All Forum Posts by: Heather U.

Out of state, everytime!! Agree with above, you need a great property manager.  I have one who is also my agent if you'd like a contact for Charlotte NC.  (No benefits to me, just passing his name along.)  I invest from overseas and he handles everything for me. Good luck. 

I have 5 SF properties but now am looking to buy a multi (might not be 5 units-hope this is still the right place to post.)  With the SF's I feel comfortable with my criteria I use to decide to buy or not and I feel I have a pretty good idea on what to expect as expenses etc... But last night I started looking at Multi and I suddenly felt overwhelmed!!

Please teach me what is different between the two so I can be prepared.  What expenses do I need to consider?  What criteria do you use when analysing a deal (is it pretty similar to a SF?) Is it still possible to get do a conventional loan at %20 down? 

ETc.... all ideas and thoughts welcome. Thank you!!!

Thanks Frank! Will check into the info. you mentioned and look for the spreadsheet. Thanks!

Thanks Bjorn. Good idea. So we need to see above upscaling.  Thanks

I'll try to keep this short. Husband and I both 48. Plan to retire at 55 for sure.  We plan to have 8 sf rentals by then (currently have 5 bought within the last 2 years.) Each cash flows AFTER all expenses (including saving $200 each door per month for repairs etc..) at $200 per month. If we have 8 we still only have $1600 per month.  That is not enough to retire on!  We have other investments so this is nice extra income but not stand alone.  

So...what am I missing when people are say...in there mid 30's or 40's and say they have 5 or so properties and have retired on that money? Are they all paid off? Are they cash flowing A LOT more than ours?  

Thanks all, for you comments and explanations. Very curious to hear your thoughts. 

Please can you send it to me? I've got 5 properties now and with tax season coming up I've got to get organized, I just don't know how. I need to check out the book you mentioned.  Also, on another website I asked for links to you tube tutorials or blogs or anything that helps a newbie learn how to arrange the tracking of the income/output.  Any links are appreciated!! thanks! 

Thanks Mike. Sure wish I had known before starting the difficult process! It was a real pain for nothing.  And now so difficult to reach them to follow-up. 

Thanks for your guidance.

Went with Wells Fargo for a loan and the told them very upfront that we work overseas and live there most of the year, though we have a US primary house that we stay at for 3 months out of the year etc...They strung us along for 3 weeks "processing" the loan. Finally after we emailed them asking (again) what is going on we got an email stating 

"the purchase we will not be approved for. An investment purchase they are letting us know you will be denied. The reason is because we cannot issue a investment property to someone who is living out of the country. I am sorry, we had your mothers primary address in the borrower information screen when this was submitted"

So I'm super irritated and annoyed and wondering why he put my mil's as the primary address etc..Anyway, it was a really bad experience and I feel like the agent's fault for the denial as he knew we were overseas and he had the wrong address in the application which I have no idea why.  

So I want to know if there is any recourse to get reimbursed for the money we are out from the Appraisal, which as of yet I have no idea if it was completed or not because the agent "is checking."  Should I put a flag on that charge on my credit card to say it is being disputed? tia

Thanks both Laura and Basit. Very helpful.  

Thanks Dave. So I do have a separate banking account for each rental and it is linked in with Stessa already.  So what you are saying is if I transfer money from my rental property into my private account it is just a transaction but I don't need to do anything more with documenting this? It will show up on my Stessa account as a transfer out but no need to do anything more.  

Also, great idea on the 1040 categories. I'll have a look at that. Thank you!!