All Forum Posts by: Jesse Waters

I did a closing from out of the country, gave a very trusted friend power of attorney for the closing. My closing attorney held the POA in their possession until I called in and gave them the word that I was happy & the POA could be executed & closing could go ahead.

For the average American, I would say go with Ramsey...  His principle is simple, pay off your debt, invest in a diversified mix of funds...  Ok, most average folks can't even handle the first part, and if they applied it they would be in a much better position financially.  

Kiyosaki, on the other hand advocates debt, but LIKE Ramsey he is staunchly opposed to consumer or "bad" debt.  As he says, everything is either an asset, ie it puts money in your pocket or a liability, it takes money out of your pocket.  He says buy assets, not do-dads, avoid consumer debt and debt to by assets is ok, so long as it is used responsibly ie you do your due-diligence, analysis & home work.

So, I would say that for most of us on BP, and me personally, I take a blend of the two.  If I can get free financing when I want to purchase something, I'll consider taking it ie 0% offers from a car dealership.  But I hold no credit card debt, no unsecured loans, really, nothing other than loans on real estate and all of those are assets (except for my primary residence, but as was previously mentioned that is a wash, since I need a place to live.)

Further more, with any debt one must look at the opportunity cost.  ie I can pay $20k cash for this car, or I can finance it at 1.5% with 0 down, easily afford the payment and invest the $20k at 10%.

So-short answer, both. Ramsey to get out of the consumer debt trap & Kiyosaki to build my REI business.

Just my $0.02 worth of opinion, feel free to give me some change back.

Welcome to BP!  Hitting up the podcast is a great way to get going.  Learn as much as you can and get going.  My advise is learn how to analyse a deal & learn the in's and outs of your target market.

Best of luck

On the surface it looks like it has potential.  You need to consider utilities, management, vacancy, taxes, insurance, maintenance, capex.  Also, hows the current condition?  Does it need work as soon as you purchase or is it good to go.

Another thing to look at...  Most banks that I deal with don't do loans for less than $50k, and since it is non owner occupied, I am assuming, you need 20-25% as a down payment.  You may want to look at some creative ways to fund this should you choose the pursue this deal.

If I were in your shoes, I would start by reading all the books I could about REI, listen to the BP Podcast & browse the forum's.

The most important thing you can do at your age is to get educated about REI. I wish I had started when I was 16.

@Wesley W.Thanks for the great suggestions.  I have considered adding washer & dryer's to the units but have never gotten too serious about it, I figured that most tenants would forget to empty the lint trap & didn't want to waste time with it, but I'll look into it again, might be worth it.  I can always buy one set & see how it works out.

Congrats on the 1031 & recent purchase!

I would consider doing a cash out re-fi on the property you just purchased, or do it as soon as you can and use the cash as the DP on your next property, it beats the option of saving up a down payment on your next property.

Congrats on getting a multi.

I have two buildings on the same street, they are mostly identical, one building has washer dryer hook ups and the other doesn't.  Generally, I get about $25 a month more rent for the units with the WD hook ups than the ones that don't, and my water bill is about $30-40 more a month for the building with the hook ups, so, in the end I am cash flowing about $60-70 more per month even having the hookups and paying for the extra water.  

What kills with the water is when a tenant doesn't report a leaky toilet, leaves the sink on, or, as recently happened the water line between the meter and the house ruptured during the night & we weren't notified until the next morning.

Hope that shed some light on to your questions.

Write up a clear proposal on what you want to do with an over view of how the numbers look & your objectives.  Take that around to some of your local banks & credit unions.  I was getting frustrated with "blanket loans" & restriction from conforming loans ie loans that Fannie could purchase.  That may give you a good place to start, if that doesn't work, you could always look for another partner to help you out.

Best of luck

Welcome to BP!  I have learned a ton in the short time that I have been on BP & have grown my leaps and bounds as an investor.  Really enjoy the podcast as well.

Welcome & best of luck.