All Forum Posts by: Eddy Dumire

@Ethan Perry Also, I can't help with agent services yet, but I love to watch the game.  Let me know if you need a second opinion on anything or need any other guidance.  I've built up a portfolio of 4 rental properties over the past year and a half and rehabbed five including the one I moved into.

@Ethan Perry I live in Stafford also.

I do know that @Mike Oconnell is an investor himself and can probably help you though I haven't used him for agent services yet. He also is involved in the Rappahannock REI (which you should also look into).

I've decided to get my own license to save myself some money and get immediate access to MLS listed properties. I should test in the next week or so and long term, I think that's a good strategy for you also.

Good luck.

some very cheap laminate I bought from lowe's was very tricky to install correctly.  If you didn't have the piece at the exact right angle when installing then it wouldn't go together exactly right.  You also could easily overlook it if it were just a little bit off.  I ended up having to get a rubber mallet and a rubber block and pound almost every piece in until it joined correctly.

This was after my budget handyman that I found on craigslist had actually nailed it down because he couldn't get it to install right.

If that's not the case, then some other options to consider:

1.  Did you leave it in the room long enough to acclimate to the humidity?

2.  Did it get wet?

3.  Did you leave the correct spacing between the floor and the wall so it could float properly?

I hope this helps.

Here are your best options in my opinion:

Option 1 is Wholesale.

Option 2 -- If you can round up 3.5% of the purchase price and your credit is at least a 580 you could look into an FHA 203k loan. You will of course have to live in it in order to do this, but it would be a great way to start.

@Cesar Rebolledo One specific piece of advice that I can give is that the numbers work better and better the further you get from the Beltway.

@Cesar Rebolledo That question could be answered in hundreds of different ways.  Why don't you tell us what you're concerned about and that will guide the discussion a little better.  Otherwise the best you're going to get are things like "Make sure you have systems in place" or "Make sure you have multiple exit strategies" or "Location, Location, Location!"

Those are all good pieces of advice.  But none of that advice may be what you need.

@Austin James Thanks for the info!

@Austin James Thanks for doing this!

I have a 2/1 single story on crawlspace that I'm currently renovating.  There is a single wall that has kitchen and bathroom on opposite sides and I'm doing a complete demo on the bathroom.  Bottom line is I can see almost every inch of plumbing in the house right now.

The house was built in 1962 but it looks like someone has been here before me and has spliced in pieces of PVC into the cast iron drain pipe.  The runs to the fixtures are also a combination of copper and some kind of plastic (not sure about this one).  In total, the entire house is a toilet, bathtub, vanity, and kitchen sink on a single wall that drops down to a crawlspace.  Currently the crawlspace is unconditioned but I'm going to encapsulate it.

I'm thinking I should bite the bullet and just replace almost every bit of plumbing in the house right now rather than close up the wall and wait for something to break, especially since I'm putting nice tile in the bathroom.

So here goes:

1.  Should all plumbing be replaced at this stage or should I just fix it when it goes wrong?

2.  Is it a better idea to just replace what will be sealed up in wall and leave the crawlspace area as it is until something breaks?

3.  I had polybutyl in one house, which of course ruptured.  For that reason I've been a copper loyalist.  Do you promise me that PEX will never ever rupture? jk

4.  Is PEX your #1 choice for a full replacement or do you actually prefer something else like CPVC or copper?

5.  How much time would something like this take a reasonably skilled plumber? 

6.  What would be a spitball guesstimate on costs?  The entire wall is only about 7 feet long.

7.  I have a decent amount of mechanical aptitude.  I've soldered copper and glued pvc drain lines together before.  Is this something I could reasonably do on my own?  I've never used PEX.

Thanks!  Sorry to dump so much on you at once.

@Jacob Sampson It's really best to base that on prior history in your specific area with your specific properties.  If you're just getting started though I would use 10% for vacancy and 20% for maintenance/capex.  I don't personally spend that much on maintenance but I do a full rehab before I rent them out.

As a general rule, if your DTI is high enough to cause underwriting problems then I would address it. Otherwise, keep buying investment property. Reduce your DTI not by targeting the highest interest rate or the biggest balance, but buy targeting the highest monthly payment.

For instance, I have a HELOC with a payment of $700/month, a personal loan with a payment of $1000/month, and a student loan with a payment of $107/month. It will help my DTI more to pay off the personal loan first, no matter what the terms of each of the two loans are.

What I like to do is to make a spreadsheet and divide the monthly payment by the outstanding balance and sort by this ratio. The higher this ratio, the more benefit you will see in your DTI by paying it off early. When you consider this, I get more DTI reduction per dollar by paying off the student loan first (it only has a remaining balance of $1814).

Keep in mind that if you'll pay off any debt within a few months (I think the rule is 6) then it is not considered in the DTI anyway, so don't throw cash at paying off balances that will be gone in less than 6 months.

What I don't like in your description is your cash flow after paying off mortgage. I'm not sure if this means you consider your cash flow to be Rent - Mortgage = $200. If so, this isn't correct and you need to add factors into this for vacancy, maintenance and capex. If you mean that once you pay off the entire mortgage balance the property will cash flow $200/month, then I'm concerned that you purchased a properties that do not currently cashflow. Whichever is true needs to be addressed urgently and is much more important than DTI reduction.

I hope this helps.