All Forum Posts by: Jason E. Smith

Heck of a story Rob.  Best of luck!

he's my current property manager for a duplex I have in Charlotte. He's a realtor, investor and property manager. So he can help with all aspects about investing. Best of luck!

Alex a great resource is Kevin Stringari with Bottom Line realty and management. He can help with all aspects in Charlotte 

@Daniel Ramirez I just had to have foundation repair work completed on a duplex in Charlotte this year.  The guy who did the work is J.R. (Jay) French, he's a GC and the company he runs is 360 contractor services out of Rock Hill SC.  The other contact I'll give you is Kevin Stringari with Bottom Line Realty and management in Charlotte.  He's an investor, realtor and owns a property management company in Charlotte.  Both are good resources.  Best of luck!  

@Lauren Stamey lenders typically have two DTI (debt to income) ratios they look at, front end and back end. The front end DTI is just your income compared to the debt service of the loan you are applying for. Lenders I've talked to like 31% or less front end DTI. So if you're a student and you're gross income is say $1,000 per month, they will approve a mortgage payment of $310 per month. The back end DTI is your income compared to all debts you service. This would include the mortgage you are applying for as well as any car loan payments, student loan payments, credit cards, etc. Lenders I've talked to generally want 45% or less back end DTI to approve a loan. Hope that helps.

@Drew Brashier be more specific on "cash flow positive."  Do they meet the 2% rule?  I agree with Christopher, owner financing or friends or family.  You can also wholesale it, I personally don't have any experience with whole selling so you'd need to find someone who does to learn how to do it.  I have a property manager/realtor who's also an investor in Charlotte NC I can send you to if the deals are near there.   

@Lori Hayes good luck, hopefully you'll find the right price.  I have some contractor and realtor connections in Greensboro.  I'm pretty sure my direct email is on my profile.  Feel free to send me a message if I can be of any help and feel free to share your experience after you finish.  Best of luck!  Glad to be connecting with local investors on BP!

Welcome @Lori Hayes  How is your investing going thus far?  

@Natalie Kolodij Your decision to move to Charlotte is a fabulous decision if I might say so myself! You'll be about halfway between the beach and the mountains and there's plenty to do. On the investing side, your option A has a big red flag. You will be collecting $3,000 a month in rents and your purchase price is $350k. This won't cashflow. You may collect rents for a few months, pay your mortgage and think it cashflows, but over the long term when you incorporate vacancy, maintenance, management and CAPEX you'll find it don't cashflow long term. If my math is correct, $3k/$350k, this isn't even 1%. Seasoned investors stick to 2% rule to ensure cashflow. Another problem is most likely a property with these numbers will increase your DTI, so you'll be able to buy one, two, maybe three depending upon your income and how much this changes your DTI. But at some point you'll hit the max DTI and the bank will decline the next loan. Again, you can use your specific income, debt and the property information to verify that it indeed will increase your DTI, by how much and how many of these you can purchase before hitting the bank max, but being it's under 1% I'd be surprised if it didn't increase your DTI.

@Jonathan Chung educate yourself on the 2% rule and stick by it, or really really close, to ensure your property really does cashflow after call expenses including Capex. My experience has been property managers who are also realtors are more knowledgeable about buying investment property than just your typical realtor. Find some local seasoned investors and ask if you can tag along to look at deals. Seasoned investors are always willing to teach. Best of luck and best of luck to the Cubs tomorrow night!