All Forum Posts by: Christopher Sarter-Soto

Hello BP,

I'm seeking out some general contractor references. I'm looking for someone who is willing to work in the payette county area,  does good work and at a fair price. Does anyone have some recommendations they'd be willing to share? Thank you!!

Thank you all for your input! It sounds like at the current moment a HELOC would be the way to go as it can help keep costs low by only paying interest on what I pull out rather than doing a refi and being locked in to a higher payment regardless whether or not I find a deal.

@Nicholas L.

I plan to use the HELOC for acquisition only and my own cash for the rehab part of it. I assumed it would be a little risky to do 100% using a HELOC since there's a chance I won't get to pull 100% of my investment back out after the refi part of BRRRR.

Hello, everyone.

I'm a newbie looking forward to getting started and getting my first BRRRR deal. My biggest struggle right now is understanding whether to get a HELOC on my primary home or do a cash out refinance so I can get started. Can you all give me your thoughts, pros and cons?

I owe around 168k on my primary but the last appraisal about 1 year ago came in at 422k. There's a lot of equity here I can tap into, but I just need help with the options.

Thanks for the help!

Chris

Thank you for clearing that up for me. There are definitely a lot of things to take into consideration and your suggestion appears to make good sense. 

Greg,

Could you explain a little more how renting is more cost effective than owning? Doesn't owning a property create equity as well, while renting doesn't? Additionally, our current payment, including insurance, is less than $500/month.

Thanks for your input.

45k/year at the moment.

I realize it was too general a wuestion without the details, so here goes nothing. 

Stephen, we currently owe a little under 55k on the home and it's current value is about 115-120k as is. It's hard for me to estimate future worth after rehab as I'm very new to this. The repairs needed would be a new roof, new floors, bathroom remodel, kitchen remodel, sliding glass door replacement and other door, attic insulation and window updates. The home was built in 1964, and slowly we've been doing some things to it. Again, we basically wanted to move so not a whole lot has been done.

Greg, currently we have around 20k saved up for repairs or moving, move-in, costs. Above are some of the details needed, but let me know what else you might need.

Thank you both for replying and I hope that gives you a bit more of an idea. Other resources available to us I suppose could be some family who can do a lot of this work with us over the Spring and into the Summer.

-Chris

Hello, everyone! 

My name is Chris and I'm new to BP. I've been a big fan of BP for quite some time, reading and learning day by day. Recently, I've decided it's time to post my own questions and get great advice from you all to begin my real estate investing career. My first question, by the way, is a bit confusing, but it would really help me out to hear your thoughts. The way I see it, we have maybe two to three choices: fix up our home to rent it out, sell our home to purchase a duplex, or sell the home and perhaps purchase a mobile home. These choices should make more sense shortly.

A couple of years ago my wife and I inherited a home due to some unfortunate circumstances. My wife's mother lives with us. Even though it may not be ideal to factor my mother-in-law into the equation, it's impossible to do so and plan for a successful investing career. So, we've been here for a little over two years; however, because the home's maintenance was neglected before we got our hands on it, we've just about made up our mind to move. My wife and I have discussed alternatives to selling our home, but we're not sure what the best option might be. 

If we sell our home, we'd move and live with family or rent while I finish my degree and we can identify a great deal on a duplex. In this situation, we would live in one half, and my mother-in-law would occupy the other. Unfortunately, she cannot afford to pay a decent amount in order for the right cashflow to come in.

Another option would be to sell our home and look for a mobile home to start off. Once I finish my degree, we can opt to rent out the mobile home to my mother-in-law. In this situation, because the price of a mobile home is affordable, we may be able to break even, or even generate a little cash flow, and put her into a good setup without jeopardizing anything.

Lastly, we could choose to fix up our home enough to make it attractive to renters. This would require quite aWe would have to live with family, of course, for a little while, but the fact of the matter is we don't really want to be here much longer. My mother-in-law would have to stay with some of her family for a while until we decided what we're going to do after that.

The fact of the matter is that our decision is complicated because we have to factor in my wife's mother. She is dedicated to helping her out due to her limited income. I have nothing against this, but at the same time we have to be realistic. We're doing well for ourselves and I'd like it to stay that way. Real estate investing is the way we'd like to go.

What do you all think? Please ask any questions you might have. Any and all suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Warmest regards,

Chris