All Forum Posts by: Chris Vail

@Stephanie Garcia As an FYI for the central heat and air I had put in on my rental ran me ~12k the unit was 1147 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath, this included all of the ductwork and install of everything.  I probably could have got it cheaper but I was able to take advantage of a ygrene energy loan for the project by going through the installer I used so I was only out of pocket $700 for the project and the rest gets paid back on the tax bill for the property. 

 I would echo what @Dan B. has said above about what you would want to do to the unit versus what a tenant will want.  It will all come down to what you will be looking for in a tenant.  I know I over improved my unit, however I knew this and was aiming to increase the property value as much as possible for equity push.  I also knew that this would allow me to demand above market rent and get the best quality tenant.  

Are you planning on living in the vacant side or are you going to rent out that side as well? 

@Jessica Sorensen

This is going to depend on your time line.  You will be basically betting on the appreciation if buying this property will eliminate your ability to save more money to go towards rentals in the future until you sell and realize that appreciation.

I would look at what the worst case scenario would be and what does this do to your timeline / plans.  If it just slows you down and doesn't set you back on the worst case and there is lots of potential upside I would take a very hard look at the property and move forward if it met the goals that I had in my plan.  You just need to see if it meets your plan ;).

@Stephanie Garcia

 Hello and Welcome to BP, the first step on a long road to success if you decide to take that road. Now to your questions:

"I have a real estate agent I like working with, do I keep the same agent throughout my investment endeavors?"

@Sergey Tkachev hit the nail right on the head with his post, you might not need to change agents if both you and your agent have the same goals for you. Generally investing offers are many in number and not all agents are willing to put in the work for what an investor is usually trying to do, under pay for an asset compared to the market rate. If your agent is only looking at MLS deals then you should be making multiple offers before one of them is accepted. You will be looking to pay what the numbers say makes sense for you not the seller and rarely on the MLS are those numbers the same. This will generally be lots of work for the agent as they will be putting in lots of offers on your behalf, so just make sure that the agent you choose understands this and will be up to the challenge.

"I am trying to buy another house or duplex to have as a rental property, am I supposed to contact a normal mortgage lender? I don't have much cash for a down payment."

I am answering these together as they are directly related, most "normal" mortgage lenders are going to be looking for 20-25% as a down payment on an investment property.  This sounds like it might be your limiting factor in going the traditional 30 yr mortgage route.  There are many ways to structure a deal that do not involve you putting 20-25% down.  Seller financing is the most prevalent one that comes to mind but there are many more. This is not my wheel house as I have gone the conventional route so far, but there are lots of creative ways to structure your deals so that you can put less money in. I would suggest doing some research in this area if you are going to look to make a move before you have the personal cash on hand to finance it your self.

A couple of folks at the meetup were curious about my rehab to rent thread so here it is Post.

Thanks for the conversation @Tim C. I hope you get your funding together and are able to get something out in Oklahoma. 

@Tyler Haskell I appreciated the conversation and the insight into how things are going out in Indiana, Out of state is still scary to me but I will need to pull the trigger eventually to help diversify my properties.

@Sergey Tkachev, @Bonnie Anglin, @Kyle J., @Craig E., @Leyla Simsek Thanks for adding in to the conversation I hope at future meetups I will be able to spend more time talking with you about what you are working on in your areas.

@Al Williamson, thanks again for setting up the time and place.

@Winston Lovas if you havent already set up some keyword alerts to let you know when folks are talking about what you are interested in.  There is a meetup happening this friday in downtown Sac if you are interested head to the following link and post that you will be there.

 MeetUp <--link to the thread.

We usually order a bunch of appetizer / finger foods for people to snack on while talking shop.  @Tyler W. it is our way of saying thanks to the host location for letting us reserve a large separate space from the rest of the restaurant.  

@Karen Margrave

 I am curious what that picture of Shasta Dam looks like today with the Drought :(.  I had many a fun summer up at Shasta while in school at Chico State (Friends family had a houseboat on the lake up there), good times.

@Al Williamson I will be there, might be a bit late but will attempt to get there as close to 6:30 as possible.

@Jessica Sorensen , @Jake Weir, @Leyla Simsek, @Dennis Lanni, @Jason Flynn, @Stanley Miller, @Scott Long, @Dustin Rose, @Tim C., @Sarah B., @Nick Munsee, @Anthony Peric, @Bahman Ghashghaei, @David Oldenburg

Last thread got pulled by admins, date has been set for May 22nd @6:30pm. If you are going to be there post in this thread so Al can get an approximate head count.

@David Hutson

 do you know why they pulled it? I am just curious.  

@J. Martin well done sir, here's to further success down the road!!!  With less toilet troubles of course :).