All Forum Posts by: Fred Makaye

It takes me about 3-4 months to save up for the next one. Although if I find a good property I can pull the trigger on the later end of month 2 and by the time the 30 day closing period is up I normally have the rest. I've been short one time though and just asked the seller for another 30 day extension

Just be aware that you cant use any of the income from the other first property to qualify for the second property. You need to be a landlord for at least two years before the bank will let you do that.

Your best bet is going to be to get a multi unit as your first property. If you qualify for 180,000 at the moment, thats probably the most money you can spend in the next two years. By the time you go in to get your second loan from now in six months or a year, the debt from your fist home will count against you in the DTI ratio calculation, but the income cant be used to offset it. So for instance if your income is $3000 and debts right now (car loan, student loans etc) are $500 a month and your payment on the first property is $1000. Then your monthly debt obligation is $1500 after your first house and your DTI is 50%. When you rent out your first property lets say for $1000 your income will be $4000 and technically you should be able to qualify for another $180000. However you can only use your old $3000 number until you have two years of tax returns showing your landlord history so you'll be stuck at house 1 for a while unless you get a raise at your job to offset the mortgage on your second home or you drop other expenses.

Get the multi as your first home that way your getting the most bank for your buck, if youre in it for two years and cant move, at least you know that someone else is paying the mortgage and youre just living rent free for two years saving your money as you wait.

Buy low rent high. I was in your shoes a few years ago when I decided to just jump in and buy some properties. If youre already buying distressed and rehabbing how about buying fixing and holding. Pull out equity after you fix it up and roll it into a new property. As long as you dont buy s***holes you should get to 5k with about 20 doors in my area thats about 10 duplexes 7 tri's etc.

@bill gulley. Sometimes wanting an investor friendly person on your team has NOTHING to do with trying to bend the laws or regulations. I want an investor friendly realtor, why? because they know what kind of properties I'm looking for that have a good ARV verses an end buyer who might fret about a bad kitchen or some dirty floors. Investor friendly title agents are the ones who understand that as an investor your closings might sometimes be a little more complicated than an end buyer. I cant over emphasize the neccesity of an investor friendly bank or loan officer. They could make or break your business. Investor friendly contractors price out your repairs and suggest ways to save money cause they know youre in the business and they might get another job from you down the road verses the "jones" who just need a faucet changed every now and then

You have to realize the limitations of the 50% rule. The same property with the same exact numbers might cashflow better in a different state, but when you adjust for the fact that you'll have to pay income taxes on that rental income in another state you probably come out ahead in Texas. As a general rule I disregard the 50% or 2% rule. My formula is PITI cant exceed 40% for buy and hold. So far its been holding up pretty well as far as the texas market goes.

Thats a good buy in this market. You need to be careful with fort worth though. I invest there and as an out of state investor you need to know what part of fort worth youre buying. The city has good zones right next to war zones so the year a property was built really has no bearing on your ability to keep it rented or whether it'll keep all its copper if it ever goes vacant. Feel free to PM me if you want an investors take on a property before you pull the gun next time

i use weebly. i have the basic package. easy to build and maintain a site . took me about 30 mins to put this together http://www.dfwleasing.net/

Ian what I do on 1.5 baths is just add a standup shower or homedepot has a small 4ft tub that fits in just about any half bath. since the plumbing and electric are already there it doesnt cost that much to do. i use the plumbing from the handsink and split that into two both for the water and drain. It costs me a total of 2k to change a .5 bat to a full. increases my rental pool plus total rents and bumps up property value. if you have a good handyman you dont even have to pull the permits so it wont hit your proerty taxes

Has anyone changed the roof system on a property to increase the square footage? what i mean by that is putting in an attic type roof to add the extra room on top. I'm trying to figure out how much that could run me

RUN RUN RUN!!!!from this company. After calling and emailing a bunch of numbers from there and getting nothing. I decided to google the numbers they sent me before calling them. Most of the numbers were fax numbers for public places like DMV's and a lot were peoples cell phones who had no clue what I was talking about