All Forum Posts by: Emma Powell

I do occasionally see deals on MF in Salt Lake/Utah counties and bought some, but the last one I found that I got excited about was over 100 units and had too big a capital raise for me to take on. Mostly I have been networking with other investors who have found large MF deals that have fallen through for some reason and seeing if I can solve the issue, and found some others from a wholesaler and networking online with people in Idaho. I found one 50-unit in SE Idaho we are closing on, and several others in SLC that were good deals, but for various reasons I was not able to get under contract (usually the capital raise, I struggle with that). Keep looking, but also be open to some other markets where you might find an easier entry.

We are huge fans of the HELOC to fund investments and put a 1st lien HELOC on our primary home as well as one rental home that we use as our "sweep accounts" for personal finance and the business. Everything else has mortgages for now. I borrowed from the rental HELOC to be the earnest money partner on a small apartment syndication I am sponsoring, as well as to BRRR a few smaller properties as sole owner this year. It's been great.

I'd say our only concern is the added risk on the personal home, if you're willing to sell it or house hack if it gets over leveraged. For us, I am always up for moving and love house hacking, so we are using the personal home HELOC to make some improvements to the personal home to put an apartment in and rent it out.

A family member paid off her home, put a 1st lien HELOC on it, planning to pay cash for a rental for speed and ease of transaction, refinance, then recycle the funds acting as her own "hard money" on BRRR projects. Lots of options.

Nice to meet you! What are you up to in real estate?

I'm in SLC, we moved here early 2018 after 20 years in Austin, but we lived in SE Idaho before that. I am a landlord of 8 units in SLC Utah, SE Idaho, and Louiville Kentucky, and am buying an apartment complex in SE Idaho in a syndication to close soon.

I Don't usually attend the Club 90 meeting, but it's a good one. I am a regular at the evening meetings for Utah REIA and Salt Lake REIA. Right now I'm looking hard for capital partners to close on a few smaller deals that I cannot self fund as I'm tied up with the rentals I bought this year.

I use LinkedIn and Facebook both for business networking and get a lot of connection requests from strangers that I will accept after I vet it's a real person etc, then send a PM expressing I'm happy to have them in my network. Most are professional interactions, and I've found several passive investors this way. However, especially with FB, what do you do when the connection wants to just chat or flirt? I block spammers and those with truly inappropriate comments, but chatters and flirters, do you ignore, politely brush off, unfriend, or block?

Thanks for the advice! We decided to purchase the program/membership for Michael Lush of Replace Your Mortgage to get at a larger list of banks who will do a first lien HELOC on purchases and investments and were able to buy a primary home for 10% down. The line of credit is full, so we have to pay it down to get at the equity, but it's revolving at 6% so we can move money into and out of it at will. I was able to find some banks that do first lien HELOCs on investment properties, but the best candidate for refinancing is still Pen Fed that Ari and Kevin suggested, so we are pursuing that option for our rentals.

We recently relocated to Salt Lake and did not buy a house, choosing to rent instead until we get a feel for the place. Therefore, we do not have a primary residence where we can get a HELOC.

We were planning to purchase a rental and take out a HELOC on it, but have been unable to find a lender willing to offer it on investment properties. Where can we apply for a HELOC on investment for a house in this area?

If it's unlikely or impossible to get a HELOC, what is our next best option to borrow against rental equity?

That's always my preferred route, mentorship or doing business with people for awhile. That's why this time crunch turns me off: we don't know anyone here yet. The rehabbers and developers I already do know live in other cities, so even though we have an existing relationship of trust, I don't want to end up with a property outside of SLC.

I think we're going to buy some real estate with the money ourselves and come back to lending once our network is stronger. Besides, with quotes at 8% it doesn't make sense to let house prices go up while we are not buying and not collecting rent.

The good news is that all I've learned during the research phase these past months tells us we definitely want to and will do this... eventually. It's good to find options that still appeal to us even after digging into it. For now, buy and hold makes more sense based on our comfort and experience level.

Time frame of 6-8 months is to close on a property, but if we withheld enough for a down payment to close, then refi later, that's fine. What other risks are there? Seems worst case is getting the property itself, but I must be naive. What's actual worst case?

New to the site.

We are first-time investors looking to lend out hard money starting in March and need to be cashed out by Sept/Oct. We just relocated to Salt Lake City and don't know anyone. Attending our first Utah REIA meetings in SLC next week. We originally wanted to just buy a rental property with the money, but more and more we are leaning toward lending it out instead.

What credentials should we look for, questions should we ask, terms and contracts we should consider, types professionals for advice should we hire, really anything that will help us not make stupid newbie mistakes.

Any advice and referrals are welcome!