All Forum Posts by: Ashley Kehr

Great job Christopher! Thanks for sharing your success!

I am also working on my first short term rental but outside of my house. Talking with different people it seems a huge factor is how clean, organized and neat the rental is. Matching drapes with bedspread might not seem like a huge deal but the pictures are the first thing people look at even before the list of amenities.

I have a house in a flood zone that we purchased with a mortgage. We put in an offer that made our numbers work with the flood insurance. Once the mortgage is paid off we will probably self insure for floods and no longer have the flood insurance. Leaving us with more cash flow.

D.J. thanks for sharing. It's important to confirm information and run your own analysis. I've often called realtors or another investor who aren't involved with the deal to get an unbiased opinion. Glad you were able to back out of the deal and lesson learned before you lost too much money!

Hi Blake. I would increase your repairs and maintenance from 3% to 5% or more being an older home. I have only purchased old homes and we do a minimum of 5%. Good luck on your first deal!

Welcome Stephanie! You will be able to learn so much from BP

Hi David. I would add insurance into your costs as well. If you are providing lawn care I would add that as a separate expense from maint/repairs too.

You could also get a traditional mortgage with investment property rates. I have received really reasonable rates on a 30 year fixed rate term. The interest was not much higher than if it was owner occupied. Definitely a lot lower than commercial rates. To get the owner occupied rate your daughter would have to be on the mortgage. We did this with my sister and she is the only one on the mortgage but we are both on the deed. I gifted her the down payment and the rent pays her mortgage. My sister was just out of college with a job offer and very little income. It was surprising and almost scary that she was approved for a loan. You could always co-sign the mortgage and then it would still be owner-occupied.

We did it right in the purchase contract and then my attorney wrote up a note payable agreement.

I would stay away from 1% from sales price because they could decide not to sell. I did a deal where it was 7% interest only payments for one year then a balloon payment. I think 20k at 6% for 3 years is very reasonable.