All Forum Posts by: David Sandvig

Looking forward to the meetup tonight, but always up for more meetups!

@Zach Lemaster Definitely need to clarify that, thanks!  I was thinking of money down at closing.  So if you buy a wholesale property with no money down, you'll be paying a ~2% loan fee at closing, and then probably be paying 10-12% interest over the next year, but at least that's less of a financial burden to having a 25% downpayment at closing.

Going with 20% down (or less) on a conventional loan, or a vacation loan, or maybe a DSCR loan could all be better options in this situation.

Fix and flips are probably going to have the lowest financial barrier of entry, but require more time and effort.  Short term rentals can have higher returns, but there's going to be more turnover and you need to pay to furnish the property as well.  Buy and hold long term rentals are probably the lowest risk and are more passive in my opinion.  The financial barrier of entry is relatively high in my market, but LTR are still accessible in a lot of markets.

I imagine you could find something that would work as a LTR in northern Michigan. Depending on when you buy it, you can try short term renting it for a month or two, and if it doesn't workout revert to using it as a long term rental. Inversely, you could also rent it out for a couple years and then try converting it to a STR when you're more comfortable with that.

Besides Google, my brokerage has a list of preferred vendors (usually a running list of vendors other agents have had good experiences with).  I've also looked at Angie's list, word of mouth, and met people at Meet Ups.  I still like Google though!

My MO is usually to find three that I think will be good, call all three, get quotes, and go with the one that I have the best feeling about.  If I like them, they're my go to in the future.  If I don't like them, I call three the next time.  At this point I've got a go-to HVAC company, plumber, electrician, and few others that I'll go straight to.

Hi Rizwan!  I've helped out of state investors before, and would love to help you.  I've been investing myself in the Austin area for ~5 years now as well.

Welcome @Endory Neves!

I'm an agent in Austin, but I can put you in touch with an agent from my brokerage in El Paso (or Dallas).  Good luck, investing can be a lot of fun!

Always up for a coffee!  I'm an investor and realtor in the area.  Feel free to reach out.

I'd take the money and run!  I would make sure that you've lived there the past 24 months so you can avoid that gains tax though.  I'm not a CPA and this isn't advice, but qualifying for the Section 121 exclusion could keep you from paying Uncle Sam anything.  There is a phase out, so even if you've only lived there 20 months, you might qualify for a partial exclusion on those gains.  If you haven't lived there 24 months, I'd highly recommend you talk to an accountant and/or wait until you're at 24 months of living there to sell.

Joe Fairless' book on apartment syndication has a nice process for market analysis.  He's talking specifically about doing it for apartment buildings, but the process/principals would be the same for single family or small multifamily rentals as well.  It's chapter 13-16 of his Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book.

Welcome to Austin!  In addition to BiggerPockets there are a lot on Meetup.com as well.  Here are three I've been to and liked:

First Monday evening of the month:
https://www.meetup.com/Multifa...
Every Tuesday at lunchtime:
https://www.meetup.com/AustinC...
Every third Tuesday of the month:
https://www.meetup.com/Austin-...