All Forum Posts by: Tyler Blackwell

Hey Jason! Welcome to BP! I agree with Patrick, it's always nice to see Washington investors on this site. Keep your eye out for a future BP meetup--the last one I know of was in Lakewood. They're really good for networking and motivation. Best of luck!

Hey Paul, congrats! Mind if I ask where you're buying? Did you buy this turn key from a company or did you buy distressed and are putting cash toward repairing the property before it's rented?

Hey Rob, congratulations! I'm inspired by your story and I'm glad to hear that direct marketing and perseverance pays off. I'm getting ready to start doing exactly what you did: market directly to landlords of multi-unit properties in hopes of finding the tired landlord you did that is willing to be generous in terms or price because of their situation. Looks like you landed a great deal, $1,000/mo with no money down is what everyone dreams about!

Welcome to BP-this place is a wonderful start in making real estate related contacts. Honestly, I've found most of my contacts through buying properties, making offers and getting to know listing agents. In the process you meet lenders, brokers, and title company folks in the process. Secondly, if you have a chance to attend a biggerpockets meetup, I think they're great for getting cozy with some really impactful individuals from a diverse background and varying experience levels. I've met wonderful people this way. REIAs are great too if you have one in your area. 

Hey Brian, welcome to BP! I also am a big proponent of house hacking, or buying your way to a number of homes by first buying them for use as a personal residence. I purchased my first home at 26--a bank owned home needing repairs--using a 5% conventional loan. The downside to this is that banks require private mortgage insurance (PMI), but in our case we added a lot of value with a remodel and refinanced it, so the PMI payments will be ending next month, only 3 years after we purchased it.

I acquired a rental using hard money and refinanced it as a strategy to reduce my down payment obligation because I found a property that needed little repair and had good upside.

Last year my wife and I bought a bigger home for us, again using the 5% conventional loan. Now the first home we bought is a rental that has $50k equity (we invested $20k included down payment) and, though it doesn't provide much in terms of cash flow because of the 15-year amortization refi, does cover repairs and returns us principal reduction (read equity) of about $8k a year. The new property has 3 rental units that, when fully rented, will reduce our mortgage payment to just a couple hundred dollars. 

This is my start, and I think I'm done house hacking for now--my wife is, anyway :)--but at 30 now we're in good position to invest because we have no house payment, some cash flow from one rental, and solid equity return on another. We did 5%, but with FHA you can do 3.5% I believe if you wanted to just buy a rental and not go the house hacking route there are programs for HomePath homes in which you can buy investor properties for as little as 10%. Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!

I bought a property last December that is unique in that it has a rentable cottage, basement apartment, and 6,000 ft 6 stall horse arena (all despite being a "single-family" residence). We are currently renting the cottage and are remodeling the apartment currently. If all are rented we will be pulling in about 85% of our mortgage, which is great! This also means that our income will increase by over $20k.

Anyone out there know what the best tax hedge is for this type of income? Should I depreciate the property even though it's my personal residence? I can still write off expenses like utilities, right? Septic repair, etc?

Any advice from folks who know about this type of situation would be very helpful. I already pay enough taxes as it is...Thanks!

I wouldn't accept this as a landlord. There is something to be said about not having to turn the property over once a year, so I do prefer that tenants want to stay longer than one year... One time as a 1-year lease was expiring I waived the monthly pet fee if they were to agree to another 1-year term as opposed to going month-to-month, but I wouldn't do that again. 

I'm glad I ran into @Brandon Turner today at SBUX and he gave me the details on this meetup--looks like I should be able to attend. I'm very excited to meet all of you and hear some success stories, strategies, etc (and get a delicious RAM burger, of course). Put me on the list, @Tiffany Plovie . Thanks!

Hey Josh,

Good question, but there's no right answer to the question :) It really depends on your family's situation, and I would think with children in the mix it gets exponentially more complicated...cleaning up properly, keeping power tools out of the way, keeping hazardous building materials away from them and out of precarious storage positions.

Actually, my wife and I are under contract on a property where we're going to do just what you have described. It's a 50's ranch house that needs long-term maintenance and updating, inside and out. We don't have kids though, and my wife is completely on board--she's actually the driving force of the deal!

It can be a great way to get some sweat equity, to really make the house a home, but it can also be a cause of stress that you can't avoid until it's done!

@Jimmy Moncrief

Thanks for the response. I'll stick to something more established. Some others have mentioned Chase QuickPay, which might work as well. I appreciate the feedback!