All Forum Posts by: Kyle McCorkel

 I suppose it was a bit of a leap of faith.  But I would argue that it's always a leap of faith, in a way.

I'm looking for someone who wants to learn and hustle and get paid to do it.  You don't need a lot of real estate experience but you need to have drive.  Requirements include:

• Should be based in Cumberland County, ideally near Carlisle or Harrisburg (or anywhere in between, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, New Cumberland, etc).  
• Should be detail oriented and good with Excel, typing etc. 
• Should own a decent laptop
• Should own a car and be willing to drive for dollars, as well as visit the county courthouse a few times a month to collect probate leads, etc.
• I'm looking to start this individual at 5-10 hours per week but there is possibility for more work if the arrangement seems to be working out.

PM me with your qualifications please, and I can provide more details if needed.  I'm paying by the hour plus mileage, plus a commission for closed deals.

There was one section of the foundation that was badly buckled due to a tree growing right next to the property.  It only affected one part of the building.  I removed the tree and had a foundation company come in to fix the damage.  What they recommended was carbon straps.  It ended up costing about $3k.  It definitely doesn't look pretty but they gave me a lifetime guarantee and I'm comfortable with safety and all that.  Plus, it is in an unfinished basement, in a section that I don't allow anyone access to.

Cap Ex is capital expenditures.  Since I replaced most of the HVAC, plumbing, electric, etc.  I used $100/month for this.  This is in addition to maintenance costs, which I use 5% of gross rents.  This is a common benchmark but I have actual data from the rest of my portfolio to back it up.

Vacancy - accounts for when a unit is not rented.  For multi-family properties (and smaller, cheaper units) I use 5%.  For single family, I use 1/12 (which I think works out to 7.8% or something like that).  Again, I have real data to back up those assumptions.

I never finance the entire purchase and rehab costs.  I always try to put a significant amount of my own cold hard cash in the deal.  In this case I put in about $70k of my own cash then used private money and lines of credit for the rest.  The $70k acts as a buffer - if everything goes wrong (low appraisal, high rehab costs, can't refi immediately, etc.) then I feel I can still pay back my private lenders.  So worst case I don't get some of my own money back.  I NEVER want to be in a situation where my private lenders don't get their money back.

My preference and target is always to get all of my money back, but it just doesn't always work out that way.

That is TOTALLY the most satisfying part!

 In that picture, I refinished the tile, and put in a new toilet and vanity.

Most of the kitchens/baths were entirely new.

 In the interest of not bombarding the lender with emails, I'm not posting their name on public forum.  I am gladly sharing their name to anyone who PM's me.  They are a regional bank (but as far as I know they only do this in Central PA) and I found them by asking around on Bigger Pockets!

4.25% fixed for 10 years, then adjustable. 30 year amortization. No seasoning period. They lend to LLC's. 80% LTV.

I'm doing an LLC, but only because I found an outstanding portfolio lender who will lend to LLC's!

I'm currently working with my partner/contractor to create an actual checklist to take to properties.  We want it to list out literally every part of the property, things to look for, and questions to ask.  Every item on the list will have an estimate.  The goal will be to get a scope as complete as possible on the initial walk through so we can come up with a much more accurate initial rehab estimate.