All Forum Posts by: Nik Corbaxhi

if you have experience in real estate - yes its doable because you anticipate and are well prepared for what is involved with it, regardless of whether you decide to handle it yourself or hire a trusted team to help.

If this is your first investment property, I would not recommend you to start with an out of state property. 

@Roxanne Ibrahim, sorry to hear about your situation.

I am sure it can be fixed. Whatever it is you have to get a qualified company with a camera to figure out what the issue is. In these older homes, it is not uncommon that the roots of the trees go through your sewer lines. I have had the same experience and once you pinpoint the issue, you can dig in that specific area and get to the root of the problem. Hopefully, the area is not over a driveway or any other structures as it would make this process a lot more complicated. 

when this arose at the inspection, it should have been a very big red flag for you. Regular inspections don't do an inspection of the sewer line, unless you specifically ask for one. The fact that you did, great. You should have not ignored the results of it and should have looked at what these "few things" in the sewer line were. I hope you have learned from this mistake and now you know better.

Keep staying positive and you will get through this. If anything, you will grow out of it stronger, smarter, and one more story for you to share with other people that will be looking for advice on what to look for when they do the same. 

@Mark Rosenberg, what is the rent in the area? how can we tell you if this is a good deal or not without knowing the area of the property, what it would rent for, types of tenants in the area...etc. 

The only one that might be able to help you on this is people that have similar properties in that area. Also, ZRent estimates can be off, so dont go with the price of what Zillow is recommending for the place to be rented at. Do your due diligence and work with your real estate agent to get comps. as long as the numbers make sense and you are getting a cash flow that you are comfortable with, it should be a good investment. 

What were the terms of the re-payment for your borrowed money? Does your friend expect you to pay them in full anytime soon or in installments? if the latter, might make sense to keep the place and rent it. I would not be surprised that you might make your 9k back in a few years. 

@Nhu Vu, the only thing you are missing is why you waited so long. :)

Jokes aside, you are in a great position and just go ahead and find that cash flowing cow and pull the trigger on it.

@Michael Lloyd, the insurance companies may or may not matter. What matters is that you are true in providing information to the insurance, for example, if you are renting to students, the insurance will be higher than a family, if your tenants have a dog, the breed is very important, if the house has a fireplace, you want to declare it.

Why is this important? The moment that you have to file a claim with the insurance company, the first thing they will look for is how to get out of paying you, so they will look for flows in your information.

Other than that, just shop around to see which carrier gives you the best price for the coverage that you want.

@Brett Mason, your monthly payment would be higher on a 15 year compared to a 30 year. The principal to interest ratio would be higher, meaning more of your payment would go towards the principal.

Hopefully, by the time people slow down posting, you will not be more confused than you were before you asked your questions. I say this because the responses are not going to vary based on everyone's goals and financial situation. here is the short answers to your questions.

1. long term process over time. The goal is to acquire as many properties as you can and leverage the income from them to continue buying properties. 

2. Ultimate benefit, financial independence. This comes with time and not over a short period of time. However, there are people that are in love with it and they would even pay to do it, if they had to. :)

3. Depends on what your goals are. many people benefit from the increased cashflow that comes with the 30 year mortgages, while others are focused on paying off the properties ASAP within 15 and then doing it in a phased approach. 

4. Personally, I have been doing it with bank financing, however hard money lenders are great from what I hear. 

@Collin S., I dont think there is such a calculator. You can do your analysis on SELL vs Keep to Rent scenario and see which one makes more sense to you based on your future goals. 

@David Zachery, assuming you live in Kentucky, a few things you have to consider as your question is pretty much made out of thin air, especially if you have no commitment from your family friend:

1. Is he willing to "sell" you the property in return of small payments from your profits? 

2. What if there are no profits and somehow you are not making money from the rent? how are you paying your relative? who is paying for the on-going costs and taxes that come with it? 

3. How do you plan to manage this property form Kentucky? You mention you want to rent it for 8-10 months out of the year and because it is a vacation house.From the sounds of it, this will be more of a short term rental? If that is the case, who is going to get the place ready for the next guest, similar to a hotel or Airbnb model? 

4. How do you account for damages and maintenance for the property? When something significant breaks, are you going to your relative and ask for money to fix it? 

This seems like a long shot to me. Either pay your family member or don't go into the "profit sharing" option at all. how about you purchase it and get a loan on the property, this way your relative gets paid and you can pay the bank on the loan. That seems like a clean cut solution to me. managing it is another thing  you would have to deal with and that also seems like a long shot, especially with the short term rental options.