All Forum Posts by: Gualter Amarelo

I've been in the Investment community for the last 5 years and I would say the biggest thing I see holding my friends, clients and colleges back is the "Fear of the unknown" followed by the "Fear of Failure" followed by the "Fear of Success"

Each one of these has the ability to paralyze you and keep you searching for more answers instead of searching for more Deals, Money and Labor.

Get to a local Real Estate Investment group and start learning from the successful investors who will be glad to show you the ropes.

We know what it's like to work be afraid and we move forward towards our goals regardless.

Cheers to your investment success!

Get together with some great Real Estate Investors and learn some of the tricks of the trade!

Topics will include: how to increase your deals, how to raise private money, and how to find the right contractors. If you are looking to take your real estate investment to the next level or are a new investor looking to get started. This networking and educational event is for you!

@Michael Raposo Hello my friend and congratulations on checking into the great City of Fall River for your investments!

I have been Investing in Fall River for the past 5 years and currently own 42 units in the city.

Where you are going to invest is very much reliant upon your style of investing and the level of work you are looking to do.

I have owned rentals in less than desirable areas that are my most profitable buildings and use the nicer neighborhoods as my appreciation plays.

A good gauge to use when looking into an area is to check out the parking situation. If there are a large amount of Multi-families in the area without parking it can cause issues for people who have vehicles and work.

Covel St isn't the "best" street to own on, but recently a few investors have moved into the area and are really cleaning things up.

Feel free to send me a message if you would like to get more information about how to invest in FR.

Cheers to Our Success!

I saw this posted a while back and wanted to update it with a few more options. Creative Financing is all about negotiation. Here are some of the strategies I have personally used to build a small portfolio on the south coast of of Massachusetts. 

Remember, the size of your downpayment shrinks dramatically if you can get away from Boston or any other major city. I chose Fall River, MA a city about an hour away from Boston, MA and on the border line of RI, about 30 minutes away from Providence.

1. If you served in the military you can use a VA loan to roll the down payment into the purchase price. Depending on your credit rating and lending history, some lenders will allow you to finance 100% of the purchase price. This will cause the interest rate and your payments to much higher than if you put money down. But, if you intend to sell the property quickly, it shouldn't have much of an effect on your profit margin.

2. Negotiate a separate installment plan for the down payment. Negotiate a separate installment plan for the down payment. Sometimes the seller will allow you to pay the down payment on a monthly basis.

3. Trade something other than cash. This could include land, a car, a boat, jewelry or valuable collectibles. Find out what they want and need. Maybe you have, or can get, just what they are looking for. You could also trade services such as carpentry, auto mechanics, painting, dental work and other services that you can do for the seller over time.

4. Trade houses with the seller. Many professional investors acquire homes with no money down by trading one property for another. In some cases, they trade one large property for several smaller rentals. Property trading is also a legal way to avoid the capital gains associated with selling a property.

5. Get the seller to transfer their mortgage to you. This is a common occurrence in foreclosures where the homeowner is eager to sell and is willing to work with the buyer. You can do the deal as an assignment of contract and efficiently close the sale.

6. Apply for a loan assistance program. Talk to your bank, many lending institutions offer programs that allow buyers to put little to no money down on real estate purchases.

7. Find an investment partner. Look for an investment partner who will put up some or all of the cash in an equity-sharing partnership. You make the monthly payments and the two of you split the eventual resale profits.

8. Find a property to rent-to-own or lease with an option to buy. If you have a lease-option for 5 years, at the end of that time, you will need to purchase the house and can get a bank loan then. Meanwhile, you can use the time to fix your credit and/or save for a down payment. Some contracts may put some or all of the rental amount towards the down payment.

9. Get owner financing or a land contract. Another option is to have the seller act as the bank. You make your payments, including interest, directly to the seller. Then after usually 3 to 5 years you make a lump sum payment to the seller. During this time, you should have enough equity to qualify for a standard bank loan.

10. Use a home equity line of credit from another property. If you have equity in another property, you could use that equity as a down payment on purchasing another investment property.

11. FHA (Federal Housing Authority) now allows the lenders to roll the down payment into the loan by charging an extra percent of interest on the loan. Even though the higher interest seems like an issue at first, if the building cashflows it can be the perfect way to get into the deal before you get your funds up.

12. Private Money (from friends, family or older investors looking mentor the next generation) for the 20% down payment, Hard money for the rest of the purchase and any renovations costs in most cases. This is timing sensitive, but as long as the home appraises and you've setup your private money for 2-3 years you can refinance into a traditional loan within a few months then get the cash-out refi fore the rest once the deed is aged 1-2 years as long as the building cashflows any commercial lender will refi it.

Cheers to your success!

In the market I work in we currently have more tenants than apartments to put them in. I can't speak for all markets, but from what I see across the nation and not specific to Fall River is that rents are on the rise and landlords have the upper hand at the moment.

There is no reason to take in a tenant who has had a past eviction... let them go to the next landlord who isn't marketing correctly and doing a full background check.

cheers to your success!

At this GREAT real estate investing EVENT you will learn how to buy YOUR first home in a simple way!

You are going to learn how YOU can:

Improve your credit score.

Figure out what you can afford.

Save for down payment, closing costs.

Build a healthy savings account.

Get preapproved for a mortgage.

Buy a house you like.

Like most people my first glimpse of Real Estate as a business came from watching hours of HGTV.

Those shows drove me to get excited about buying my first house, then kept me motivated while renovating it.

I believe that a house is one of the best investments a person can make and a home is a luxury I wish everyone could have.

I am in this business to help people achieve their dreams in the easiest and most informed way possible.

I look forward to being your Real Estate Mentor and helping you achieve your dreams for LIFE!

@Shayne Mahoney congratulations on deciding to house hack and dive right into real estate investing! I've been all over the state and at the end of the day with the market shifting the way it is I would put my capital in a high cashflow low appreciation area like Fall River, New Bedford or even Springfield if you have the appetite for a great deal.

I've been cashflowing in Fall River for the past 5 years and even though we have appreciated some in this market I am not concerned with the currently market shift because the buildings on MLS still cashflow and return cap rates at a steady 10%.

In the end it's all about where you are willing to live and what you do for a living that will ultimately decide your market, but if your interested in the southcoast we can jump on a call and I can answer any question you may have.

Cheers to your success!

@Oye Dosumu if you are interested in the Medford / Everett Market I know @Lien Vuong is the authority on cashflowing and investing in that area. She might be a very valuable resource as an agent and fellow investor with connections.

Cheers to your success!

@Oye Dosumu if you are serious about cashflow you might want to take the trip Down to Fall River and check out the 10% cap rates and 30% ROI Cashflow opportunities. With a good agent and property management combination you can rest easy knowing your portfolio is pumping out cash and growing with little effort on your part. Average sales price for the multi’s here is $250k for 3 families. Cheers to your success!

@Rob D. The city has a ton of upside st the moment with the prospect of the train coming down. Other significant factors are the new mayors fiscal focus on improving the budget and the investments the city is making in the new high school, new streets, the Amazon warehouse, SouthCoast market place as well as the new casino in Tiverton just to name a few. The important thing to remember when investing here is getting a great property manager. @Jim Murray owns Lyon Property Management and has a great handle on the numbers here. Also if you want information on the strategies that work right now I would be glad to assist as well. Cheers to your success!