All Forum Posts by: Craig Jones

Quote from @Scott Trench:

If you find a HELOC / 2nd position mortgage provider with rates lower than 10% up to a reasonable LTV on an investment property, let me know and we will explore potentially making the lender very notable.

I just spoke with Bank of the West / BMO. Confirmed that they do offer 2nd position HELOC on investment properties up to 69% CLTV. They quoted prime + 1.6% (currently 10.1%) for my credit / LTV scenario.

Also spoke with WaFd Bank (WA, OR, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX). They will do HELOC on investment properties up to 85% LTV, but *only* in 1st position. Doesn't work for me, but others might be interested. Prime plus 0 - 2% depending on credit / LTV.

Navy Fed offers HELOC on investment properties, max $100K, with a 2% increase over their Prime plus pricing for owner-occupied HELOC. Navy Fed membership requires a military connection, but their pool of eligibility is more expansive than USAA because they include granparents, grandchildren and siblings of vets.

Fremont Bank offers HELOC on investment properties in California only. Doesn't work for me, so we didn't get to other details.

@Scott Trench

Housing prices here in Tahoe have pushed many long-time locals out, so trades and skilled labor are in short supply.  It's hard to find anyone to do work, or the price is astronomical.

I've resorted to creative sourcing for labor, using out-of-area folks who are interested in a "working vacation" in Tahoe.  I let them stay at the property for free during mid-week nights that are unlikely to book.  Or in the case of the major remodel we did last year, the two guys from LA who did most of the work stayed onsite in my travel trailer.

I always look for opportunities to add substantial value to a property beyond just fixing what's broken and replacing finishes.  It's helpful to have a creative eye (your own or a partner) to think outside the box about what a property can become.

One example -- 1800 sqft / 3 BR / 2 BA estate sale with a funky 1984 interior.  We turned the living / dining combo into a foyer + 4th BR + 3rd BA, and then opened up the kitchen to a new 600 sqft great room addition on the back.  

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Truth  full stop  !!!!!! anyone who thinks an agent is trying to raise the price to the buyer so they can make a little more commish has no clue how the industry works or the mind of agents.. Agents want deals to close period end of discussion and are not going to try to make them an extra few grand that's ridiculous thinking and simply not at all reality.

"Agents want to close deals" is exactly right.  The incremental commission on the higher price is not the point.  Agents will push buyers to pay a higher price to close the deal.  We can tell ourselves that "this is in service to my client, so they can get the property they wanted."  But it's also "so I can get the commission instead of some other agent."  It's nearly impossible to take self-interest out of the equation.  It's not malicious (for most agents, anyway).  Just human nature.

There's a great section in the book "Freakonomics" using data to prove this out.  The scenario is slightly different -- comparing sale prices when agents sold their own homes vs. clients' homes.  But I think it works the same way on the buy side.  

Quote from @Jordan B.:

How about applying for a 18 month interest free card like Chase Freedom and rolling over into that?

Bank of America has a card with a 21-month 0% offer right now.  Applies to both purchases (no fee) and balance transfers (3% fee) within the first 60 days of account opening.

Option 4 is to get your own real estate license.  This is what I ended up doing after a couple of deals.  The pre-licensing education requirement was a little tedious, but not hard, and the exam wasn't too difficult either.

Aside from the possibility of representing yourself, having your own license also allows you to negotiate for commission spits or discounts if you do decide to hire another agent to represent you.

I've also made some pretty good side money on commission splits when I refer friends and family to another agent.

Thanks.  The parts that aren't obvious though:

1) How to figure out if this will be better than Pricelabs' default seasonal adjustment?

2) Methodology for choosing min / base / max for each season

Anyone here have experience with these?  Pricelabs docs say they might be especially useful when 1) you are in a heavily seasonal area and have a higher-end portfolio and / or 2) have luxury properties with very small comp-set.  Both of which are true for me.

But it doesn't describe any methodology for how I might adjust min/base/max per season once I've created the profiles.  And I haven't found any external folks (YouTubers, blogs, etc.) describing this either, aside from just saying that this feature exists.

The docs also mention the possibility of needing to contact support to turn off or adjust the default seasonal adjustments (so they don't apply on top of the Custom Profiles).  But they don't give any guidance on how to know if that's necessary.

If you have experience in this area, I'd love to do a quick Zoom.  Happy to pay for your time.

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

I would not be selling the property at this time; for two reasons. The first would be your revenue on the property, from what I understand your doing great! The second reason is right now it's hard for buyers to get their numbers to work on STR projected revenue with how high interest rates are. So, there's a good chance you'll have a hard time selling or end up/need to lower your price. Might as well keep it and let the property be your piggy bank.

A worthy consideration, though I think a large part of the buyer pool are wealthy cash buyers (who don't care about interest rates) looking for a part-time or full-time residence.  There is still a lot of SF Bay Area tech money moving in.  The Nevada location is especially attractive because there's no state income tax.

Location is Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.  Jul / Aug are high months for sure, but ski season months are almost as high.

There's no urgent need for the cash, mostly a what-if exercise thinking about alternative ways it might be used.  Could be put to use in a more diversified portfolio of investment properties.  Or start-up capital for a general contracting / custom home building / fix-and-flip business.