All Forum Posts by: Becca Summers

Trey welcome to bigger pockets. Sounds like a great story and inspiration and what I'm sure a lot of us would love to do. How did you buy your properties? With traditional financing 20% down or more creative?

Great! I have rentals in Lehi and American Fork myself. I've enjoyed the rentals and type of tenant this area attracts. Let me know if you have any questions or need any help.

@Ray Hollins that is funny I just assumed real estate related contract work. The VA loan can be a great option to buy your first property the only downfall is getting a property in nice enough condition. What area's of Utah County are you thinking of investing in?

I'll private message you my Landscapers info. Never mind the system won't let me send it. If you want me to send me a message I'll get it to you.

@Bryan Pham You've gotten some great answers so far. I wanted to add a few.

1. The home or property also has to qualify for a FHA loan so depending how distressed you want to go it might not be a viable option. The things that get hit most is peeling paint, roof life (needs at least 3 years), and in Utah (not sure elsewear) needing seismic straps for water heaters. I almost never see them in homes that haven't sold in the last 5 years.

2. Mortgage insurance, you could do a conventional backed loan with 3% down or 5% down and prepay your mortgage insurance making monthly payments less. However that has some pros and cons to it. If you get a property that you can add value to then it might make sense to pay the monthly mortgage insurance until the renovation is done and you have a new appraisal done.

@Doug C. To answer your question we peaked and dropped 20% we are not up %20 

@Alex Jaime If you are looking A and B in $150-$350 your best bet with be on the east side of Salt Lake the purchase price will be higher but you'll be able to get some great tenants. If you want to branch further out of Salt Lake Sandy and Cottonwood Heights are some great east side communities that would be in your price range depending on size and age of home. For Utah County Lehi and American Fork and North East Orem are great little areas. 

I manage a few properties for clients but I don't do full property management but could get you in touch with some good ones. Let me know if you have any more questions.

@Eamon Conheady I'd be happy to help. What areas are you wondering about in particular?

@Nate Hollingshead

1. I was able to refinance with a new loan after 6 weeks but it was not a cash out refinance. I bought the home with hard money and paid for the renovation out of pocket. Because I can't cash out I can pay off the hard money but won't get my improvement capital back. Still less than a traditional %25 day but more than no money out of pocket.

3. I've worked with a great hard money lender in Utah. They do not lend 100% they lend based of ARV so if the house where worth $200k they would lend $150,000 so if you could negotiate a deal to %25 off renovated value you could get hard money on the full amount. They also don't charge points depending on the strength of the borrower.

4. The market fluctuation should play some part in your decisions but really I think your goals and how much a discount you get is how you should decided on fix and flip or buy and hold. Example if the house is worth $200k and you get it for $150k and need to spend $20k to get it rent ready or $30k to get it to resale there really isn't enough meat on the bone to get the deal done for a flip but if the area demands a good rental amount then it's a good buy and hold. 

Where is the market headed? No one likes to answer that question as it's pure speculation.  We have a very strong economy and worker pool which might suggest we can handle higher prices. However talking affordability the average purchase price is getting close to the average income which means if the average purchase price gets much higher the average income can no longer afford to buy the average home and has to settle. The first time home buyer market is the largest market of buyers and if they can't afford to buy then no one buys and the move up buyers can't sell and move up which eventually drops prices. It's all about supply and demand.

My recomendation is buy now if your thinking about now or next because you know what the rates and and what prices are. Waiting a year who knows where we will be. If you're further out than 3 years it's worth waiting. Another thought on the market. There are economic cycles that last between 7-10 years. If you look at it from peak to peak we peaked in value July 2006 so at any time between 2013 and 2016 we should see our peak. This is why I believe people are near the peak or even have peaked. One reason people are still buying is interest rates are amazing. The buying power drops a lot if the interest rate goes up.  In theory when people can't buy more people rent. It really depends on what your goals are.

Hope that helps. 

Tiffany I've helped a few people buying Vineyard and the mosquitoes really aren't that bad. Before you buy a property your lender will do a search to make sure it's not in the flood plain and if it is in a flood plain you have to have flood insurance so if it was in a flood plain that would be the risk of the lake rising. My clients who personally purchased out there have not bought property within a flood plain and needed flood insurance.

Vineyard is a very hot place right now my concern investing there personally would be how many investment properties are going up. However that could just be because the demand in that area is so high but I feel like Orem is full of condos and townhomes for rent. 

Are you looking at a single family or multi?