All Forum Posts by: Jacob Edmond

I recently bought my second home that I am living in and heavily renovating. We bought it as is and it appraised for $12000 more than we paid and we are currently changing the layout of the main living spaces and doing a full gut and reno on the kitchen, losing all wall paneling. Replacing with drywall, bamboo floors in the kitchen and family that lacked wood, and all new trims, etc. We are spending about $20,000 all said and done, and based on recent comps, I am expecting the value to go up to about $160k, possibly a little higher depending on the market.

My question is, once I finish the renovations, and I am past the 6 month seasoning period, should I be trying to refinance for 80% of the ARV, and hopefully get out of PMI (currently it is financed FHA), or should I be looking for a HELOC? In the case of a HELOC can I just request a new appraisal from the bank to assess to ARV?

Any advice is appreciated!

That looks like an ingenious way to make a double vanity out of premade singles, if I had to guess. Looks really good. Love to see the update saying you sold it.

I was big on paying off debt before buying a house, and have read tons of Dave Ramsey and many other personal finance books, blogs, etc. But even with all of that I eventually determined it didn't make sense not to buy a house when I did vs continue renting with rents increasing and interest rates as low as they were. I ended up buying my first house FHA before I knew anything about bigger pockets or REI. I bought at the bottom of the market just about interest rate wise and got in at 3.25, and before they change rules in getting rid of PMI. I moved for a job and decided to rent instead of sell. And have since bought a second house FHA. My first house cash flows about $3500 /yr right now, just enough to keep saving for something down the road.

All of this to say, I still have student loans to pay off, but have decided to focus on my real estate for now as in terms past 3 years my net worth has only gone up with each home purchase as I'm gaining equity. My current house payment saved me $300/mo in rent for the same size house, and I'm able to use that extra money to renovate and improve the value to either refinance and rent, or sell and make some cash for the next deal.

Greenville Meetup

There is the link to the meetup they just had on the 13th. Might be able to go there to ask about the next one.

REI is shorthand for real estate investing.

How do you like Clemson? My wife and I still hope to end up back in the upstate one day.

Welcome to BP! What do you do in Clemson? Are you affiliated with the university? I graduated in 2010 from the school of architecture.

I believe some upstate members are organizing a meet up in Greenville at the Coffee Underground.

In what capacity are you, or do you plan to get involved in REI?

 Most any of them do, it is based on your credit though. I have had good experiences with discover, chase, and barclaycard so far, and they all started with 0% interest periods, and have offered me 0% balance transfers after having them for awhile again as well. I only go for cards with no annual fee, they have to offer Cashback rewards, usually with revolving 5% categories, and then it's just best terms available. I just got one that has a 0% intro rate for 15 months, and then 10% after that.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all of the input. I have used 0% balance transfers and introductory periods a few times already to pay off some small student loans and things already. I normally use my cards each a few times a month and payoff the balance every month. I never want to pay interest on a credit card, and so far the only interest I've paid in the last 6 or so yesrs has been the 3% or less transfer fees. I've worked hard to get my credit where it is and plan to maintain it. 

 I know people that work in Charlotte but live in SC because of the property taxes.

I am doing a full kitchen gut and remodel on a 1965 SFR that is currently on 100 amp service. I am adding a dishwasher, microwave, and garbage disposal as well as recessed and pendant lighting and moving every other outlet and light switch around.

The price I just got to put in a 200 amp panel and move it from inside the laundry to outside at the other end of the house was $3000, but that depends on what the power company makes them do as far as moving the meter and where they are allowed to put the new panel.

The price for the rest of the work, which essentially amounts to rewiring the whole kitchen adding a handful of new circuits and some of the den is another $3000. I'm thinking this is high, but it is a lot of work and they are providing all of the recessed lighring, materials and that includes adding hardwired smoke and CO detectors throughout the house. I'm going tk go through it line by line tomorrow to see what I can get it down to.

You can usually dispute it pretty easily, and then you will probably have to do as said above and contact each agency thay it shows up on. I had stuff showing up on mine for a James Edwards which isn't really even that close to my name. It apparently is really common for agencies to mix up people's info and it is completely up to you to do something g about it.