All Forum Posts by: Peter Stewart

I would use tile in the kitchen and bathrooms ideally, and then LVP in the rest of the property. If tile is not in the budget, then LVP everywhere. It's durable, affordable, and waterproof. 

I find like they are Rentometer. Sometimes spot on, sometimes way off. 

For two condos I own, Airdna was spot on. For a cabin I own, it was off by $10-15k. 

Makes sense though - it's like pricing, it's very easy to price units in a condo building since they are all so similiar vs a custom home which can be very difficult to evaluate. 

I find it's best to get your rental data from a few different sources, weight them, and then do the math. For example, use STR Insights and Airdna, and get rental projections from a reputable PM. I would give the most weight to the PM's projections.

100% agree with this! Thank you for speaking up, people need to hear this info - too much misinformation out there about sec 8. 

This is who I use: https://www.therealestatecpa.com/

They have a great planning/strategy option if that is all you're looking for. They'll set up a few meetings with you and will come up with a great plan and will give you a PDF document that outlines everything they suggest doing. 

By far the best accountants I've ever worked with. They specialize in working with RE investors only. 

Try getting a HELOC. It can be difficult to find a lender that does them on investment properties, but they are out there. It's been a while since I've done one personally, but my last one was with Wells Fargo.

There is a ton of opportunity in Indianapolis, and many strategies work here. 

I was born and raised in this city and have been a full time broker for over 15 years, specializing in working with investors (specifically remote investors).

If you'd like to chat further you can schedule a call with me using this link:

https://calendar.app.google/WzKaNG4BFSjVeX87A

We need more information to be able to accurately answer that. There are many ways to invest in real estate, and many different forms of financing, and the "best" type will depend on what you are doing, your funds available, and so on.

Here are a few examples:

Many investors that buy and hold long term residential properties will use your standard conventional financing (typically 20% down for SFR and 25% down for 2-4 units). These loans are typically the "cheapest" and have the best rate.

If you can't qualify for conventional financing and/or have 10 conventional loans already, then DSCR financing could be a great option if you are doing buy and hold rentals (can be any strategy - short, medium, long term). These loans can be a bit more expensive and don't always have as good a rate as conventional.

If you are doing a flip and/or purchasing a property that is in such rough shape that conventional financing won't work, then hard money is a good option. Those are intended to be short term loans though, so either you fix it up and sell it (flip) or rent it out and then refi into a longer term loan (like a 30yr fixed conventional). These loans are more expensive and have high interest rates most of the time.

If you are purchasing a commercial property (5 units +, storage units, and so on) then you need commercial financing (above options are geared towards residential). Lots of different options here.

There is always a private money option - either a one that you find through referrals (like Roman Labos mentioned above) or you have a friend or family member that will finance the deal. If you go that route, the terms will vary wildly, as there is no standard or any set requirement.

Also, there is seller financing. Again, that can vary quite a bit since it's up to you and the seller to negotiate terms. Quite often I see the seller requiring some type of downpayment, with interest only payments (usually higher than market rates) for X years, with a balloon payment due at the end of the term. 

I use Hospitable to manage my STR's. I love it. Never had any issues with the automatic messaging, accidental double bookings, etc. It integrates very well with many other programs (Resort Cleaning, Pricelabs, Smartlocks like the Schlage Encode, etc).

It is not based in the US, so some of the language of the templated messages can be a little off, but I think you should tweak your messages to suit your style and property, regardless of the platform you use.

Like the previous posters said, a lot depends on the property type and strategy used.

Generally speaking, Zillow is all you need if you're doing LTR, Furnished Finder for MTR, and Airbnb/VRBO for STR.

People WAY overthink this stuff. The sites above probably have 90% of all traffic for each respective strategy. K-I-S-S. Put yourself in the renters/guests shoes - where would they be looking? Not on some random obscure site and most likely not on some random FB group either (some exceptions to this, but the gen public won't go here that often). They will go to the most well known/popular sites.

To put this in perspective, I have been using ListHub to syndicate my listings to an additional 350+ websites for years. Sounds great, right? Now, how many leads have I gotten or deals closed from these additional sites? NONE. 99% of the leads that don't come directly from the MLS (meaning buyers with agents that have them on an MLS search) come from Zillow and Realtor.com.

Another example - I have several STR's that I self manage, and I maintain 80%+ occupancy (higher than the avg in the area) by just posting on Airbnb.

The wholesaling business needs a major overhaul. It's unlicensed and unregulated, and often times we're dealing with complete amateurs due to this. There are no barriers to entry. No oversight. It's like the wild west. Personally, I'm glad some regulations are coming down the pike - they are long overdue.