All Forum Posts by: Helen Kirk

I just closed last week on my first property, and am hoping to use the BRRR method eventually. The problem I think I will have is that I financed it through a portfolio loan, and put it in the name of my LLC. With the portfolio loan, I have to keep it for 2 years or I'll have to pay back all the closing costs that the bank paid for me.

Two years is not really a long period of time.  I'll finish rehabbing the place and get a renter established, then after 6 months or so I will go back to the bank and see if it will be allowable to do a refi and cash out some of my equity without triggering the repayment of the closing costs.   I want to use this particular bank again through another portfolio loan to purchase my next property.

I am in the process of purchasing a nice townhouse in an area close to a major university. I'll probably be renting it out either to faculty or students because of its location. There used to be an HOA, but it no longer exists, and hasn't for years. My main concern is that the parking lot is beginning to show a lot of wear and tear. Does anyone know how this repair should be done? The city perhaps? Should I try and reinstate the HOA? Any ideas for this newbie???

Tyrone, I'd love to hear more about your experience with this. Are you going to the Montgomery REI meeting this coming Monday? I've only been a few times. Let me know if you decide to go and need directions.

@Chance Housos  I was considering refinancing after the rehab, so I can have cash to find another property.  That is on the back burner right now though.  One of the requirements of the portfolio loan is that I have to keep the property for 2 years.  Otherwise, I'll have to reimburse the closing costs that they paid up front for me.  I'm not sure how a refi would work in this case, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I'll be repaying my dad next March.  I have nearly 50K coming in from an inheritance, and will use part of that to reimburse him.    He was wonderful to offer this loan to me.  That made it much easier to purchase this place and have enough left over to do renovations. 

I would love to get to the point where I can pay cash for investment properties!

Update:  The bank that pre-approved my loan backed out when their appraiser decided that the property would take approximately 22K to rehab. 

I went to my credit union and got a portfolio loan for 50K.  I'm putting down 10K and my dad is putting down 20K to make up the remainder of the $80K price.  This will leave me with 20K for the rehab.  I'll have a 20 year mortgage at 4.125, which will be around $305.00 a month.  My realtor says it should rent between $1000-$1200 per month when it is fixed up.  We close next Friday, September 4th!

WooHoo!  I'm so looking forward to rehabbing this place.  I've also come across a local mentor that does a lot of student rentals in this area that is willing to help me manage this property and get some experience.  

What county in Alabama?  If it is in Lee county, I might be able to look in on it for you.

I don't really know about Montgomery advertising, but there is a Montgomery real estate investment group that may be able to give you advice.  Here is the link on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MontgomeryREIC/

The organizer of the group is Mark Jennings.  We meet every 3rd Monday of the month, and you can get a lot of good information from this group specific to the Montgomery area. We would love to have you come to our meetings.

I work in the Pepperell Village area (in the old Griftex building) and am somewhat familiar with the homes in that area.  I'm no expert, but you could probably get 300-400 a month for a one bedroom in this location.  You might want to contact a realtor in Opelika to see what they think about it.  If you decide not to go through with it, I might be interested if the owner would agree to seller financing.

After looking at the EAC documents, I decided not to go forward with EAC.  It may be a good option for some, but I'm not really looking at making this a "business" at this time.  Maybe on down the line, but not initially.  I also went to a Fortunebuilders seminar, which was very informative, but the entire program was also very expensive, and again, geared towards making this a business.  I want to start out slow, and learn my lessons while continuing work at my 9-5 job.  I've just had an offer accepted for a townhome which I will be renting out after fixing it up.  I think I'm just going to aim for a property or two a year, and then see how it goes.

@Pavel Sakurets

Thanks for the response.  As it turns out, I wasn't able to help her.  She let the property go back to the bank and I believe she is going to try and lease it from whomever eventually purchases it.  There wasn't enough time for me to do any due diligence, and I really didn't want a commercial property as my first investment, especially one that isn't in the same city as I am.