in the middle of it if they don't do the work you need them to do. I know you may feel weird about standing over their shoulder...but it's your money they'd be wasting if they do a terrible job. 

 Good to know. Thank you!

 Thanks for the info! I'll give you a call today. 

I'm going to start flipping in Salt Lake and Utah Counties. I know the market and the area very well, I have a rental in Lehi, plus my brother is a contractor there. But I'm looking for recommendations on the following:

-real estate agent/broker (investor friendly, of course)

-attorney

-wholesalers

-lenders (private or hard money)

-title companies

Would love to hear suggestions on them. Also, because I currently live in Washington, I don't have the luxury of going to monthly investor meetings in Utah to network (although I do intend to go when I'm visiting) so that's why I'm asking here. Thanks!

Port Townsend, Washington. A Victorian seaport. 

Good points.

  I  up with the $5k in repairs just based off what he told me needed to be done. He said he had everything, it just needed to be finished. I told him that i could be way off with that basic estimate because i haven't seen it. I figured if he wasn't in my general offer, then we weren't on the same page and it wasn't worth the drive.