All Forum Posts by: Corby Goade

Sure thing- feel free to reach out any time if I can help! Good luck out there.

Do you have a lease that you understand and is binding in your area? Do you have a way to screen tenants? Is the rental unit rent ready? If not, do you have the skills to repair it or know of contractors who do? Where will you advertise your rental? How and when will you show it? Do you have an application for prospective tenants? Do you have a method to screen those applications? Have you determined your rental criteria?

Although its important for the rental unit to look nice, the most important part of the equation is who you rent to, and many new landlords don't give that as much thought. There are tons of resources available here for tenant screening, I'd recommend that you put a great deal of thought into that concept and get a great tenant. Best of luck!

I'd agree that Dave Ramsey is a good place to start for your situation. However, he vehemently opposes borrowing money to buy investment real estate. He's great for getting rid of debt and cleaning up your credit. If you don't have great credit and either cash or equity, it's going to be tough to get started. Good luck! 

If you pay all cash, you don't have to wait six months to refi, you can do a delayed financing deal. However, if you wait six months, you can pull a bit more equity out.

If you are going to live in half of the duplex, when you refi, I'd open a HELOC rather than cash out. That way you don't have to make any payments or pay interest until you actually need to the money. When you do a cash out refi, you pay interest from day one, whether you use that money or not. Then you use your HELCO to pay "cash" for your next property, refinance that one and pay off your HELOC. Repeat again and again.

Many title companies will provide you with non-owner occupied lists within a zip code.

 Yes, @Jonna Weber, I am working on one right now with Bank of the West. They only do HELOCs on SFRs at 65% LTV. So far, so good, but I am very early in the process.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Do you have a contract with your Realtor? Has your Realtor been good to you? If so, I'd chat with them about it, you should get some honest advice. I'd be clear in my offer about your Realtor getting a commission in your offer.

A HELOC gives you leverage and a great advantage that you do not have with a traditional mortgage. Cash means that you can close faster, aren't waiting for the bank to underwrite and request endless documentation from you and you can skip an inspection, if you are so inclined. To a seller, that usually means you are serious and can move much more quickly than a traditional buyer, and depending on the seller's situation, it can mean a significant discount for you as well.

This is how we buy properties. As a matter of fact, we just bought a foreclosure and beat out an offer from another buyer with traditional financing, and their offer was 20% higher than ours.

Why do you think you need to wait at least six months? Just curious- I find that jumping in and getting to work is truly the best way to learn. Assuming that since you owned a plumbing business, you must be fairly handy? You probably know what you need to know already, just need to pull the trigger. Best of luck!

If you paid cash for the property and the transaction was at arms length, you can do a delayed financing cash out.

@Chris Tracy. genius idea. Thank you for sharing.