All Forum Posts by: Ika Sargeant

@Denise Picard congrats. Where is the location of your purchase?

@Loid Danga I agree with everyone that the easiest and fastest way is to house hack although the partnership might have enabled you to do this faster too since you might be able to raise more cash. The difficulty is you need to figure what the agreements are with the partners. 

@Anthony Williams I would say the first question you need to answer is, can can qualify to buy the next home while still carrying the existing loan. Or can the lender us the rentals so that you can buy the new home. You are also going into a higher priced market and so find out if all these moving parts can work together. Certainly run your numbers so that the rental will break even at the very least or produce some cash flow. Remember when you buy your home to live in it, you are not always looking at if the home will cash flow. 

@Justin Rea I love to pinch pennies but if you have old washer and dryer look for new one in places like Home Depot or Lowes and save yourself from the headache. Not worth doing the repair on appliances these days.

very informative

@Raymond Simms I have a rental property in VA owned by an LLC registered in Florida. I am not an expert on this but I do not think I have been required to register an llc in VA. If you do an llc in VA you can pay a registered agent and the fee is minimal. Visit LLC university website, they will help you with all things llc.

@Nick Shri I agreed with you on town homes. They are a sweet spot although I think small single homes do just as well. The trouble is our area is very tough to cash flow but you can still find creative ways to come close. And condo rentals may be softening in some spots. But do not discount the MLS entirely. I think you have to decide on how you mine it for good deals. Ironically all these sites that people love like RedFin, Zillow, all get fed by MLS.

@Samuel Choi some HOAs have rules regarding renters. I know Fairfax county and including cities have some limit the number of days, number of occupants on the property. A lot of the rules are directed at the B&B. You should be ok with tenants who have at 12 months lease. 

@Samuel Choi Reston, Sterling and Herndon do well. All the three places have access to metro and more stations expected to open soon. In 2019 I saw more people at open houses who said they were coming from areas like Arlington and Falls Church. I think the biggest issue in NOVA is affordability in our area. It has allowed the room rentals to flourish. Lately I have seen subtle changes that are taking place in the rental market. This may be anecdotal.

I personally like the Reston-Sterling, and other areas like Annandale, Burke, Alexandria and even Springfield. Keep an eye on the HOA rules where the home is located but also make sure the property can be easily rented. I like walkout basement, lots of light in the basement, and separate entrance.

@Christian Luong, the right call is to get in touch with the broker. After all that contract is actually between you and the broker. The broker office phone/address is made public.