All Forum Posts by: David Garcia

Hello Travis, Welcome to BP and congrats on your newborn. I am also a newer RE investor with one property (Duplex) just purchased Feb this year. I worked with @Josh Green which is an amazing realtor and with @Nick Velez which is a great lender to work with. They both own investment properties and are not just a realtor/lender. I trust these two will do what's right for you as they did for me. They are passionate about helping you achieve your RE goals and will not guide you in any direction that does not match what your goals are. Good luck and I look forward to hearing your success story once you start. 

Hell Sam, appreciate you letting us in on your story. With that mentality and drive you will make it big. I am a newer investor as well, purchased my first duplex back in Feb of this year, rented it out and have been managing it myself. I chose to manage myself not really to save on the PM payment but wanted to learn and I figured the best way to learn is to manage my property myself. I also read a lot of books, listened to bigger pockets podcasts and watched as many videos as possible to educate myself before jumping in. I did this for just over a year or so and finally decided to make the leap and purchase the property. 

In order to get the down payment, I opened up a HELOC on my primary. This was nerve-racking to say the least but once I got the tenants in the units and rents started to come in, I felt a bit better about the situation. The rents pay for both the mortgage and the HELOC on top of being able to put funds away for cap-ex, maintenance & vacancy. I will say I have learned a lot from managing my own units but still have a lot to learn as a whole. I was lucky enough to meet and work with a great investor friendly realtor and investor friendly lender. They both helped me out tremendously and ensured to do what was best for my long-term goals with the RE investing. There have been ups and downs but anything worth doing I believe has its ups and downs. Just make sure you learn from both.

With all that said, I am now stuck. I would like to purchase another 2-4 unit here soon but the funding/down-payment is the issue. My rental property has not appreciated enough in order to cash out refi to pay off my HELOC to utilize for my next property. My interest rate is not too bad at 7.25% on the rental and the interest rate on my primary is at 4%. My lender was talking to me about doing a cash-out refi on my primary to pay off the HELOC which would put me at a bit of a higher rate on my primary, but the HELOC would be paid off and that is currently on a variable rate at 9.26%.

I would love to speak with anyone who has been in my position and has more experience than I do in order to see what other options I may have to continue my RE investing journey. Thank you for starting this post, I feel I needed something like this. 

P.S 

I am 43 so started out a little late but I figured better late than never!!!

@James Mansfield I am a new investor myself and would not argue with anyone who has much more experience than I do regarding multi-family homes here in the Tampa area. With that said, I purchased a multi-family in February this year which is cash flowing at almost 14%. There are deals out there and in my opinion you can definitely cash flow if you find the right deal. I have a great team I work with that may be able to help you out. For a investor friendly realtor reach out to @Josh Green, he is amazing at his craft and is also an investor himself. He will do you right for sure. As far as lending if needed, reach out to @Nick Velez, he is also great to work with and will not put any pressure on you to buy. They both did an amazing job for me and helping me get into my first investment property. Good luck and take the leap you will not regret it. 

@Connor Benn - I recently worked with @Nick Velez which is part of the One Brokerage/David Greens team and I can say the experience exceeded my expectations. I worked with him on my last investment property purchase few months ago and I can say his attention to detail and ensuring he does what is right for you is unmatched in my opinion. No pressure from him and communication was second to none. I plan on working with him and his team on my next property as he did well for me and my experience.  Also if you're in need of a great investor friendly agent, @Josh Green is your man. He will also exceed your expectations as an agent. They are both great to work with and look out for your best interest. Hope this helps. 

 Thanks

 Thank you.

That is a great Idea, I will definitely do so if I end up renting to the LLC. Not sure that will happen at this point but good info. Thank you Drew.

@Bill B. - ok that makes sense. Most definitely will specify what it may be utilized for exclusively so it does not turn into a body shop or STR. Thanks for the advice and responding.