All Forum Posts by: Alex Silang

(I know you're not a lawyer and will eventually seek professional advice.)

I just talked to my RE broker and he said with LLCs you typically do commercial loans. I don't like the terms and would try to avoid.

We could still do a conventional loan and if I'm not mistaken it'd be this whole "gift money" thing so the shared ownership wouldn't be recognized legally. Everything would be based on trust (which I'm fine with.)

So has anyone done this before? How do you do a JV with someone you really trust? We'd probably go 50/50 on property.

So I basically don't know how to swing a hammer, and I don't think I really have much talent (or natural interest) in learning construction? I plan on hiring a general contractor ( like many do) and then hiring my property manager to manage him. 

I handle the rest. Start with cosmetic jobs first and then move on. 

Is there anything wrong with this? What do you think?

I think the economic returns are there. However, my basement floor is dirt so the total cost is going to be a lot higher. It’s just that I refinanced and RE in my area is crazy priced. The stock market seems to be volatile and richly priced. 

How should I proceed? I have a manager in place. Would you go to Angie’s list? Hire a GC? Just go through the manager? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

A recent BP podcast guest talked about working two jobs so he could acquire more real estate. Any thoughts on this? What sort of job would you choose?

I think with an issue with this is that a house is a big item. If your goal was to pay off $4000 in credit card bills, you could be done in 6-9 months. But a house would take you years... could you stay motivated for 3+ years, working 60 hours a week?

@JD Martin Right. But I’m usually buy and hold. My main property cash flows pretty well. I wouldn’t sell and just wait it out. 

The thing is with a fix and flip loan is that the term 12-18 months. It’d be interest only so I might even cash flow. I’d be fine kicking the can down the road but it looks like the company wouldn’t allow me to do that.

So I’m eyeing a property and I’m really thinking about a fix and flip loan.

I’m just really concerned about the market risk. For example, if there was something like a global pandemic or credit market crash, I might not be able to get a refinance loan. That’d force me to sell the property early (my specialty lender that I use only has a 12-18 month term). That’d force me to sell the property, and there’s a good chance that the RE market would be crashing at this time.

I know the chances of this is slight, but I’d love to hear your comments on this.

I’m in an exciting period in my life. I finally have enough capital to purchase another investment property.

In the past, I was extremely passive. I let the realtor do everything and sometimes I feel they didn’t do a good job. I have a new realtor now.

Would you recommend taking a negotiation class? Where? 

Or would reading some BP posts be enough.

Thanks!

I often see this as a nono. Of course, tons of people like to use their cashout refinance money for a new car or a big home renovation.

What about using cashout refi money to pay for everyday living expenses? You'd have other income and let's say it wouldn't be anything extravagant. But could you count on it? I've seen recommendations to refinance every 5 years. 

What are your thoughts on this?

Not counting COVID of course. 

Does anyone have a story of cutting it close? I've been fairly lucky myself. My expenses and vacancies are spread throughout the years. 

I don't want to get cocky though. 

Thanks!

I'm just concerned my six months worth of reserve will be enough. RE as a community we always talk about the wins. That's important. But I'm just wondering how RE performs during recessions. What happens when unemployment rises a high amount? 

I was asking a manager in a meetup and he actually said tenant quality increased because a lot of people who were foreclosed on were now renters. Not trying to sound happy at others misfortune, just stating a data point to get the conversation started.