All Forum Posts by: Jesse Waters

Welcome to BP.  Always great to see other Columbia market investors on the site.

Welcome to BP. Great place to learn & network. What area of REI are you specifically interested in?

Bad credit doesn't prohibit you from getting a VA loan, it might make the requirements from the bank steeper. I would talk with a loan officer, depending on how your credit looks now, how much debt you have etc, you may find out that you aren't as limited as you think. They may also suggest a few things to help improve your credit.

You can also consider seeing if the seller will go for a lease option type plan with you, then complete the full purchase in a year or two, basically owner financing, but it sounds more straightforward in my opinion.

20 amortization, re-fi in 3, 5 or 7.  Interest is 3.8% on the 3 year re-fi for a loan over $500k.

We are going to re-fi in 3, pull a little cash out & head towards the 5 or 7 year.  The nice part of the 20 year amortization is we hammer principle down pretty quick and can either cash out or just have a much lower payment (more cash flow) after the next re-fi.

I think Heloc's can work for many, I haven't used that option, mostly because I invest with a business partner & that could complicate the situation a bit.  Nothing that our accountant couldn't advise us on, however...

We ran into the same problem, 25-30% down payments get expensive. A few months ago I had to swing by my bank to sign a new business signature card. While I was in I asked to talk with the commercial lending guy. After a bit of discussion, I walked out with a new business plan. The bank was offering commercial loans on rentals (as long as we had 5+ units in the package) at 85%LTV or 15% down. Having a good bit of equity in our current rental portfolio, we set out of find enough properties to eat up the rest of our equity. We started with 2 quads & 1 SFR, we now have 3 more quad's under contract and should be closing in August.

This should put us in a position where we don't have to use personal funds for down payments going forward, unless we want to, increase our cash flow & will not cost us anything out of pocket to close. We are looking at a final LTV at 82 or 83%.

So, my advise, check out some of your smaller local & regional banks/credit unions.

Start with the City or county tax office.  They can give you an idea at least of who has been paying the taxes.  My county's web site has an interactive map & when you click on a property the full tax history comes up along with the name & address of the owners.

Since you are in the service, I would use a VA loan, you will have to live in one unit for a while, but the rent from the other three should cover your mortgage.

Find a local bank or mortgage broker who is familiar with the VA process & go from there. Once they say what they are willing to lend to you make an offer.

Welcome to BP.  Best of luck.

Welcome to BP, learn all you can & it sounds like you are well on your way.  

Best of luck.

@Rob BelandI disagree with you on this one, sorry.  Grated some items will be depreciated off, this case is buy and hold, so the cost of the repairs can't be passed on to an end buyer as it would be in a fix-n-flip.

The number I am always looking for is; what does a property cost me to get it rented & will my return be on my investment?  Up front out of pocket cost compared with positive cash flow.