All Forum Posts by: Luke Anderson

If you cancel I believe you would lose your pro membership at that time. I would suggest setting a calendar reminder closer to your anniversary and in the meantime get into the site more and use the tools. I really get my value out of the analysis tools and that makes it worth it for me for the year. 

I don’t think it is a bad idea to buy condos or townhomes. My portfolio consists mostly of townhomes because of their easy affordability and rent-ability. HOAs would be my only caution because while they are good at keeping the property values higher, they can cost you more than you anticipate. Otherwise, I like townhomes, and if you are already investing in that space with success, I would continue doing what you are doing. 

I would lean towards seller financing, but it all depends on the terms of both and if the numbers make sense.

I think in this case, each market will act slightly different. I do think there will be a market downturn, but how much I don’t know. I am looking at current prices and rents in my market and basing my purchase on the price and rents pre-COVID. I don’t know if that’s a good way to analyze right now, but it is definitely conservative. With a strong potential for down turn I would rather be conservative and lose out on making a little money, than be aggressive and lose all my money. I think having a knowledge of your local market over a long period of time is helpful when analyzing deals in your local market. 

It’s definitely not a dumb question to ask, but a difficult one to answer. Your best bet would be to contact your utility company and ask them the average for the size of the unit you are renting. The costs are going up, and you never know tenants will do so there are always variables, but that’s what I would do. Another option would be to look at your personal utility bills if you are local and use that as your estimate, but aim higher than what your cost is for your residence. I know this isn’t answering your question as I’m sure you hoped, but I hope this helps.

As long as the property still cash flows, I like having below market tenants in place. I use it as a negotiating point because of where rents currently are. I also plan on either increasing the rents over time due to the legal allowable limit of increases in the area, or exercise the option to not renew the lease and budget for a rehab of the property to get it rent ready. Then I would have my property manager put in a tenant that they prefer to manage at the current market rent. 
I love these properties because you stand a better chance of solving a problem for the current owner which puts you in a better position to get a good deal in either situation. 

Congratulations on going Pro! I live using the unlimited deal analysis. See if there are local meet ups in your area and start attending. Good luck on your journey! 

You obviously have options, and none are bad. You need to look at what your long term goal is. If you already have a market in mind that you know and love and wish you had property, then I would move into that market. If you don’t have a specific market in mind and know your primary residence would rent and be a good rental, that would be my initial move. Keep your existing property and rent it out. If it will still cash flow while pulling equity out in a refi, I would do that and purchase another property with that equity. 

There are so many options out there it is hard to say what makes the most sense for you. I have taken loans against stock investments, used credit cards and cashed out part of retirement accounts to secure funds to purchase deals. Depending on how long you need the funds, a hard money lender is probably the way to go, but those are some other options. Having a good relationship with a local bank or lender goes a long way in these situations. Start networking with smaller local banks to build those relationships to secure short term funding. 

It’s still a good rule of thumb. Right now there aren’t many opportunities out there that meet it, but that doesn’t mean you should lower your standard just to get a “deal”. Everything in inflated but that doesn’t mean you need to buy it. I still use the 1% rule, I just don’t get as many deals as I used to. The market is in a cycle, it will come back the other way eventually.