All Forum Posts by: Ko Kashiwagi

Hi Bryan!

Great to see other young aspiring real estate professionals. Are you looking to get into a specific real estate profession (investor, PM, agent, construction, etc) or planning to do it on the side?

I've met a lot of connection through this forum, so I recommend staying active here!

Hi Samantha,

Depending on the type of investments, there are hard money programs that can go as low as 10-15% down. Most hard money lenders will consider your HELOC as a reliable source of cash. I would recommend getting access to cash from your equity as you find a deal to buy, and alternatively you could do it beforehand.

Hey Harit,

Welcome to BiggerPockets! What strategy are you looking to use?

I'm happy to connect!

Hi Sarah,

Meetups are great for building long term connections. If you go to/host the same one every week, even better. I would also check to see if there are meetups already on websites like BiggerPockets, Meetup.com and Facebook.

Hi Devin,

Rents are typically very slow to catch up to volatility. There is a much higher likelihood that your property value goes down than your rent going significantly lower. In terms of cash flow, there are a lot of other things to look out for like cap ex, HOA fees, insurance fees and evictions that can eat your cash flow.

There's risk inherently involved in every investment, which is why it's important to cover yourself with reserves and exit-strategies. You can't completely eliminate risks, but you can always lower it to protect the cash flow!

Hi Will,

16% points for fees is unheard of. Given the seasoning period clears and your credit score is good, you should be able to get a much better deal.

Hi Alfredo,

Have you mentioned this to your hard money lender? They may be able to give more extension if you discuss in advance with some points fees.

Alternatively, you can refinance into a rental loan. It is not a common practice to replace one hard money with another.

Hi Nehru,

It sounds like the age-old appreciation vs cash flow scenario here. If you are confident that it will appreciate and the negative cash flow won't risk you at all, it could make sense. 

Is it impossible to find properties cash flowing in the same area? It may take more deal sourcing and offers, but I think it's totally worth it if you can find a better property that both cash flows and appreciates - or breaks even at the least. Also, betting on appreciation for a short span (2 years) sounds too risky, as there's a lot of volatility that can happen in just 2 years.

Hi Grace,

Have you built up equity in your current townhome? You may be able to refinance or use a HELOC to access your equity. This will allow you to obtain cash to put towards a downpayment. Alternatively, have you looked into house-hacking? A common strategy here would be to move out of the townhome -> rent the townhome out -> house-hack and live in a new property with low down payment.

Hi Mary,

To clarify, are you looking to purchase a primary residence that you'll live in, or an investment property that you will rent out? If it's a primary, as long as you are actually moving into it, you can get conventional programs as long as you qualify. If you are self-employed or cannot qualify conventional, you can use non-QM programs. If it's an investment property, the process for buying out of state is pretty similar as in-state. You can use DSCR programs that only looks at your credit and the property itself.

Either way, it will be important to have a high enough credit and down payment to qualify.