All Forum Posts by: Nghi Le

Lately there have been a lot of people asking questions that touch both hard money and conventional financing (especially on the BRRRR strategy and out-of-state investing). We've also seen more requests from people wanting to brainstorm with different types of lenders, but it's hard to get everybody in the same room or aligned on the same schedule.

Nghi and @Albert Bui are active real estate investors and lenders in the Seattle area. We'll just be sitting and working in a public setting, and anybody can stop by at any time to discuss financing strategies across bridge/hard money, conventional, and commercial options.

Even if you don't have any finance questions, just want to chat about real estate investing in general, or want to put a BP profile picture to a real face, feel free to stop by and join us! Parking is free and plentiful, and there's decent food here.

Check out Wealthflex out of Bellevue. A lot of the local investors use them for their SDIRA. Lower fees and ability to have checkbook access without going the LLC route (they use a trust).

The best and strongest lease agreements I've seen are from the Rental Housing Association of Washington (RHAWA).  They are very involved in fighting battles (at the state and city level) on behalf of landlords in our very tenant-friendly state.  And they constantly update clauses to their forms as laws get updated.  There is an annual membership fee (I think it's $185/yr), but it's pretty cheap for what you actually get.

Not necessarily needed, but you are strongly urged to have one.  In WA state, typically when you buy a property, the seller pays for the buyer's title insurance as part of their closing costs.  So really the only time that I can think of where you wouldn't have title insurance is when you buy from the auction.

Also, if you get a loan on the property, the lender will require title insurance as well.

@James Fraundorf @Paul Castillo

Check out the events page for a good list of local meetups.  You can also go on Meetup and search for "real estate".  Most real estate meetups are usually in the evenings, but I also host one in Bellevue once a month called Real Estate at Work during lunchtime (since evenings/weekends are often reserved for family).

@Chase Keffeler You're definitely off to a great (and impressive) start.  I think you'll benefit from going to the local meetups and talking to other investors.  Check out the events page for a good list.  I also host one in Bellevue once a month called Real Estate at Work.

I primarily invest for cashflow out of state (through BRRRRs), and I also rent out the rooms in the house that I live in.  You definitely can go further by not putting in such a large down payment on your primary residence, which you can do every year to maximize your wealth.

These days, the Greater Seattle Area has an average of 3 real estate meetups per night, but what about those who can't attend evening meetups due to work schedule, family obligations, etc? Then this is the perfect meetup for you!

There are no speakers or pitching, just pure networking. Whether you're working a day job in the area or are lucky enough to work in RE full-time on your own schedule, come join us for lunch and networking.

We're averaging about 60-80 people per meetup in Bellevue and raise money for charity from the meetup fee ($15/person).  We have a generous sponsor taking care of the location and food for the event.

Please RSVP so we can get an accurate headcount for food:

https://www.meetup.com/RealEstateAtWork/

Pictures from the previous events:

Keywords: Redmond, Kirkland, Woodinville, Renton, Factoria, Newcastle, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Sammamish, Factoria, Tacoma, Everett, Bothell

Hard money will not provide funds for down payment; they typically want to be in first position. So you'll probably need to partner with someone to provide the down payment, or maybe the seller can carry the down payment, although you'll have to find lenders that allow that. Most lenders want their borrowers to have skin in the game.

Curious... If he wants to be liquid, why doesn't he consider taking a loan on some of his properties? It doesn't necessarily help you, but definitely solves his problem.

@Brian Hughes @Steve Vaughan

The commercial loans you mentioned seem pretty pricey. I'm closing a portfolio refinance next week with a rate under 4%, 5-yr loan with 25-yr amortization, and my appraisals/closing costs are covered up to $5k. Up to 80% LTV, but there is still the restriction of 1.25 DSCR, which you have to be careful because every commercial lender seems to calculate that differently (especially how they view expenses). No minimum loan amount, although I've been told that loans under $250k are tough to get both the low rate and the appraisal/closing credit. The loan also works for 1-4 unit residential properties, or a portfolio of them, in addition to multifamily/apartments, mobile home parks, strip malls, etc, as long as there is cashflow. Only available to WA residents, although can be used to buy properties in other states.

I've used the same loan in WA, IN, and the new loan I'm closing on next week will be for my PA properties, but my WA property is more like 60% LTV because our market just doesn't cashflow that well. I don't have to submit my tax returns and PFS annually either... just every time I apply for another loan.

A cash out refi only requires 6 months of ownership. Unless your lender needed 12 months in order to count the income to help with your DTI?

Talk to a different lender. @Albert Bui is in your area.