All Forum Posts by: Eric James

Hopefully you are at least retaining a healthy security deposit.

I would have thought $100k would maybe be enough for a downpayment in the tri-state area, not enough to purchase in cash. What are you planning to buy?

From what I've seen and heard Austin wouldn't be first choice to move to for RE investing (even within TX). Perhaps you are moving there for other reasons. If I needed to move there I would be looking well away from Austin for investment properties. I'm sure people will say that deals can be found there, but I prefer not to swim against the tide. YMMV.

For a start, how about the Section 8 admin 'step up' and reduce the bureaucracy and hassle of taking these tenants? Maybe they'll start invoking mom and apple pie soon to convince people to clean up their mess.

I know a guy who had multiple college student rentals. He always took photos of the mess after the students moved out, because he would sometimes get letters from (lawyer) parents saying their child would never leave large damages. He would send the parents the photos and would never hear back from them.

@Dmitriy Fomichenko , I agree that (from what I know) a SD IRA could be a good place to do hard money loans from. I don't know about trying it with only $25,000 though.

A couple things to keep in mind: first, there are ways to defer taxes outside of IRAS (e.g. 1031 exchange). There are advantages to SD IRAs. However, one issue that is oftentimes glossed over is that if purchasing with a non-recourse loan you greatly decrease your leverage. That is, rather than purchasing with 25% down you'll need to purchase with 40-50% down. This means you'll be purchasing a cheaper property, given a certain amount of principal you have to invest. With the IRAS there will also probably be a fee for every check the custodian needs to send out.

I'm similarly wondering if I should work with a mortgage broker or local bank. I'm currently purchasing a primary residence through a broker, and will likely purchase 5-6 family homes over the next 6 months. Within 2 years I will likely reach 10 residential mortgages, which seems to be a point at which borrowing terms can change. Thinking of what might be to my long term advantage, might it be better to continue working with a mortgage broker or try to develop a relationship with a local bank?

There are areas where lower end SFRs cash flow better than almost anything else. I think that may be due to many RE investors driving up the demand for these.

You aren't interested in conventional lenders?