All Forum Posts by: Donna Salmiery

I am eagerly looking for my first investment property, would like a buy and hold. I found a property that is 3Br 2 Ba 1435 sq feet, built in 2001. Realtor.com has it listed for $113,900, and has been listed for 103 days. Zillow lists it as $103,900 and then says Foreclosure Estimate $116,379, sold "as is". I have not seen the inside other than photos. I looked at the property in person and it needs some fascia and siding repair and a new front walk-way. There are stickers on the door that it has been winterized. I spoke to my bank b/c they said the property has to be move-in ready in order to qualify for a loan. But they said that they can do an "escrow holdback" for 1.5 times the repairs that it would need. Then the bank pays for the repairs out of the escrow. Not having any experience, and not knowing any general contractors makes me nervous. If I call and inquire about the property, should I trust the seller's contractor if they know one, or try to find my own. Other homes in the area are going for 190k, and it is in a nice neighborhood. Thanks for any advice.

Thank you for sharing! Us newbies can learn from your experience - and Congratulations!!

Welcome! I live In Martinsburg, WV - a few hours away from you. The Poconos is a beautiful area. Go to the Education link above and read the guides as a great way to get started.

Great! I hope it goes well. I will be calling them soon too to set up a meeting. I thought I would have them do my personal taxes this year and speak to them about the business as well.

Congratulations! And I like your tag line, "the secret to getting ahead is getting started" 

Josh and Brandon definitely need to have you as a guest on the podcast. I have a question that may seem dumb, but how do you know where is a good area to invest in? Also you said the market may go down next year or so, so for a new person trying to buy their first property, that is scary because the value will go down on a buy and hold. I realize when the market is down is the time to buy, but I don't want to wait. 

Look at the tab at the top of the screen entitled "learn" and use the example for how to analyze a deal. You know the asking price, figure your down payment, and the closing costs they used in the example were very high at $8000. I was plugging in anywhere from $2000-$4000 depending on the cost of the property I was looking at until I met with a banker and he told me they had fixed closing costs of $995. The banker also gave me an interest rate of 5.5% and said that they will only loan for a 20 year term. So meeting with a banker really helped me to know some of the numbers. Then look at what properties are renting in the same area to get an idea of what to put for rental income. I watched a webinar where they showed their BP calculator and used a vacancy rate of 12%, so that is what I have been using. The bank told me they use a higher number up to 25%. Property taxes can be found on the MLS listing or zillow. I usually put about $20 a month for insurance, but not sure if that is right, you can figure for maintenance things like hot water heater, snow removal, lawn care, etc and put an amount there. I don't put anything for utilities because I plan on the tenant paying those. As I have yet to purchase a property, I may be off on these calculations, but it is a starting point, and I analyze a couple deals every day to get the practice. Definitely overestimate your expenses and underestimate your income if guessing at any numbers.

Have you tried Albright, Crumbacker, Moul? They have offices in both Martinsburg and Hagerstown. Their website doesn't specifically say they specialize in real estate. My husband has used them in the past when he had a small business, and they were very good. I was thinking of calling them and asking if they are familiar with real estate as I am in the process of building my team as well. Please let me know what you find out! Thanks!

Thank you Steven Hamilton

1. How can I find the tax rate for rental properties? I met with a banker and learned that in my county, your primary residence is taxed at $800 per $100,000 of appraised value, but a property that you are not living in, ie. your rental property, is taxed at $1600 per $100,000 of value. I have looked on many sites and can only find the primary tax rate for your residence. If anyone knows a website to look this up, please let me know. I would like to look outside of my area, so can't go down to their local offices. I guess I could try to find phone numbers for different towns, but I figured there must be a website. Thanks!