All Forum Posts by: Chris Virgil-Stone

I use erentpayment.com. They had some issues a year or so ago, I wasn't affected though. Tenants pay the $3 processing fee so it's free to me. It's in my account ~5 business days into the month. I require tenants pay this way, and they also are signed up for 12 month recurring payments, which they cannot change.

Thank you @Mitch Messer! I've never been had to go through an issue like this after due diligence was up so i was thinking it was a hard cut off. 

That's a good point on acting in good faith...after talking with my agent we figured the best course of action is to have the lender write a loan denial letter- they won't provide an investment loan on a property I can't rent out. I have 21 days for the financing contingency. 

I'm currently under contract for a townhome in a lower/middle class area. It's a 2/2 townhome, all nice finishes (including all granite and tile). Plan to rent for $995, purchase price of $88k. I have $1k earnest and am just past due diligence. There was a lag in getting info due to the available HOA rep not knowing and the holiday to get rental restriction info since it wasn't clearly spelled out in the covenants. Found out today that they limit it at 5% of units or 7 total. Researching the county records you can clearly see that 40-50%+ are rentals. Would you proceed with purchase or chalk up the earnest money as a loss? Keep in mind most available properties are in HOA (all 3 of my current units are).

1. You were blessed to travel to the US and meet the people you have...don't put your father on the back burner, I'm assuming he brought you here.

2. You don't need to feel you owe him, but don't leave him in the dust either.

3. That's HIS equity. Don't forget that or invest it recklessly.

4. I suggest house hacking a small multi-family on your own with 3.5% or less down AND working with your father to invest HIS equity into another deal, which you can be partners on (since you found it and will manage it).

5. It sounds like you aren't quite sure of what approach you want to take to real estate...wholesaling vs buy and hold are 2 different worlds, proceed with caution.

Feel free to reach out.

Hey Allison,

Curious to find out who you decided to go with...Watertown used to be my stomping grounds. I've considered small mult-family investing in the areas since I left in 2015 but the market seems to have taken a dive, with no good jobs outlooks.

I'd say go with the ELOC on the rental while you can...just secured my first with Pentagon, submitted my second today. I only own 3 properties, if you own more (or have mortgages on more than 3), cant remember, they will not do equity lines of credit for investment properties. However, you can "always" refi a rental. There are some other lenders that provide ELOC on rentals, maybe their terms are different.

My equity lines are minimal in value, however they can each secure the DP on another property each, with minimal/no closing costs to obtain. I do interest only for DTI reasons.

I count the ELOC payment against the cash flow of the new property and make sure it still makes sense. Since it is a no cash down deal, I don't require the same return as I would on a 20% down deal (w/ ELOC IO pmt).

Some will argue against ELOCs and interest only for rate/long-term reasons and it really depends on your market/risk assessment. With my portfolio value CAGR of 11%+ I'm planning to do a refi long term (pay off ELOC, cash out), assessing as the market changes. 

If I don't see any deals in my market for 12 months and I refi-cash out, I start paying the higher payment tomorrow. If I put an ELOC on the property, I'm paying the same original mortgage payment until I pull money from the ELOC.

Your personal home can be an asset. Typical homes are not...I never, or have not yet bought a personal residence that I haven't analyzed as a rental and bought with the intention of turning it into a rental...100% financing, live in it for 2 years, rent it for 2.5, sell with no capital gains or just continue renting. It's a true no money down deal, that I can do over and over.

@Kristian A moreno regardless if you buy it as an investment property or personal residence you will own it, or eventually own it free and clear if you choose to do so. There's analysis to do on your market that you can't just ask as a general question (not meaning to be rude). Will the property cash flow? Is rent cheaper than a mortgage would be on a personal residence? If one or both answers are yes, it probably makes sense to buy an investment property. You get the tax benefits with an I investment. House hacking and the BRRRR strategies are probably some of the best a person of average intelligence like myself can do to increase wealth.

Read landlording on autopilot.

Thank you everyone! A lot of good advice in here. I'll make them aware of the violations (smoke alarm/not notifying me of a leak) and provide a deadline for them to fix the issues.