All Forum Posts by: Ali Boone

Originally posted by @Michael Hren:

@Ali Boone

I appreciate the feedback. I am looking for turnkey so I thought roofstock would be a good choice because they seem to walk you through the process from start to finish. I have seen other turnkey providers so I may reach out to them as well to understand the service they provide.

I've been buying turnkeys for 9 years and work with people buying them. 

Ha... I just published my first book and I've been signing it with "Peace, Love and Real Estate"! I think I like your cash flow version better (but I won't steal it). I'm in LA and only do out-of-state investing, except for one property here. No cash flow here.

Be careful that Spartan typically sells without tenants in place. That can be fine, but most people don't understand the risks when doing that. I've now talked to several people where it's not worked out well at all for their properties. Spartan advertises as being turnkey, but technically selling without tenants is not actually turnkey. It's fine if you know what you're doing, but if you're a new investor wanting turnkey, that's not exactly what they offer.

Is it specifically a turnkey property that you're wanting, and that's why you're looking at Roofstock? Or why Roofstock in particular?

I don't agree with a lot of stuff they do and promote, personally. I don't necessarily want to spell them all out here--every time I say something about Roofstock on here I get a message from someone at the company asking me to stop responding about them.

I prefer regular turnkey provider companies for several reasons, if a turnkey is what you're looking for.

Hey Francine. I'm from Atlanta and most of my properties are there. As far as househacking, just make sure you run the numbers. Depending on where you're trying to live, like where in Atlanta, I don't know that the numbers will necessarily shake out. Just depends on what you buy. Here are general things to think about with a househack:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Hope those help.

Originally posted by @Devan Kaye:

Hi Ali, thank you for your input! I love that - "start out with the most profitable." I just recently moved to Phoenix, AZ. Househacking would be my #1 choice, but a mortgage broker recently told me the only loan I'd qualify for at this time is around $100k. I just started a new job as an assistant property manager and a chunk of my income is commission through leases. I've been told banks want to see 2 years of commission before counting it as income. 

I was looking into Rent to Retirement because I've seen countless posts/ reviews on biggerpocket forums saying how great that company is, especially for those just starting out. I've heard that they spend a lot of time with you to help get you started. Also, they have a few homes that I'd qualify on a loan for. 

Well and I'd want to run the numbers on that househack too... just want to make sure it'd be profitable. Most househacks aren't, whereas everyone assumes any househack will do. My stance is--you never want to force yourself to own where you live if it's going to cost you more money to do so than renting. 

Originally posted by @Gary Nguyen:

@Ali Boone what turnkey company did you use

The ones I used aren't applicable now because that was 8 and 9 years ago. But I work with a lot of TK companies in various markets. Happy to refer, but you'd have to narrow down what you're looking for.

Originally posted by @Brendan Dekora:

Thanks so much @Ali Boone both of those articles are very helpful. The problem is that the numbers would be roughly the same, of course depending on the deals we could find. The main difference is the seasoning period between the FHA on the house hack and something much shorter for an investment property, so I could in theory brrrr the investment property and move on to more properties in the same time that I would be waiting to refi the FHA loan. I'm also a little hesitant to brrrr in this market as I don't want to have all my money stuck in the property. Any thoughts on that?

What kind of numbers are we talking about? Are any of them profitable? I've never known a househack or BRRRR to pencil out in LA. And then they're already bad, but then with an FHA you have to add in PMI expenses, which makes it worse.

Originally posted by @Zach Cottone:

@Ali Boone Thanks Ali! Awesome to hear from someone else with experience in aviation. Thats exactly where my head is at, if the military is going to pay for I figure its a no brainer to take advantage. I appreciate the response!

You bet! Because another thing to think about too always is--what if at some point I just don't want to be in real estate anymore? You always want to have stuff in your back pocket to fall back on. A fully paid degree is the easiest no-brainer for that. There are actually a lot of pilots on here! I can't remember the thread, but if you search pilots, I think there's some threads. :)

The easiest way to start is to just run the numbers. Run the numbers on all scenarios, and see what pictures those paint. That alone might make your answer very clear. A couple articles to help with what to think about as you're pondering... one about buying properties to live in versus investing while renting, and the other about househacking specifically--

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

If you need help on running the numbers, I can send info on those too.