All Forum Posts by: Michael Dumler

@Neil Blalock the actual mortgage calculator is fairly accurate given the intended purchase price of the property and your LTV. However, as far as determing rents, I would not solely rely on Zillow's estimates. To detemine market valued rents, you need to use additional sources such as the mls, rentometer, property managment CMAs, etc. Furthermore, ask your lender for a loan disclosure to know exactly what you'll be paying each month. Hope this helps!

@Lynn Nguyen the tenant's lease transfers with the sale of the property, therefore, you just can't simply evict them after closing and use the condo to house hack. If you plan to finance using an owner occupied loan, the lender will require at least one of the units to be delivered vacant. Consequently, if you put in an offer, you'll have to include a stipulation addressing this by the time of closing. With current market conditions, this may be problematic for the seller given the assumption that they do not want to evict the current tenants. Moving forward, I would gather additional information from the listing agent and determine if one of the tenant's lease is soon to expire. As far as analyzing the deal, make sure to include HOA fees and that all HOA bylaws still permit rentals in the complex. Hope this makes sense and helps!

@Kevin Kong generally speaking, your midwest and south east states provide "affordable housing" where the price to rent ratio meets investor's demand. However, with current market conditions, meeting the 1% rule is doubtful for on market properties. Furthemore, financing a property either FHA or 5% down conventional will absolutely require you to live in the home for up to a year. Sounds like you are trying to go around this rule and commit mortgage fraud. This begs the question, were you planning on moving already? If not, you're going to have to bring a larger down payment for out of state investments. I've also never heard of a 95% LTV refi, not sure what the strategy is there, you have to have at least 20% equity in the property to qualify for any refinance product. Hope this helps!

@Brian Lee overall, I'm a big advocate in that your first property should be a house hack investment, however, I can't exactly speak on behalf of the Bay Area. I understand the price to rent ratio makes it difficult to justify investing in the market, but I would still consider pursuing a house hack deal before getting involved in small multi-family out of state. Even if your first house hack deal is cash flow negative, look upon the principle that you're building equity in the property and that your essentially paying cheap rent. Furthemore, house hacking is not one dimensional in the sense that your only option is to purchase a 2-4 unit property. In this market you're going to have to get creative regardless of your investment stratgey. Have you looked for potential properties that have an in-law suite that could be used for AirBNB or short term renal? Have you analyzed rent by the room investments? Point being, you're classic house hack deal of buying a 2-4 unit property, living in one unit and renting out the others is becoming less viable given the huge demand. Hope this helps! 

@William Hamburg tokenization is still an early principle and I personally need to research into the concept more, but this honestly sounds like the beginning of another potential '08 financial crisis. While the blockchain technology in theory sounds applicable to everyday homeowners and investors, I fear larger institutions are going to take advanatge and control the market. How safeguarded and insured is the blockchain? What is the liklihood of a hacker stealing digital assets? Smart contracts, however, do seem interesting for the use of pruchase and sale agreements.

@Carson Brown agree with others, the deal sounds great but do not rent to your girlfriend/friends even if they are responsible. As far as the concern of tying up your cash in the property, better then having it sit in a bank, but I would still set aside 4-5k as a reserve fund for any major repairs that pop up. Only potential way that I'm aware of to obtain a lower downpayment would be if you occupied the property. Hope this helps! 

@Joe Curley if you decide to put in an offer after the open house make sure to include stipulations addressing for rent rolls and leases to be provide during due diligence. You will want to confirm if the tenants have been paying on time and if their lease is month-to-month or fixed. As far as determining what may or may not need to be repaired, generally speaking, this is done during due diligence if you get the property under contract. Lastly, I would still interview and set up a call with the current property management. Just because they have been managing the property for a while does not necessarily mean they are reliable. Congratulations on taking actionable steps towards real estate investing. Hope this helps! 

@Ahmad Royal I would read "The One Thing" by Gary Keller. Pick two to three prospecting methods in your business and do them every day for the next X amount of years. "How to Win Friends & Influence People" is also a good read due to the fact that sales is all about building rapport with your client/customer. If you're specifically referring to real estate sales, David Greene has a book called "Sold" which provides excellent strategic principles for new agents. Hope this helps!

@Zac Lindquist not necessarily because inventory plays a far greater roll on housing demand and prices. Until we somehow see a mass influx of housing on the market, I don't foresee any signifcant fluctuation in prices, therefore, demand will remain fairly consistent. There have been multiple indications in the past of both interest rates and home prices rising simultaneously, while annual total number of sales has increased. Hope this makes sense! 

@Brent Strandy I would just toss it up on the mls. You can list a property tenant occupied. In today's market it's not uncommon for investments to be sold occupied. Just make sure you have the leases and rent rolls provided to the potential buyer. Hope this helps!