All Forum Posts by: Jeff Roth

Hi Sean from Upstate New York-

You have a full time career and have been studying real estate investing.

You are asking yourself if you should accumulate properties one by one or a bunch all at once from an investor selling their portfolio.

Personally, I would advise you to accumulate your properties one by one using the buying criteria you establish. I recommend you start with duplexes as you should always have a paying tenant. Section 8 tenants are also nice as the government will help pay the rent. Always use a property manager to keep your real estate investments as passive as possible and keep you compliant with Fair Housing laws.

This way you can learn to manage the property manager and learn from experience as you go.

If you buy a bunch of properties all at once, they may not all fit your buying criteria, there may be deferred maintenance that needs to be dealt with all at the same time, and you will not have accumulated the management experience building your portfolio one at a time.

To Your Success!

Hi Joel in Greenville, North Carolina-

You have a rental property held in an LLC and you are looking for a lender who will refinance it.

I would look into a Debt Service Coverage Ratio loan or DSCR loan that uses the rents to mostly qualify the refinance and less on you personally. These loans must close in an LLC which you already have.

To Your Success!

Hi Jon from Boyertown, PA-

You and your fiancé are interested in buying your first short-term rental and wonder profitable areas to purchase with a budget up to $500,000.

I would look at places along the west coast of Michigan, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and near Ann Arbor, MI.

It is important to understand the local STR regulations in each community and partner with a property management company that can help your navigate that and manage it well for an excellent guest experience.

Don't forget to look into bonus depreciation and doing a cost segregation study to increase the tax benefits of ownership and if you "materially participate" in the management of the property per IRS guidelines it can offset active W-2 income which most real estate cannot.

To Your Success!

Hi David Oh-

You asked about a profit sharing bonus for property managers to give them an ownership mindset and incentivize them to align with your goals for quality property management.

I love this idea.

While I do not have a formal profit sharing plan, I always like to recognize the property management company with gift cards to the operators and the people within the property management company I have regular contact with that help keep the property running well and keeping costs down.

Related to this, a handwritten thank you card to the same people periodically goes a long way.

I also like to do the same for the tenants that have been paying rent on time.

To your success!

Hi Abigail in Austin Texas!

You are considering putting a tiny home on your existing property as an ADU or using that money to save up and buy the next investment property and wondering which would be the wiser choice.

I think ADUs can help provide additional, much needed, housing. Make sure the zoning, local building department/regulations, and neighborhood allow you to put a tiny house on your property and rent it out.

If that is not possible, using that money for the next property makes sense.

In general, I think increasing housing density will help provide more badly needed housing affordably.

To Your Success!

Hi Jade in Kaukauna, WI!

You own a home there, you think will cashflow if you rent it, and intend to buy your next home.

Your question is should you rent it or sell it and buy the next house?

I think this is a calculation a lot of homeowners are making right now--especially if they have a low interest mortgage, equity, and their house will cashflow as a rental.

The choice is a personal one of course, but I think your future self will thank you if you pull out some equity from your existing home with a HELOC for the downpayment on the next house and a cushion renting your current home, use a property manager as you have other things to do, and buy the next house and do the same thing again. Your existing low interest rate mortgage is an asset that you likely won't get again.

To Your Success!

Hi Fulati-

Congratulations on planning to sell one property and having between $200K-250K cash to invest into a rental property and you wondered good areas to invest.

I would look at Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Try to get as many units in the building as you can.

To Your Success!

Try the University of Michigan Credit Union. They will do one investment property. Not sure how far regionally they lend to but that is one in my area that will do investment property.

Hi Holly from Georgia-

You own a rental in Colorado and you are looking to purchase a new primary residence and possibly use the equity in the rental for the downpayment.

You have two options I am aware of with the rental to access the equity:

1. You can work with a local credit union that does HELOCs, Home Equity Lines of Credit or Loans, on investment property. Most will not do 100% loan-to-value so plan on something less than that for the loan amount.

2. You can do a cash out refinance and pull equity out that way. Look into a DSCR, Debt Service Coverage Ratio, loan where the rental income can be used to qualify the cash out refinance instead of your personal income.

To Your Success!

Hi Martin in Seattle. 

You and your wife are considering a move to be closer to her parents in Scottsdale.

The largest source of liquidity for you is the equity in your home at 1M and you have a 4% mortgage and it will cashflow positive if you rent your home in Seattle.

Your question is should your sell your house in Seattle or rent it. That 4% mortgage is a real asset. We are not likely to see rates that low again in our lifetime. Additionally, the supply of homes for sale is constrained because of this and will be for some time putting upward pressure on prices in most markets.

Thinking about renting your house in Seattle would be wise as someone else will pay the mortgage down, and rents and the value of the property will go up over time. I think your future self will thank you for doing that.

Perhaps take out an equity line of credit in case you need it and using a property manager. You may even be able to use some of your equity as a downpayment on a house in Scottsdale.

To Your Success!