All Forum Posts by: Mariel DeVito

In the purchase sale transaction, whose responsibility is it to notify buyers and sellers that your transaction will be part of a 1031 exchange?

Hi everyone! I read that to do property management, one has to be a licensed realtor.  Does the same work if you create a business to set up short term rentals for out of state buyers?  I'm in Florida.

@Kerry Baird I am applying now through PenFed for a HELOC. I intentionally wanted to get it for an investment property but after my credit was ran, I was later told that I couldn't because they had a limit of up to 3 properties per applicant (I have four, but one was titled under an LLC, of which they later told me didn't count because the loan was under my name). So not happy and I was avoiding this but they did ok to proceed with a HELOC on my primary. I was told that there is a delay in processing my loan request and it has been one delay after another, requesting docs that I already provided and not specifying what they need, etc. I am curious to know - how long did they take to process your HELOC? I was quoted about 3 weeks when I started the process 3 weeks ago and now, I'm being told it is going to be 30-45 days.

Also, they told me that they can adjust the loan amount during the loan processing.  With the rising cost of homes in our area, the appraisal on my home is now higher.  It was a lie.  They couldn't.  After this loan, I am not going to do any business with them, sad to say.

Consider owner financed homes.  The seller acts as your lender, given x deposit.

Zillow Rental offers a lease agreement that you can also edit to include anything else that you'd like covered in the contract that isn't mentioned already.  I used it for my rental in Jacksonville.

@Christina Bailey I'm doing my first rehab and going through the same adventure but in Putnam County which is not as popular and more distant to general contractors.  I haven't secured one yet but I have been going online and looking at local GC, BBB and their reviews.

Shop local.  They will likely have the best deal and timing for you.

Yes! $10 per week is better than the alternative - paying a property management company half of the first month's rent to market and get your place under contract.

I'd put it on the market as is.  There is no guarantee that you'd recoup any money that you put into the property to make it more attractive.  Save yourself the headache and sell.

Too many missing pieces for me to advise one way or another.  As a buy and hold investor, I never expect to hit it big in the first year.  I barely made any money with my first investment (condo) and eventually started losing money due to increased monthly associated dues and annual assessment fees. After over a year, it did pay off when I sold it.  I made $100K+.  I don't think I'd ever see that amount of money if I had rented it out.  Again, I don't know what you bought and where in the Tampa area.  Just like any city, some areas increase in price more than others.  Also, flips don't guarantee that there is no further work needed on the home.  My second investment was a house that was flipped.  I had to put in at least another $10k before I put it on the rental market.  Not sure if your cash flow now would generate the cash needed for any 'hidden' work/maintenance that may be needed on the home.