All Forum Posts by: Rachel Kokosenski

@Trenton VandeGuchte - there are some great resources here: https://www.furnishedfinder.co.... Better to be very clear about rules and expectations at the beginning than to try to fix the situation after something goes wrong. 

Hi @Christian Ryan - I recommend you find an insurance broker. They can shop multiple companies for multiple types of policies. Just be sure to mention it is an investment property. 

@Lyle Stoddard III - Welcome to the world of investing in real estate! I have some ideas for you as you are getting started:

1. Look on BP.com for some local meetups of other investors in your area. Attend these meetings and just listen as people discuss deals. Or, walk up to an investor and ask them how they got started, what types of things they invest in, what advice they have for a newbie like you. (People love to talk about their deals, trust me!)

2. Look on BP.com in the "Find an Agent" category and look for an experienced investor-friendly agent in your area. Offer to buy them coffee and meet to talk about working together. As a buyer, you don't pay the agent's commission, so it's good to spend some time finding an agent you feel comfortable working with and develop a relationship with them.

3. Look at the "sold" homes in specific neighborhoods of Reno on Zillow or Realtor.com and start analyzing what a 2-bedroom or a 3-bedroom home is going to sell for. Be sure to note what month and year the home sold because there are definitely fluctuations in price points based on time of sale. 

4. Start analyzing deals using the BP calculator tools in the "Tools" section. Try to analyze 5 properties a day until you start to really get a gut feeling about what houses should sell for/rent for/etc.

Hope that helps get you started!

@Kyle Kline - my pleasure! This is a great community to learn in!

@Kyle Kline - well, you have to wait long enough to have built up enough equity to borrow from the value of the house. If you don’t have enough equity in there, you won’t be able to do it. Example - I bought a house for $62k, with a loan for $50k. Several years later, I refinanced the loan to be a $90k loan and took out about $30k which I put down on another property purchase. Now, I still own the house and it is worth $175k. I could actually refi it and take money out again if I choose as the loan balance is about $88k now. You can generally refinance about every 6 mos.

Does that help?

Kevin - this is the place to ask questions you may be too embarrassed to ask elsewhere! Typically, you would refinance a property for a couple of reasons:

1. To get a better interest rate or better terms (like changing from a 30-year loan to a 20-year loan, for example).

2. To be able to access your equity in the house and "cash out" when you do the refinance. Essentially, if you bought a house for $200k, did some improvements to it so that it was worth $300k, you could then refinance it and pull out up to 70-80% of the Loan-to-Value amount. That means you look at being able to pull out most of the difference between your loan amount and the new appraised amount of the home.

Typically, in a BRRRR situation, refinancing to pull cash out allows you to then take that cash and put it down on a new purchase so you can increase your portfolio. Keep in mind that when you refinance a loan you do start the clock over on the loan, meaning you get a new 30-year term for example. However, if the numbers make sense and you can afford the new payment it can be a great way to finance future purchases.

Hope that made sense for you. If not, please ask more questions!

I recommend checking with your local board of housing for a specific answer. Better yet, if your area requires a rental certification of some sort, it should state the maximum number of occupants as well. It does not sound unreasonable for two people to want to rent a one-bedroom apartment however.

I vote for Job 2 - sounds like a solid income for a young person with not very many obligations and still gives you the time to pursue real estate on the side. If you have any interest in western Michigan as an investment area, let me know how I can help!

So this is a difficult situation for you as the buyer. The Seller's Disclosure is supposed to be their affidavit that they have no knowledge of any water leaking at the time of sale. If the inspector did not see a leak during inspection, this could be considered a "hidden defect." With hidden defects, you would have to have some way to prove that the seller knew this information and lied on their seller's disclosure. You can certainly contact an attorney that specializes in real estate to see if they have any other suggestions. Sadly, I think you may be stuck having to do the repair out of your own budget.

@Zac Kucharek - sounds like a good beginning! I'm in your area, so feel free to let me know if I can help you in your journey. I have someone (or several people) for just about all of your list!