All Forum Posts by: Erwin Miciano

Im just gonna say it, a lot of the information here is gold. haha

I negotiated with an appliance supervisor at a home depot on a side-by-side stainless steel fridge. After knocking the initial msrp of $1000, being an opened box appliance and a floor model, I talked down the fridge $300 for a today pickup.

Not going to lie I got an adrenaline rush from this type of negotiating too and also wished I asked for more.

Anyways, what are your usual ways of saving money when it comes to upgrading your appliances in units?

P.S. I still haven't purchased the fridge due to personal circumstances. I might negotiate again when I am available to pick it up.

Growing up gentrification has always had a negative connotation whenever brought up in media or conversation. In my main perspective, it has affected many low wage earners and families who pay rent in these areas and in different ways are forced out of their neighborhoods. Whether it's through eviction, rent hikes or lease non-renewals. This also affecting small businesses in similar areas.

This being a close subject of mine, I've personally lived in gang ridden neighborhoods and now in my adult-life see the same homes selling for over a million.

Now I'm not knocking on the positive effects of reduced gang activity and creating safer neighborhoods through gentrification.

But I am starting to see gentrification the same way automation is in the production & service industry. Instead of trying to slow down or prevent the progress that comes along with gentrification and automation, how could we help or ease those who are displaced due to these phenomenons?

Please looking for honest and human solutions.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $1,100,000
Cash invested: $10,000

Owner Occupied Triplex in San Diego

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted to start and put all the knowledge to the test. Just a year before I was deployed in Japan. I spent a lot of my free time on thinking on how will I take my finances to the next level. Found BP and I learned as much as I could. Brandon Turner talks a lot about the stack, so I knew I just had to get my foot in the door.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Our amazing real estate agent found exactly what we were looking for!
It took some work to find someone like him, but when we found out that multi-families were his niche and after speaking to him, he was our rockstar.
He had the experience, the confidence and charisma to help us get our offer accepted.
My wife and I also just had finished the book, Never Splitting the Difference by Chris Voss the week we started negotiating.

How did you finance this deal?

We financed through a VA Loan.
Instead of just buying a SFR, my wife and I decided we should go big since it was eventually our plan to own one. Granted it took a lot of research to know all of our limitations when it comes to financing with a VA.
We put 10k for earnest.
We were paid about 12k at closing.
Really the only money going in is our liability to the mortgage and the rehabs.

How did you add value to the deal?

Right now we are going through our rehab stage. Just from the listing, we knew that my wife and I could add value with minor cosmetic repairs and a little bit of a design touch.

What was the outcome?

The triplex is fully occupied and our mortgage liability is equal to the amount we were paying in rent. The units still have a lot potential improvements to eventually increase rent and we love the location we are in.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It is almost countless with this being our first one. We are still learning and we are excited about it.

-Never be afraid to lowball if your numbers make sense. It’s all a numbers game.
-Gather all the information you can. Keep the awkward silence so the sellers will feel the need to keep talking.
-Research as you go, there will always be more to your advantage with more knowledge.

Sounds like a great idea. I know a lot of active duty personnel that would be motivated to buy early in their careers but then they use their VA to buy smaller properties and lose out on a significant amount of benefits on their first-time use.

I'll be interested in where the recording will be posted!

@Tony Robinson Would you mind sharing a little bit about how you were able to find a bank to finance the way yours went? What is your process? 

@Cordtz Tuatoo For you to use your VA loan again will depend on how much entitlement you will have after the first purchase. However states do have different county limits which might allow you to borrow enough to purchase in a certain areas.

Along with the first purchase, you must claim the first property as your primary residence for at least a year or refinance to a conventional loan (at 6 months after purchase) to free up the whole entitlement.

With also changes to VA in January, if it is your first time ever using the VA you could also borrow above county limits without having to pay any downpayment.

I used this to my advantage to buy my first triplex with VA only putting down 10k on a 1.1MM property. Then being paid 12k at closing.

@Dan H. I'm not necessarily relying on this option, but it was one of the ways for us to provide more cash for more deals. The interest is great, we are in a great area , tenants are in. We could just keep it at the terms it is now.

My only strife is dealing with the mortgage company we're making payments to. I hate the idea of charging $12 dollars for making payments over the phone, and having a website that takes about 50 mins to load. Its a lesson I'm currently learning, and trying to understand what makes a better lender.

@Nicholas Covington ARV we are looking about a modest $1,200,000. We are still doing repairs and some force appreciation. We still have the seasoning period of 5 more months before we can do any refinancing.

I think I'm just realizing that even though with the VA-Cash Out could hypothetically be 100% LTV, institutions aren't as willing to go the full 100%.

Im shopping now and getting quotes of 90% LTV, but my motivation is mainly getting a better lender with a modernized way of making payments. Its seems like the one we are with are trying to make payments a monthly frustration.

Hey BP,

Just closed on our first property in Sunny San Diego.

Quick run through : Triplex House Hack VA-Owner Occupied

Purchase price: 1,100,000

Loan amount : 1,125,000

Rate: 3.125%

I'm looking into refinancing options projected at 6 months due to seasoning period.

Preferably VA-Cash Out Refi at highest LTV %.

Exit strategy is to hold long term but be able to pull cash out to fund the next deal.

What are some other strategies would you recommend looking into? What lender characteristics should I be looking for with the refinance?

Thanks !