All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@Andrei Constantinescu I agree with Erikson on the multi family. I understand the cost is higher in your hometown but with your parents connections you might be able to get better deals with the contractors. They might also be able to get you leads on property owners who want to sell.

If your market has it see if there is a loan option similar to our FHA one where you can owner occupy with a 3.5% down payment on a 2-4 unit multi family. A lower down payment loan will help You get started easier.

My bank has been counting my leased units rents towards my income to count toward qualifying for my mortgage as some part of a formula which might help you too.

If you switch jobs outside of your current career path some banks will want you to establish yourself for a period of time at the new job before lending to you but others will not care.

Best of luck!!

@Megan Dettenmaier My contractor (he’s a personal friend too) brags to me about how much insurance he has on his various tools he has stored in different locations for different types of work. And constantly reminds me to always splurge on as much insurance as I can get because he had a building burn down once.

If your contractor had tools stolen this is something he should claim on his insurance for sure.

@Aaron Jackson Use the BP rental property calculator.

@Michelle Tucker In my state in multi families the landlord pays both and then charges accordingly in the rent unless the water is separately metered. But sewer is always paid by landlord.

For SFH it depends on the area what is customary. The one I own all public utilities are owned by the town and while the electric can be turned over to a tenant the actual account always stays in the owners name so if tenant does not pay it goes back to the owner. The water and sewer cannot be turned over to a tenant ever but a landlord could bill them for it if they wanted to.

@Anthony Vander Meer If you don’t mind me asking, what software platform do you use? I’m pretty small, just starting out snd only have 8 doors. Thanks!

@Ronda Reid-Mohammed If you haven’t already look in the BiggerPockets book store for the book on OOS investing. I can’t remember who wrote it off the top of my head. It’s a useful resource.

@Jonathan Dunn I’ve recently added a property that’s about 30 minutes away from my home to my portfolio. It’s a well maintained property and the current tenants are great, so I can check on it 2-3 times a month. However I think the most important thing is my time. I might look for a better cash flowing deal if I went further away from home for another property as this one cash flows about $100 per door after expenses.

I’m currently house hacking which I’ve always done as for 24 years I owned two bed and breakfasts. However I’ve downsized to a duplex. It has appreciated by about $120,000 in the past 2 years which no one would have predicted but you can find that some places in California too. I rent the other side to a tenant a little under market value for the peace of mind that he does not disturb me and takes care of my property. I’ve known him for years and he will likely live there forever.

There's many ways to get into real estate, house hacking is one of my favorites. If I didn't have a lot of money I'd put aside absolutely as much as possible into a high interest savings account each month and save up a down payment for a 3.5% FHA down payment on a house I could refresh a bit, but not too much in about two or three years then turn into a rental while I saved up another down payment for my next two to three year live in then turn into a rental home and keep doing it.

Or else buy 3-4 unit multis and do the same thing where the income from the leases on the units can be counted toward your income necessary to qualify for the mortgage as long as you have the down payment.

@Brittney WIlliams If you have a specific location you’re looking to buy STRs in and want to use a wholesaler the best way I’ve found to find them would be to join the Florida Real Estate Investors Association and post there.

Or if there’s a more specific Real Estate Page if it’s s big town. Just post something like Looking for Tallahassee Wholesalers. Or whatever you see other people doing.

If you sell now your golden goose is gone. No more cash flow. I’d withdraw some cash and buy a few more.

However, one thing I learned is that if you do sell and do a 1031 Exchange which is a tax deferred transfer where you do not pay capital gains tax, normally you upsize into a larger property. And instead choose to buy into a cash flowing investment in an opportunity zone as opposed to another investment, after 10 years you no longer owe any capital gains.

So I think you said you own a property worth $222,000 something. Say you bought it for $140,000. So you’d owe $82,000 in capital gains. If you sold it and had $122,000 left after the mortgage and bought into low income housing after the 1031 exchange that returned an 11% return on your investment you’d receive cash every year and after 10 years you could withdraw your $122,000 with no penalty for capital gains when before you’d have owed like $12,000.

@Amanda Webb Hartford is fairly close to the Hanover/Lebanon area with Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Regional Medical Center. It’s by far The area’s best hospital and one of if not the top employer. And of course the school is top too.

I’m about an hour north and our rental market is on fire. However Hartford is quite large and the house you are looking at could potentially be a 20 minute drive to the action of jobs, restaurants, shopping, etc.

While this would likely be a deterrent for students it might not necessarily be for all. I’d maybe try to reach out to some local property managers and see if you can get some to give you some real honest advice on if that area makes sense to invest in or if you’d do better investing in more locally.

Or perhaps I just don’t know the area well enough, which is entirely possible too, and there is a draw in Hartford that I do not know about.

@Muritala Olanrewaju My bank did not request mine as they could see from my credit report I’d been paying them off every month for about two years.

They did look at my bank accounts as I authorized it, they were the lender so same bank, accounts and mortgage.

This was also helpful for verifying income from a rental property that was being deposited into one of the accounts.