All Forum Posts by: Ralph Justiz

L&L Kitchen and bath is the best place I've found for granite in OKC. They are very affordable and give a decent discount if you pay in cash.

@Timothy Allen My best advice would be to reach out to local investors in your area via meetups. Seasoned investors can help guide you in the right direction and may even be willing to partner with you on a venture. You will also want save up enough cash for a hefty emergency fund. Having reserves is not only a necessity when investing in Real estate but good practice for your personal finances. 

Personally I'd pay off my car note as soon as possible to minimize my debts but that is not necessary.

Another resource you might check out is using a VA loan to purchase a primary residence to house hack. I recently helped one of my clients purchase a duplex using a VA loan. He will rent out the spare rooms on the side of the duplex that he is living in and have a tenant on the other side of the duplex.

Landlording is not for everyone. You definitely want to get a taste of what its like managing tenants before you expand your porfolio.

I have the pro subscription and I've found it helpful 90% of the time when finding rents. Most of the numbers that rentometer pulls from comes from zillow, truila, and other syndicated real estate websites, if your market does not use said websites the rent estimates won't be very accurate.

@Rashad Ellis If it is a good deal pull the trigger! In my experience buying property with tenants in place is not a big deal . What makes this situation even better is that the tenant is on a month to month lease so if you don't like them you can always choose not to renew their lease. Before you purchase the property you will want to make sure you get a copy of the lease to verify that the tenant is indeed month to month. 

Really the main risk when inheriting tenants is that a) they have a long lease in place thats under market rent and b) the tenants are poorly managed and do not know the procedures of your company. 

99% of the time people are genuinely nice and just want to continue living in their current home.

@Justin Wawrzyniak It's never to late to set out new rules. Layout some guidelines on when its okay to do what and if they are great tenants they will adjust accordingly. If they don't like your new rules they will surely leave after their lease is up. 

If you're not using Cozy or another free property management software to collect rent you're doing yourself a disservice. Good luck!

Hey @Matthew Gardner. In my experience finding lending for multiple properties can be tricky for conventional loans. As a new investor it might be diffcult to convince a portfoilo lender to lend to you. Of course there are always expections! My best advice would be to seek out small local banks, they are usually the friendliest with investors, and try and work with them. Depending on your specific situation they can help guide you in the right direction. 

I'm going to be honest, my recommendation on where to invest out of state is super biased. I have investments in TX and OK. I prefer investing in OK because its a stable market and the properties cash flow really well.

@Jake Stokes At the end of the day it's up to what you're most comfortable with and what investment goals you've set. Are you looking to retire in 30 years and want to bank on appreciationn or do you need cash flow to replace your current income?  Out of state investing isn't hard at all it's just different and requires a certain level of trust with the people you are working with. Investing in your home town where you know the market and have connections in the area would probably be the easiest place to start. Do the numbers make sense at home? That's up to you to decide!

You should definitely refi while living in the property if you want your new interest rate to be the nice owner-occupant rate. The difference between investment rates and owner occupant rates on mortgages can be significant in the long term.

MAN! That looks great! When my wife and bought our first rental we decided to do the rehab. After two months with little progress and lots of money spent we hired a handyman. First thing he said when he walked into our property was "your previous contractor must have been drunk on the job, this work is terrible." Haha.. needless to say that was the last rehab we attempted. Seriously though, the kitchen looks awesome. Adding the island is a nice touch. Good luck remodeling the downstairs.