All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Horton

I don't think a cash out refi would even be that great right now - would've been great a year ago. The credit score, HELOC, living situation with your mom in one house and you in one house, recent work history, income, debt - the terms are likely going to be so bad it's not worth it. You need to run some numbers to make sure these places will still cashflow after a cash out refi and that you'll have money leftover for maintenance/repairs/taxes etc.

Call me crazy, but I'd seriously consider selling. You have several issues right now - I think your health and related debt should be prioritized - and work on RE second. Sounds like you're a bit overwhelmed and have quite a bit on your plate as well. Simplifying life by selling one of the places may not be a bad idea. 

Sounds like since you didn't give a 60 day notice like the contract specifies you'll be sent to collections and your credit will likely take a nice hit (if you don't pay your rent due). When you go to rent again, the background check will show you owe in collections for not paying your rent - not a good look for trying to rent a new place, or anything else for that matter. 

You'd be renting month to month, so the month to month rent rate is fair, and likely what is specified in the contract. 

What would your argument to the court be? 

Lesson to be learned here is to make sure you read and understand the contract you signed.

Can you find another reason to evict them, other than non-payment?

Damage, pets, utilities, people living there not on the lease?

Try to find something else to evict them for - maybe get a PM team or attorney on your side. You need someone with experience and who has done this before to take this on

What would it rent for?

What are the terms on the mortgage?

 I'll say this - you are usually going to have either appreciation OR cashflow

Very unlikely (or lucky) that you will have both high appreciation and high cashflow

Why not look locally?

I hate to do this - but this is such a common question on this forum. 

Yes the rules are great screening metrics. Yes, IMO, they are still relevant. 

99% of houses, especially on the MLS, don't make good rentals (seems you are on your way to figuring this out). You'll generally need a pretty big rehab to make a SFH cash flow well.

I use my own income/expense excel sheet to analyze properties. My suggestion would be to make one - if you can't make a simple cash flow calculator then you don't understand what you are doing (and probably shouldn't be doing it). Making a calculator would be a good learning thing to do. 

Now go watch "4 Square Method" on youtube by bigger pockets. Very simple illustration/calculation on income/expenses/cashflow. 

 See the "average" agents where I'm at are horrible - they are average joes, that became a RE agent in 2020/2021 when houses sold themselves. I have to direct them on what to do...example...I want to know if the house ever flooded - I had to tell him to look at ALL the past disclosures from this house, look at the past disclosures of the neighboring houses. Simple stuff that you would assume they would automatically do to answer my question. 

So simple to pull comps - lets see what sold in the same area, that's the same size and a 3/2. Simple. 

Let's fill out some paperwork that can be downloaded from free on the RE commission website. 

Let's try and schedule a time to show the house. I can do this myself on my own schedule as well. Only person I like is a really experienced inspector, just in case I miss something or don't know exactly what to look for. 

I had an agent that I contacted to put an offer in on a MFH house (this was someone, at the time, I had a exclusive agreement with) - come to find out when I was making my offer he was representing another buyer for the same property! Seems unethical to me. Don't know how he can have my best interest in mind when he has another buyer and he knows what we both offered. Now did he do anything explicitly wrong...maybe not. But he told me this guy had "deep pockets" etc. Same guy advised not to make a offer on another MFH unless it was 15k over ask...the place sold for 5k under ask...I always came up with my offer price, was never advised on what to offer or what might get the house. 

Another reason I won't sign an exclusivity contract. I have several agents that I use now AND it works so much better. They know if they bring me something good, they will get a solid offer. If they can do something for me while I'm working out of the country, they get the deal. I'm tired of most of the BS from "agents" that don't put in the time or effort to make a 4-5k commission several times a year. This is another reason I have turned to off-market properties - because using an agent has proven to be a waste of time. 

Maybe I've just had "bad" agents in the past - but they have offered nothing to me to justify a 3% commission. I am a RE agent myself now and life is much easier, and I save money and time. 

I would love to have a GREAT agent though, I hear about them but have yet to come across one. If I ever do, they will get every deal from me from then on out. 

Now I am speaking for my local agents - I have met some awesome agents out of the state!

 This is the key - Most agents do not provide the value of a 3% commission. I can get an agreement to sell signed and go to a title company and save myself thousands. You need to bring me value if you want commission, I'm sorry but I'm not paying someone to fill out some paperwork when all of it is available on the state real estate commission website. 

Bring value by bringing me off-market opportunities, being more available than I am, scheduling appts faster than I can, giving me more and extra info than I can get myself - you need to do it better than me otherwise you're straight up not worth the time or effort. 

This is a big part of the reason I became a RE agent myself - they aren't fast enough, they don't know more about prices etc etc. The only upside they have is the MLS and pulling comps - but guess what? I can do that now too. The MLS system has really created being a real estate agent as a career - to an extent!

With that being said - there are some awesome agents. They get the properties first, they have awesome relationships/networking you can leverage to help your business, they know rents/prices, they know selling agents, the best lenders, which areas are seeing lots of growth, which may be declining, the best schools etc etc. They do MORE than fill out paperwork and let you decide everything else. 

 Neither your property tax or insurance will go down if it's a rental 

Property tax will go up (assuming the assessed value is the same) because you cannot legally take a homestead exemption (assuming you can in your state)

Insurance will always go up as well - Ins companies feel that an owner occupant is less of a hazard than a tenant 

@Theresa Harris

Wouldn't be hearing from any complaints from me, that's for sure!

Regardless, it can be low taste to do in indoor common areas, but it doesnt tachnically sound like hes breaking any rules. That being said, I do my yardwork shirtless. Have been hollered at by a few cars driving by (nothing negative said, usually something suggestive by the opposite sex). Gives me a tan and keeps me from doing extra laundry tho