All Forum Posts by: Matthew F.

Welcome Aboard,

The higher the goals the better if you ask me. Even if you fall short, you still in the position of having achieved more than most!

@Shawn Connors

Look up the property address on chester county's website. You can find out what his current mortgage situation is.

http://www.chesco.org/index.aspx?NID=431

It all depends on how much equity he has. If he owns it outright and you bring a nice chunk of cash to the table its a possibility.

I don't know about lower Montgomery county, but up by me its pretty much $300K+ SFR or you are investing in places like pottstown and norristown, which are way cheaper. It seems like everything is for sale in Pottstown for less than 100K, but the taxes are high and a lot of the block are C neighborhoods.

I did my first property cash & sellers note and was able to cash-out refinance 6 months after closing. Just purchased my second property for cash and my mortgage guys says 6month cash out is no problem as long as I have tenant leases signed. The caveat is that you probably won't get an 80% mortgage on appraised value (at least I didn't).

I'm not an expert in real estate but I do have 4 years under my belt running a business with a family member. My experience is that even working with someone you care very much about and have know for a very long time, differences in temperament, work ethic and personality etc, can and will cause you to lock horns at some point. Even if you tell yourself and your partner that you will be keeping things "strictly business", in reality personal matters will sometimes leak into business and vice-versa.

I truly believe that you wont be able to find out how the dynamic will go between you two until you try working together. My two recommendations:

First: Communication. Talk about Communicating. Agree to communicate. Communicate your intent to further communicate. Not communicating can be toxic to both your project, and again can bleed into personal relationships.

Two: Pick a starter project that is as small scale as possible. Don't risk your life savings on a big project without knowing you can work together in a healthy manner first. Communicate that this project might fail, it might even fail because you have different approaches to accomplishing what needs to be done, not because of the deal itself. Why spend $300,000 for an Ivy League education in "working with relatives" when you could get the same info for $3,000 at your local community college.

I'm not trying to dissuade you, working with people you care about can be incredibly rewarding. Just make sure you have your head facing in the right direction when you take the plunge. Good Luck!

Hi Folks!

I've been listening to a ton of bigger pockets podcasts ever since fixing up my first duplex this year. All I can say is: wow this is a great community. There is so much info here I wish I had known about 5 years ago when I first started getting interested in rental property.

I actually just got back from a house auction earlier this evening where I sort of unexpectedly bought another duplex in my town. I'm exited, but also very nervous, because it was $40K and needs to be completely redone inside. I'm pretty confident in my abilities, but its still going to need probably another 40-45 thousand to get it in rental shape (I admit to not doing more than a ballpark estimate before going to this auction, hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me).

Maybe one of you were at the auction and can tell me if I'm an idiot for bidding what I did, haha!