All Forum Posts by: Natalie Schanne

@James Celidonio - there are many hard money lenders listed in the vendors section of BiggerPockets. Hard Money Bankers out of Philadelphia is pretty good at answering you quickly. Usually they will only go about 65% of ARV so if you want to sell a house for $100,000, you have to be into it for purchase and rehab of $65,000 or less to get 100% funding. That seems really hard in today's market. Ie on $300,000 ARV you have to be all in for $195,000. If you were all in for $250,000, you'd have to find 55,000 from someone else

@Orane Jacobs - I'm under contract for a duplex in a B class suburban neighborhood for $260k and I project I will be able to rent it for $3200-3500. I am projecting it will cash flow at least $1000/mo for me. Vacancies are low. Lots of local jobs. 10 mins to my house so I won't get a $300 plumbing bill for a plunger visit or have my house trashed because the PM visits once a year (if that). 

@Richard Parseghian - I recommend you ask on NextDoor or a Facebook group for your town. The big contractors are busy. You probably need a handyman type. I like FANA Roofing out of Pennington but you’d probably hear the same thing. Also MAK. Are you sure you just want a repair vs a replacement at this point? Almost every house I’ve bought I’ve put a new roof on within the first year. The inspections always say I’m good for 5 years but then I notice some problem and just get it taken care of. It’s never fun to come out of pocket for $5-10k. Sometimes your home insurance cost goes down. (Though I’ve seen some people ask their insurance for a new roof after a wind storm- your mileage may vary). I’m sure there are some financing programs you can take advantage of or even a 0% apr credit card for 12-18 months and you pay them the 3% credit card acceptance fees.

@Orane Jacobs - why don’t you want to buy multifamily in New Jersey with a 75% investment loan? Numbers might be buy for 200k, rent for $2500/mo, low low vacancy, B-C area

@Sidney Garcia - housing is not a cheap investment to get into and out of. Prices are very high right now. You should be looking for housing that’s within 30 minutes of your job. Where is your job? Before I was ready to own, I rented furnished rooms from other people for $400-600/mo instead of one bedroom apartments for double. Utilities add up quickly. These arrangements were also flexible and I moved multiple times as I accepted promotions at different workplaces. I rarely had a commute longer than about 15 minutes walking.

When I bought, I chose a 5 bedroom 3 bath 2400sf house for $255k and had 2200/mo of rent paying my $1500 mortgage and I lived for free. Duplexes don’t really exist where I own my first house. In New Jersey, many duplexes are also pre-1960’s. Some have more upgrades than others. If you can get a cosmetically dated but well maintained home, that’s the best deal. The price will be less and you won’t have the big expenses - roof, hvac, siding, driveway, water/sewer lines, plumbing and electrical that cost big $$$ and don’t add as much to the buyer excitement that causes them to bid up the price ($5000 of white cabinets, $1000 of granite, $2000 of stainless steel appliances, $5000 of laminate floors) - give me a new roof and Hvac any day

@Michael Thomas - How handy are you? Can you get a fha rehab loan and roll in some of your construction money into fixing up something beat up? This can help you build sweat equity with limited cash out of pocket. It may be hard to get a deal accepted vs a cash buyer. I found hudhomestore and homesteps and homepath bank owned properties are favorable to you getting an owner occupied rehab loan. (I think they have some quotas). If you get a multifamily, they should usually increase the amount of house you can buy based on the rent from the other unit. Ie Buyer A qualified for $200,000 single family and $280,000 duplex with $1000/mo rent from other unit (always say you’re occupying the smaller apartment on a loan).

@Joseph Antwi - It depends on what you’re looking for. I’ve met several investment banker types who bought in West Windsor / Robbinsville / Hamilton and used the Hamilton or Princeton Junction train stops to get to Penn Station. These areas are much more suburban with driving required to get everywhere. Plenty of space for pets and growing your family.

A suburban multifamily over here could be as inexpensive as $200k with a 5-10 minute drive to the train station. Move out rents would be like $2400/mo total. I helped a buyer get a suburban duplex two years ago for $240k and he’s now getting $3000/mo of rent.

I'm also a huge fan of the separate entrance / in law suite type arrangement which can be rented like a duplex but is usually less expensive (higher ROI). I've also had good success renting rooms in my house as well like episode 392 with Todd Baldwin.

@Michelle Lopez - Welcome! Hopefully your brokerage is connecting you with one or more mentors - I know a lot of the more experienced agents have more leads than time, so maybe you can work out something to follow up on those leads in exchange for paying a referral % and/or host open (vacant) houses to get people to add to your CRM.
For North Jersey clubs, check out BiggerPockets events, Facebook groups, Meetup events, and google for North Jersey / North New Jersey REIA. I'm part of SJREIA (South Jersey REIA) and it's great. There are also lots of Facebook groups like New / Newbie Real Estate Agents. Just avoid the urge to buy whatever they're selling to New Real Estate until you've made an informed decision. There's no magic pill. Plenty of people will be down your throat to buy Facebook or website advertisements or Zillow leads.

Also do a forum search, set up keyword alerts, and start connecting with people and/or responding to posts of people in the area. The right side tab has top contributors for New Jersey related posts, so those are great people to start with.

@Courtney M. - some great advice here. In my area, the small commercial (5+ units, average about 15-20 units) multifamily broker who had lots of connections ignored my requests to tour properties he had available with my clients back in 2017-2018. I have since learned that I can not expect to get any kind of cooperating brokerage commission from a commercial listing agent unless he or she is desperate for a buyer.

Therefore, I suggest that you assemble a team of partners who can help you do due diligence and negotiate, whether for pay or for a percentage of the property (maybe they contribute capital as well).

Team Roles: Accounting/Financials, Property Management (or managing the manager), Renovations/Construction, Leasing/Marketing, Coordinating Mortgages/Refinances, Raising Capital/Investor Relations, Deal Finding/Acquisitions/Negotiations, Legal/Insurance - the same person can play multiple roles.

After you have your team, you should feel confident moving forward. If you want to own the property 100%, you can hire consultants or experts/mentors for a fixed fee to provide their expertise. I personally work harder when I have partners, but some people have issues with bad partnerships, so certainly be careful who you share equity with.

@Christian Bill - investor friendly means different things to different people. Some investors want an agent who discounts or rebates heavily. Some investors want an agent who drops everything at any moment to show them a new mls listing. Some investors want a highly connected agent who has Offmarket or gives them the scoop on upcoming distressed properties / foreclosures potentially lowering their bidding competition. Some investors want an agent who can help them develop a scope of work, estimate rehab costs, determine ARV, and connect with contractors in the local area and help them check that quality is decent before they pay their GC. (More likely if you will buy and sell the flip through them). Some investor friendly agents give you freebies like free flip property staging and design tips. Usually the same agent is not all of these things. Maybe pick two at best.