All Forum Posts by: Jamie O'Connell

Brad Sligh - www.callsligh.com

He has done work on a few of my properties when I was in real estate for clients and he did the work on my townhouse I sold last year.

He use to be in the real estate game (as a mortgage broker) and works with a lot of realtors so he knows the game. 

That is amazing! Always pays off to keep on it!

Quote from @An Nguyen:

Quote from @Jamie O'Connell:

start slow! You will learn new tricks and things you wish you had done differently with each flip. Im on house #7 (fix and hold though not flip) and while im happy with jumping in and spending money on the first few, I make the dollar go a lot further on the last few from learning from mistakes. I like Fix and flip loans. if no experience you might need to bring 15 - 20% down but they will prob cover most of your flip budget. 

I am also learning about fix and hold , as the young starter investor, do you think DSCR, construction loan, or what type of loan is relevant for the project?

If you are currently W2 or have two years tax return non W2 I would suggest a regular bank or credit union loan IF you can qualify. I was neither of those so loan 2 - 5 for me were DSCR. The points, Pre Payment Penalties (PPP) and fees are a bit of a pain but long picture looking it was definitely worth it for me. I haven't done a construction loan because I haven't built from grown up but the fix and hold loans worked well for me as well. Pretty much a DSCR loan without having to bring as much to close and they paid for my fix it part which was great. I would highly suggest not going that route until you have a few experiences under your belt because it is easy to go astray. 

Congrats! The first is the most exciting and usually the one that teaches you the most! 

If you dont have someone you trust in that town, I wouldn't give it a try. Spec for your first 5 - 10 properties. You will need someone you trust for collections, repairs, meeting contractors and such. You really do need a team. 

I find the older and less kids the better. Obviously there are rules on what you can ask and such but usually elderly section 8 tenants are there for life and keep up well. The families always have other things they would rather spend their money on, both responsible and non responsible things and paying their portion of the rent is last on that last. I have 7 or 8 sec 8 tenants and I have to FIGHT to get their $50 a month but my tenants who pay $1500 on their own are no problem. 

Goes by the person so like in all real estate investments, its a gamble. 

start slow! You will learn new tricks and things you wish you had done differently with each flip. Im on house #7 (fix and hold though not flip) and while im happy with jumping in and spending money on the first few, I make the dollar go a lot further on the last few from learning from mistakes. I like Fix and flip loans. if no experience you might need to bring 15 - 20% down but they will prob cover most of your flip budget. 

Quote from @Demario Scott:

@Jamie O'Connell I'm not there yet, but interesting. I would figure the vetting process would be extensive, but could certainly make it very passive.

 Yes I am lucky I knew someone in the town (I am out of state most of the time) who is a people person, smart and also handy enough to do small little things like toilets, trying small fixes before calling in professional etc. So you definitely need someone who can work on their own so it takes a bit to find normally but definitely worth it. 

I would say you've worked so hard to build it up and I assume it's a great margin that you should hold on. I would say if you make a good amount I would go about hiring a specific person to do what you do. So if your making 20k a month in profit (just an assumption but using for a point) spend 5 - 7 k or something a month and hire someone full time to do what you do so your making 13k a month but its 13k a month that is truly "passive". 

Still a very solid income. You know your numbers better than anyone but thats what I did. I hired someone who handles everything and just comes to me when it's something big aka we need to evict or need a new roof etc etc. so while I make less a month, I do nothing for that income. 

I would say house hacking would be your best option. That way you can put less down (as mentioned in other posts) live "rent free" in one property and in two years do it again OR in year two buy another multi family with 20-25% down. If you do that you can buy the first one year one, buy the second one year two and then repeat and buy another "personal" one year three. By that time you will prob have enough monthly coming in you could go out and buy a personal home that isn't a multi family in theory.

Side note: Remember that if you are going from W2 to non W2 that to get approved for a personal Loan you would need two years tax return on that non W2 income most likely.