All Forum Posts by: Brett Rhine

@John Thedford

"I no NO place you can find properties for 2K"

Then I am confused, because when I look at places like this, where one county is auctioning off these liens, I can see that several were apparently sold for as little as 2 or 3 grand. 

Am I totally missing something??

@John Thedford

"Brokering without a license is a 3rd degree felony"

Well then THAT strategy is a no-go for now...

Regarding tax deed sales, while I have known about the strategy for a long time I am only just now getting educated about them through books and posts/threads here on BP. I have a couple questions for a fellow FL investor, if you don't mind...

What do you mean when you say "bidding starts at 18% and goes down"? 18% of the taxes owed? If so, that seems like a steal for any property short of a toxic dump, even if it needed work. But something tells me thats not what you meant. 

When you said "investigate the property" what were you referring to (in broad strokes)? Are you referring to due diligence regarding the livability of the property? Electrical/plumbing/roof/etc? Desirability of the neighborhood? Local job market? 

My intent is to buy and hold so that I can exit corporate America and work for myself as a full-time investor. If I am buying up decent properties for a couple thousand each and then renting them out, would that really necessitate using OPM? Or were you thinking about repair costs when you mentioned that? 

Thanks again for replying to my thread and giving this newbie your time and knowledge.

Hi @Aziz Raji! Thanks!

 Curious that he didn't mention my would-be rental income at all, then. No?

Hmm, I actually do rent my spare rooms right now. The mortgage is $1020, the rents coming in are $1025. And if I moved out I could probably rent the whole place to one family for about $1500. 

Think that might change my situation in the bank's eyes? What would I need to show them to prove I've got that money coming in?

Not sure if this is the right forum section or not but since I'm a total newbie I thought it belonged here. 

Knowing where you want to go begins with knowing where you are, and with that in mind I reached out to a national bank just to see what kind of mortgage I could qualify for and how I would best improve my current situation in case I needed to use conventional financing.

My credit score is mid-700s, about $15k in consumer debt (which is coming down). The main problem for the bank is that my base income is low-ish (I'm in a salary+commission job) and I dont have 2 yrs of history in this job for them to go on. 

Here is the part that puzzled me...when the bank asked me what I want to do with my current home I own I told him that I intend to rent it and move into the next home I buy. So it seemed like he was calculating whether my base income can satisfy two mortgages. Is that normal? I understand that there is no guarantee that the house would rent at all, but why wouldn't he include anything about having the potential for rental income into my calculation? 

I realize a lot of you are probably smacking your foreheads at what I assume is probably a "duh" question, but this is where I am and any advice or counsel would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

@Matt Motil

Yes I have. Florida prices are much higher than in places like middle-America and I'm not (yet) a high-income individual.

Hi Doron

Some thoughts: 

• Late fees shouldnt be a "request". If rent is late then the fees are now part of what is required
• You arent "harassing" him by reminding him that he needs to fulfill his part of the contract by paying the rent
• It sounds like you are a little bit afraid of being the "bad guy" landlord and now it's the tenant who is in the drivers seat.

It's definitely time to let him go. There will be a cost, yes, but consider that the "price" of removing this thorn from your side. 

Good luck.

Hi Everyone,

My name is Brett and I'm a brand new investor in the Central Florida area. 

I've been interested in real estate ever since my mid 20's when I picked up a little known book called "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and learned about the concept of multiple streams of income. Getting off the ground has been a little trickier than I thought it would be, but I'm undeterred in my ambition to replace my career income with rental income. 

Actually, I guess you could say that I have gotten started, just not in the way I wanted: I'm a homeowner and I rent out my spare bedrooms to two tenants who, combined, pay the mortgage for me. I'm planning on using the majority of what I'm saving to bankroll my next investment, but the progress is slow. 

Given my lack of capital to invest with, I am most interested in low/no money down paths like lease options, tax liens, and seller financing. I'm also interested in learning about wholesaling (though some of the blog posts I've read here are making me think this might be a lot harder than it looks). 

Thanks for reading!