All Forum Posts by: Alice K.

That’s awesome you have a place in Snohomish! I’ll say this, I’d keep that and just sit and refi eventually. Then get another. The appreciation there is greater than Eastern Washington due to jobs. (Simply a second opinion to the comment above since Tacoma is a different market from Snohomish as you know.) Lived in both sides of the state and I feel like you’re already killing it with just one property! Great job!

Here’s what I️ would do (in agreement with some of the folks above!) 1) check the competition 2) use rentometer.com 3) adjust price if needed (/ keep waiting if it’s the dead of winter it may just be a bad time to move ? Perhaps you can ask prospectives what their time frames are and situations to work with them?) 4) review your craigslist listing / zillow rental listing Vs others - Eg: is it super hostile? Is it picky? Are the photos as good as your competition? 4) ask businesses if you can post paper ads in places where your target tenant works :) Good luck!

Personally, I think you're doing it the right way as slow and steady seems smart for starting out! (Maybe I'm just a turtle.)

Some ways / thoughts :

• Buy in more affordable locations (I do work in SF, homes are literally, median 1.2M / lone home! If I meet 1 owner, I'm already impressed :) ) When someone says to me that have 16 homes in a short amount of time? I think, "well, probably not super expensive ones!" Try asking them the cost of each property and work they put into it and return. 
• Jobs / simply working their butts off - People like to say they don't like their job, but at the same time I think, "well, maybe we should be like them more / we all need more brainwashing Kool aid because we wouldn't be able to buy without hard work!" (For those who started with nothing.)
• Saved the cash / moved funds from a savings / stocks into homes instead - Many I've listened to took many many years and just recently jumped in! Of course, no one ever talks about the sweat and blood it took to save all that!
• Find partners (the "other people's money" mentioned by @Allan Rosso) - I pass people all the time who say they own a ton of homes. Simply talk to them more, you may discover they have different people they invest with, not just their own things. 

One important thing I think about: SURE, you can own 100 homes, but, imagine what your life would look like if you didn't scale that right... (eg: you self-managed and just suddenly woke up with 100 tenants. wew...)

Another spin to the question: What's the ROI work for all the work they're doing? One can have "50 doors" but have to work their tales off...

Not much of that financial freedom people likes to brag about. 

Hope there is something in there that helps!

Thanks for the advice Ray Lai ! Super helpful and I completely agree with the lower down payment in your example.

Kimberly N. & Ray Lai - thanks for the insight! Do you happen to have any tips for selecting one / requirements when you chat with lenders from your experience? I am new to HELOCs as well and trying to avoid doing something incredibly stupid. Megan Clancy - I have argued with so many lenders it's shocking. There are a handful of GREAT ones. And, those ones I have chased even when they leave industry. Your lender's sheer ignorance / inability to listen would be one of the reasons I'd want to bail on the loan myself.

Billy Smith & Jd Martin -- Awesome insight / advice! Thanks for sharing!

Crazy, I was JUST under contract for a home with this issue. By the grace of GOD (as a buyer it was a good thing for me!) it just HAPPENED to rain the day before inspection. Water and dampness in the basement despite the seller saying it was fixed. I got spooked (well, it simply didn't make financial sense if I had to do all the inspection fixes to make it rentable AND fix a mystery leak in the basement that the seller had already tried to fix) The seller slashed price another 6k and I believe it's under contract with a local now. As the others said, talk to a lawyer about options (a trustworthy one) and figure out how you can fix, if it even makes sense, and sell. Good luck!!!

Agree with @Robert C. - Not only that, but if you're planning to move out a tenant in SF, I would be cautious and ask the tenant how much they want to be forced to move out and get that in writing. 

Also, be sure to check if the property you get has to be retrofitted / if it needs to be, as SF proper has recently been pushing / enforcing that multifamilies retrofit for safety purposes.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/09/19/san-fr...

Yeah, try more banks... And, the owner occupy method may work. That should get you a better interest rate too. I wouldn't recommend slapping all your cash down on this and banking on some appreciation. (Although, heck, I've heard Austin is the place to be! Sounds like you know what's hot over there.) Perhaps the owner can finance a bit as well with some portion of money down?

Also, we usually pay at the end of each day for small gigs and after milestones for larger projects, because some of them need to eat and that's all they have. (Eg: we like to do milestones so such as X for the framing, and X for the drywall.) You can also ask around as you get quotes and people will tell you how they work to get a feel for the norm.