All Forum Posts by: Martin Zawarski

yes. Get a line of credit on other properties you have. My 5500 sf home is paid off and I have a 200,000 line of credit on it that I use for my purchases. Once the homes are fixed up and ready to be rented I get a permanent loan and replenish the line of credit until the next deal.

I have a Lowes American Express card. I get 5% off and points. Can't beat that. I use that card for only business charges. I have another Amex for personal charges.

all the properties I buy I pay cash. I am typically a buy and hold guy although I will be selling the current home I am working on. Once I have the homes fixed up I get a loan from a local bank. The last one has a 4.2% loan but the others have been at 4%. Typically the loans are for 25 years but I have a 20 mixed in. I have minimal dollars in once I get the loan, but I do have some skin in the game plus my labor.

@Jerry W.

For my line of credit---it is secured by unencumbered properties I have and I have a checking account, tied to this. So when I need money, I just write a check. I typically get a loan on homes bought after I have them fixed up. Then I replenish my line of credit from these funds.

I have owned apartments (120 in 5 different locations) with my two brothers for 30+ years and we have a property manager who handles all aspects. In the early years (1974-85 ) I handled all court hearings and evictions. I then became 100% involved in our home building business. Until 2010.

With the explosion of the home building business I now buy distressed homes and fix them up plus I own 4 past model homes that I rent out. I know the process with the magistrate inside out and know all of them very well. I was just wondering if I am being stupid, or a penny pincher, basically I just want to do the right thing.

My strategy is Buy and Hold. I target all properties that I know will be great investments, in solid communities, in nice shape, where I will add 15-30,000 in fixups and will generate between $300-500 a month after PITI. I have bought 8 properties this past year and I am working on one I must sell.-----It is called paying for a wedding-lol.

Jeff,

They rented the home for 2 years. It was my Builder's Model; Home for 3 + years. It was basically a New Home- never used except by the Sales Team. So the home is 5 years old. So they paid me $60,000 in rent on a property that I am upside down on. I will be out of this situation in 2 years if sale values stay where they are now. This was built during the BOOM years and built with all the upgrades, tile everywhere, granite tops, custom paint, great carpet. I spent a ton on this home when built.

ALso two months before they vacated they went on a one week vacation. Upon returning they found the toilet in master bath was running causing $25,000 damage to the home which was fixed by insurance company and I had to pay a large deductable.

I also gave them their money within 2 weeks minus the two deductions.

I did do a walkthru, but you really don't see much in a 15 minute walk through.

Thank you!

Can you list the repairs. On all the homes I bought in the last year (8) which average in cost at about $140,000 I spend about $25,000 in repairs. You are buying a home that costs $400+ and will be worth $600+ and you are only putting in $6400. I couldn't paint the home for that amount. It is probably a 2800-4000 sf home at $3.00/sf for painting. Share some more information please.

Hey Mike,

I am just 40 minutes north on the Turnpike in the Lehigh Valley. I have been involved in Buy and Hold full time for the last year. I have bought 8 homes this past year. I will be doing my first flip on my current home----its called paying for my daughter's wedding, otherwise it would be a buy and hold.

But welcome, and if there is anything I could do to help give me a yell.