All Forum Posts by: Masha Rizzi

Echoing what @Erik Estrada said - some lenders do take your primary residence lean into account before doing a loan for an investment property. 

If possible, a good alternative would be to purchase a primary residence that you can house hack either as a multi-fam or renting out a section of the house (My first primary home and house hack, I found a place where the 2nd floor could be made into an entirely seperate unit for the time I was there and then converted back and rented as a large multi-family home). 

Loans on your primary home also tend to have lower interest and downpayment requirements that a loan for an investment. 

So ideally (depending on your area), purchase a primary you can house hack with a primary residence loan, complete any renovations or updates, then do a cashout refi to purchase the next investment, 

I'm also more of a newbie and would personally be a bit wary about getting a hard money lender for my first deal. Hard Money lenders usually have a timeline and, being new, your project may exceed that timeline which could get you in some trouble. 

Is there a reason why you want to use a hard money lender rather than traditional financing on your first deal? 

Either way, definitely shop around for the best terms and rates available to you! 

With rates going up right now, it may be worth it to talk to your dad and see if he wouldn't mind continuing the mortgage as is (and having you make all the payments and such until it is paid off since you don't have much left to go). 

What I would do - instead of going through the refinancing process to get cash out for your repairs, you could get a HELOC for your repairs. Once the repairs/renovations are done *then* refinance. BRRRRing your property should increase the value so your refinance can have a bigger cashout at that point if you want to use it to pay off what you took from the HELOC and potentially put the remainder towards another home. With the refinance in the end, you still get your father off the mortgage (assuming he doesn't mind continuing to wait for that) .

This is actually a super specific question (and I've posted it in the forums as well as on BP facebook groups without much response so I figured I'd ask here as well!) 

Are there any tips or starting points for acquiring land that the city has purchased/condemned?

Back story:
I live in Houston and have a property (primary home) that is 2.5 lots on top of a hill. It's right on the edge of the bayou and in a flood zone (but no flooding because it's literally at the top point of the hill). The hill is also at the end of the street - so essentially my property is kind of like an island on its own with just my lot and surrounding vacant lots.

The 2-3 properties lower on the hill were condemned for flooding and acquired by the city several years back. They've since removed the structures as well so they're just vacant lots.

After acquiring those lots, the city talked about plans to build a parking lot for a nearby park there. The civic club of the neighborhood fought it so no parking lot was built. Ideally, we don't want a parking lot or anything built right next door to us in the future.

So that brings me to my question: Has anyone purchased lots from the city that have been condemned? We don't have intention to build anything on them due to flooding, just want to avoid parking lots (etc) being built there by the city (so us taking ownership). Any tips on the process ? Is there even a process in place?

 Great point about property taxes! I am slightly open to them (unpopular opinion I'm sure), just depends on how much they would be for those properties. I wonder if there's a way to take over maintenance and semi-ownership so the city doesn't have to worry about them, but in return I pay limited taxes? 
Those are all good options other than parking lots! Though I would like to keep the foot traffic minimal since they are right next door (and a signifcant value of the property being there's currently no one that comes/goes around it at all). But maybe a small community garden could be an option... 

 Glad to hear someone's been through the process. Do you have any recommendations on where to start or a department to reach out to? 
I was thinking of offering to maintain them (reducing the cost of the city coming out and maintaining them) and maybe even some sort of community garden. Something small enough so there's not constant traffic next door, but still gives back and is positive for te neighborhood. 

Does anyone have experience acquiring land that the city has purchased/condemned?

Back story:
I live in Houston and have a property (primary home) that is 2.5 lots on top of a hill. It's right on the edge of the bayou and in a flood zone (but no flooding because it's literally at the top point of the hill). The hill is also at the end of the street - so essentially my property is kind of like an island on its own with just my lot and surrounding vacant lots.

The 2-3 properties lower on the hill were condemned for flooding and acquired by the city several years back. They've since removed the structures as well so they're just vacant lots. 

After acquiring those lots, the city talked about plans to build a parking lot for a nearby park there. The civic club of the neighborhood fought it so no parking lot was built. Ideally, we don't want a parking lot or anything built right next door to us in the future.

So that brings me to my question: Has anyone purchased lots from the city that have been condemned? We don't have intention to build anything on them due to flooding, just want to avoid parking lots (etc) being built there by the city (so us taking ownership). Any tips on the process ? Is there even a process in place ?

I recently purchased a multi-family home in East Houston that will need quite a bit of work once the current tenant leases are up this summer. 

Can anyone recommend any general contractors and/or handmen that you had a good working experience with? I'm considering piecing together a team or just getting 1 company to handle everything. 

Major items I'm considering: 
1. Convert 1940s home from a 2 unit back to a single family home 
   - Alternatively just update one of the units 

2. Figure out options for the garage apartment unit
   - Potentially renovate current unit and add a 2nd unit 
   - Depending on structure condition & permitting, what are all the options we can consider? 

Thanks! 

Welcome to Houston and BP! Also thanks for making this post - I've been trying to get myself out there and attend some networking events. Definitely going to check out the ones posted on the thread! 

I'm so sad I missed it!! I'm looking to connect more with the community in Houston, so I hope to make the next one! Is there any way besides the BP forums to keep up with the meetup schedule?