All Forum Posts by: Brian Moore

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in San Diego.

Purchase price: $355,000
Cash invested: $90,000
Sale price: $439,000

Purchased a 2bed/2bath condo in Pacific Beach for my residence. Government offered Federal AND State tax credits for first time buyers as part of the recovery from the housing crisis. Initially I had a roommate for two years whose rent paid half the mortgage. I then moved elsewhere and rented both bedrooms. Sold the property less than 2 years later and was able to pocket all gains tax free having lived in the property 2 of the last 5 years.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Housing market was heading towards a low point after the 2006-2007 bubble burst and the numerous tax advantages for new home owners made it very advantageous.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

RedFin. Once I found the deal I asked my dad (from out of the area) to act as my REA. The listing was 30-60 DOM and we were able to negotiate $40K off list.

How did you finance this deal?

80/20 conventional financing for primary residence

How did you add value to the deal?

The condo had an awkwardly small living room so we moved a wall to add 25-30 sq ft which didn't impact the bedroom all that much. Before sale I spent $10K in make ready to fetch top dollar.

What was the outcome?

Sold for substantial tax free profit, used proceeds to finance down payment on my current residence.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I did learn a hard lesson on the State tax credit being offered. The stipulations were that I live in the property for the first THREE years, not TWO. I ended up having to reimburse the government with the $10K tax credit! All in all it was still a positive experience.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My dad!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Fort Worth.

Purchase price: $137,500
Cash invested: $14,000

Bought in 2006 w/ conventional primary residence financing, relocated due to job, and rented the property ever since. Though I have substantial equity, it cash flows very nicely and will likely stay in my portfolio for awhile longer.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

2006 Real Estate Frenzy!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

REA

How did you finance this deal?

80/10/10 to avoid PMI. I later refinanced in 2015 at much lower rates and paid off the balance of the 10% second mortgage note.

What was the outcome?

Consistent rental in a well performing area. Love this SFR!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Start your investment career early on! The greatest passive wealth building comes from long term appreciation and the market cycle. Get rich slow!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Trevor Dyck

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $37,500
Cash invested: $20,000
Sale price: $115,000

Bought in 2006 w/ traditional investor financing for 25% down, held and rented for 13 years, spent $11K in make ready for sale to earn top dollar. 1031 exchanged the proceeds and currently shopping DFW multifamily for replacement properties.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

2006 Real Estate Frenzy!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

REA

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan, 25% down, purchased as an investment property

What was the outcome?

Built substantial equity over the long term

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Start your investment career early on! The greatest passive wealth building comes from long term appreciation and the market cycle. Get rich slow!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Trevor Dyck

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Dallas.

Purchase price: $37,500
Cash invested: $20,000
Sale price: $118,900

Bought in 2006 w/ traditional investor financing for 25% down, held and rented for 12 years, spent $11K in make ready for sale to earn top dollar. 1031 exchanged the proceeds into 2 full duplexes in Fort Worth suburbs (4 units total).

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

2006 Real Estate Frenzy!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

REA

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan, 25% down, purchased as an investment property.

What was the outcome?

Built substantial equity over the long term

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Start your investment career early on! The greatest passive wealth building comes from long term appreciation and the market cycle. Get rich slow!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Trevor Dyck

Fantastic! Thanks @Megan King and @Bruce Lynn. I was hung up on searching for property tax records when I should have been searching for the appraisal page. Here's links for Collin County and Tarrant County if anyone finds this helpful.

https://www.collincad.org/propertysearch
https://www.tad.org/

@Christopher Grobbel I've suffered through the half duplex = multi-family issue in DFW on my primary search site RedFin for the last year but have recently found that Realtor.com sorts these out. All the 'Multi-Family' listings on Realtor.com will be full duplexes or bigger.

Hi BP- First time poster! I was wondering if anyone knows of a site with public access to 2019 property tax records for the DFW area? Realtor.com and Zillow have 2018 records (RedFin only has 2017), but as DFW owners know, property tax increases have been bonkers this year; upwards of 20-30%! I'm currently in the middle of a 1031 and looking for replacement properties. Property tax is an important component of due diligence and cash flow calcs so the accurate 2019 tax assessment amount is very important. I've scoured the interwebs and have come up empty so far.

Thanks! Brian

Hi John,

My property manager in the DFW area enlisted a company to replace the air filters on AC units at a regular interval in order to preserve the life of the systems. This service is billed as a subscription, and all new tenants assume the cost of this subscription. I think this is reasonable, because the tenants aren't burdened with the responsibility of changing the filters and I get peace of mind knowing that it's getting done. As far as other more detailed cleaning and servicing, the landlord should pay IMO.