All Forum Posts by: Scott Hollister

What are your skills and strengths? 

Have you selected a type of investment? Location? (Ex: 3 bed 1 bath in your local town, be specific)

Have you been running calculators on every property that has potential? 

Did you line up financing? 

Investment real estate agents? (Call and interview them to find a good match)

How many books on real estate have you read in the last 6 months? 

Are you up to date with the podcasts? 

@Gabrielle E. The main goal here is to make a wise investment. There are many things you have to look out for in your market, age of building, location, job growth, schools, etc. 

If that checks out, rehab work. The work that you put in, will you see it back in some way? (Make sure you're not over rehabbing as well.)

Will it cash flow while you're living there? Take the smallest room, think delayed gratification and keep the end goal in mind. 

I would do it if my choices were renting vs buying, as long as it is making me a profit after vacancy, repairs, CapEx, Insurance, Management, P&I, Property Taxes, and any other expenses like snow, lawn, garbage. Run your numbers and plan accordingly for your rehab budget, it goes quickly.

Yes, if you want to spend your whole weekend fixing it...ha

But if you decide to take it down, be careful of your local laws. Once you open walls you may run into trouble. Assess the risk/reward of doing so. 

See if you can get the paper and mortar down more to see if its even worth patching. (Use wallpaper remover for that top half as well, it may work for that brown paper.)

(Also, I am not a contractor. Do you have any contractor friends that come over for a 6 pack of beer?)

Hello Gabrielle,

Congrats on going after your first owner occupied investment. I am always thinking ahead, and my question is about the 2nd mortgage. What happens when you want to get another property(If you do) and your LTV on this property is high, will that hurt your chances to obtain financing?

In my experience, I got my first owner occupied "duplex" 3.5 years ago with 3.5% down. I paid extra towards the principal, even profits the entire time. I just recently took a 2nd on this one to buy another with the BRRRR strategy. My personal philosophy is to use 2nds to "make money". Ive seen first hand how dangerous they are when people buy toys.  

So my advice would be to use the money you have (don't pay interest like you do when you use OPM) Pay yourself that 20% credit. But then again, you have to assess your risk tolerance. If that was going to leave you short, prepare a cap ex/maintenance account for your properties. 

Or....

Use the down payment assistance, take the credit, and pay down 2nd while using the profits to pay it off quickly, then principle. That way you can take another 2nd and roll it into another property. (Unless you can find somewhere to get a better return on your cash) 

Check with the "seasoning period" of the bank you wish to refinance with. Ask them the terms and conditions for qualifying. Debt/Income, LTV, etc.

Have you gotten pre-qualified from a hard money lender yet? I know here in CT, RCN Capital requires that you purchase the property in an LLC. (Mine was brand new with no income)

Depends on where you're located. Do rentals in the Louisiana market have pools? 

In CT we only have a few short months of use. For me personally, there is a lot of upkeep and maintenance, along with increased liability for insurance. I just purchased a property with an inground pool and had it removed. The cost of removal versus the upkeep was worth the upfront cost IMO. Inground pools around here are 3-7k to remove. (Can be a lot more if they are fully cement) 

Best of Luck 

Hello @Stephanie Cabral,

I did and it worked out well. I used almost 100% of others money. Hard money loan and HELOC combo to purchase a foreclosure in 3 weeks. Rehabbed it in 10.5 days.

I ended only going up to 90% because it was a cheaper interest rate. 

90% LTV: 4% interest only for first 24 months. Then prime rate plus 2.5%. (Still cheaper than hard money and it follows rich dad poor dad philosophy of using other peoples money)

100% LTV: 6.25% for first 24 months but then goes to prime +5.75%. (Max of 25k though)

IMO I would not go with American Eagle. My first auto loan was from there 6 years ago, they were better then but I like a bank that feels like family and will give me a chance to prove myself.  American Eagle would not loan to me because of my debt to income ratio, which I understand because of their guidelines. I even offered to sit down and explain what I was doing with the money but I never got a returned phone call or the time of day. 

If you need a contact for Finex let me know and I will put you in contact with the loan department. 

• 7 Registered Bidders
• Sold in under 15 minutes to owner occupants 
• Price: 2.1 million

@Sarah Lorenz I found that you rise up or down with those who are closely associated with you. Do you remember T-Mobiles favorite five? Just as long as your other 4 are Eagles you will do just fine.