All Forum Posts by: Chris Coleman

I highly recommend starting with #6!!!

@David Mills absolutely.  If you're considering out-of-state investing, then turnkey is definitely an option to explore.

As others have said, you still want to make sure you know the market you're investing in. Do the due diligence yourself on the city, neighborhoods, schools, crime statistics, etc, and know where you do and do not want to own rental property.  Also, I recommend going with a turnkey provider that sets you up with Leasing and Property Management.  Some turnkey companies will sell you the house, and then simply put you in contact with their recommended Leasing and PM companies. That's fine.  However, others actually have in-house leasing and property management (which I recommend), so that its already in place when you purchase and they are already working to get your property leased.  

You may want to check out "Turnkey Revolution" by Chris Clothier of MemphisInvest.

The Turnkey Revolution by @Chris Clothier

I highly recommend looking into MemphisInvest if you're considering turnkey.

@Jonathan Seyfert I worked with Northshore Hospital for several years, with a satellite office in Wilmette. You may want to consider expanding your reach to Wilmette or Skokie, as price points could be a little better.

@Chase Woodard

Depreciation is key. It allows you to take losses on rental property, such that on paper (for tax purposes) you made less or even no money. When in reality, you collected rent income and have cash in the bank.

It can be a difficult concept to grasp, until the first year you own that rental property and do your taxes. You then see how powerful it is when your tax return shows a loss on that property so you pay no income taxes on it, but you literally have $4,000 (for example) cash income in your account.

@Tim Herman

Haha...”free accommodations for the next 30 days...”. That actually made me literally laugh out loud. Thanks!

At closing?  They will generally pull credit check earlier, during the approval.

@Khemaro N.

1. Also consider that a Refi is a new mortgage, and as such will have fees and closing costs associated. 
2. A caution with HELOCs is that the interest rate is often variable, and therefore can change from month-to-month. So you need to know the maximum the monthly interest rate could increase and make sure that your property will still cash flow against the HELOC payments even if they go up. Additionally, with HELOCs, be sure the terms do not require that you hold a minimum balance, which could negate one of the major benefits of a line of credit.
   

@Wes Talbot there are plenty of Real Estate meetups in NoVA. GRID is a very popular one. You should start attending these, as you can network with a lot of other investors and learn a lot about the market.

@Glen Mauldin

Very informative. Thanks so much.

Houston has lead the nation in job growth for the last few years, and in areas other than energy.

Population growing, employment growing, but rent growth has been slow compared to other major markets.

Any insights?