All Forum Posts by: Melissa Uppelschoten

Hi Joe... I am in Georgia too. Do you have a local REIA that you can reach out to? I found my best rates from a small bank that I found via GAREIA - Renasant. I highly recommend getting involved with your local REI and asking around. Congrats on your first investment property! You won't regret it. Wishing you tons of success.

Hi Erica - Congrats on saving enough for your first investment property! If you have access to a HELOC, I would use that over a hard money lender any day. I funded my first BRRR using a HELOC and it worked like a charm! I am sure you know the rates for hard money. Insane! I have used that too, but only because all of my other funding what locked up and I found a deal I couldn't pass up. Wishing you tons of success!

I would definitely meet with him and if you like his work and he can do it on your timeline and your budget, I don't see why not. I try and never do business with friends and family. But I don't see a lot of potential for risk in the things you are asking him to do. Congrats on your purchase!  

Wow. Wow. Wow. Impressive! Congrats to you and your wife. Thank you for sharing your journey. My husband and I are both introverts as well and it is nice to know other introverts and out there spreading their wings. Just curious what FB Group you found your third deal on? I have never thought about FB as a source! 

Hi Kati - If I were in your shoes I would wait until the job is at least started and you have a committed end date from the plumber before advertising the property. Once a plumber has started, I haven't had many leave a job. The hard part has been getting them to start. Wishing you success!

Hi Michael - Congrats on getting into this! I have been doing it for about 5 years now. And what I have learned is that there are ALWAYS deals to be had. Just do the math (which you seem to be good at now!). I personally didn't do so great with letters. The best approach for me has been driving the neighborhoods I want to be in and looking for for sale by owner signs. Or my most recent purchase as off of Zillow - there are two tabs, one that is agents and the other is "other" which includes for sale by owner. I got my last property by calling an "other".

My husband and I get tons of calls from people wanting to buy our properties. One thing in common is that they almost never know anything about our house, and they never leave a message. I would suggest targeting houses that you truly have done some research on and then give the owner a call. Whitepages.com has worked great for me to find owners' numbers. The rudest person so far has just told me to stop after I left them a voice mail and follow up text a few days later. 

Wishing you tons of success. You can do this!!! 

Hi Francisco - Congrats to you and your wife! Great question. If I could turn back time, I would have used the $20 on a downpayment on a duplex and house hacked. It pains me to think of how much money I wasted renting when I was young. 

Or I don't know if you own your home or not. But if you do, I would consider getting a HELOC on it and using that to purchase rental property doing the BRRR method. That is what my husband and I did. We paid off our primary residence, but took out a HELOC. We are about to close on our 5th rehab using our HELOC. After we get it rented out, we refi and then put the money back in the HELOC. Wishing you tons of success!

Hi Dawna - I am glad you are able to let the tenants live out their lease. A certified letter is a must. I also sent an email detailing the agreement and had the tenant sign it and send a pic. I actually paid them to terminate the lease early because I wanted to turn it around quickly. Here is some of the language in my email... 

Per our correspondence, the following note details the early termination agreement we discussed. You have decided to terminate the lease of XXX Way SW Atlanta, GA  early. I have agreed to waive the early termination fee, and if you have moved everything out by August 31, 2018, I will pay you an additional $XXX (via Venmo) when we meet to turn over the keys.
After you have moved out, I will review the move-in check in list from 4/1/17 and inspect the property. I will send you pictures of anything I have identified as needing repair. If repairs are needed, I will get estimates. Per the lease, I will return your earnest money, minus any required repairs, within 30 days.

Thanks for leaving things as closely to how you found them as possible :)!
Please print this note out, sign and date and send me a picture of it at your earliest to confirm. I am sending you positive thoughts for packing. Not the easiest task! 

Hi Barry - I ran into a similar situation in Atlanta. Through my local REIA I was able to find a small lender who helped me with a $40k loan. I had to drive over an hour for the closing, but I did not mind one bit. Do you have a local REIA you can tap? Wishing you success!

Hi Natalie - I am not certain if you plan on investing in a neighborhood close to where you live. But one thing that I did when starting out was drive around and look for how many dumpsters where outside houses- a clear indication of investment in the neighborhood. I did buy houses in neighborhoods that were not the safest at the time - and made certain I set up SimpliSafe right away and was very cautious. It definitely paid off for me. Wishing you success in your journey...Melissa