All Forum Posts by: Ramon Cuevas

Hello David,

I am a newbie investor myself, one thing to keep in mind is that if you do decide to purchase a property from a wholesaler, you will need access to cash in the form of private or hard money loan. You should look into the BRRRR strategy.
Good luck!

@Cameron Tope @Blair Russell Thank you both, you guys made some very valid points and gave me a lot to think about. I would agree that Airbnb might not be the best choice right now. It will come down to either trying to rent the property or selling via owner finance. I will continue to learn and consider all the pros and cons before deciding what to do in the next 6 months.

For some reason I am not able to tag you guys on my post but I was curious to know whatever happened with this property. @angelrico were you able to wholesale deal or find somewhat to give you a loan for rehab?

@Cameron Tope Good question! We sold our live in flip last year after living there for 3 years. I kind of regret selling that property, had about $100k in equity and if I could do it all over would have probably done a cash out refi and rented the house instead. This time around we bought and older home in an up and coming area. It probably needs another $20k in rehab, we have put up a perimeter fence, added insulation to attic, connected to city sewer and addressed a few electrical issues due to age of home. My goal would be to cash flow without having to take on a big rehab. @Blair Russell We are looking into possibly buying a small 2-4 multi unit and house hack for a while with the ultimate goal of building up enough capital to start investing in apartment buildings in the near future. In June I would have met the 12 month owner occupancy requirement and would be free to explore other options.

@Miles C Roth Thank you for your response and great tip on trying to sell vacant lot during income tax season. How do you go about asking price? Comps plus mark it up since you are offering owner financing? I guess my only fear would be that the development turns out to be really nice and I miss out on doing anything there since I have sold the property via owner finance.

Hello BP,

I recently listened to a podcast which featured Mark Podolsky a.ka the land geek and he discussed a strategy to cash flow from raw land. If I understand correctly, he is purchasing vacant lots at a discount and owner financing them at a higher price and creating cash flow. Anybody has any experience with this strategy? I bought 5 acres last year to build a home but have since reconsidered. I am considering selling it with owner financing or establishing relationships with builder/developer and maybe partner on a deal to try and develop land for new construction.

Any ideas/suggestions will be appreciated.

Hello BP,

I am trying to decide what steps to take with my primary home in the next 6 months. The house was built in 1925 and while functional, it needs a lot of updating. In the current condition, can probably rent for about $1,350 and cash flow approximately $250 every month. If I decide to sell with owner financing with10% down, 8% interest rate and 30 year amortization, payment is over $1600 which is pretty high for that neighborhood. I have not done any research on AirBnB but have heard of a lot of people have success using this strategy.

Any suggestions/feedback will be appreciated.

@Jonathan Perez Merry Christmas, I was in a similar situation 3 years ago when I bought my primary residence here in Texas. The house was 2 stories and had 1 unit servicing each floor, both original equipment ( Brand was Comfortmaker and units were manufactured in 1986). We had negotiated a price a little lower than list price and had another $2500 in seller concessions.  I had my realtor ask seller about replacing HVAC and buyer refused, we thought we were already getting a pretty good deal(appraisal came in at $7,000 over contract sales price) and decided to move forward with the purchase. A year later we ended up having problems with one of the units (leaking evaporator coil) and ended up replacing them both. Home warranty covered some of the repairs and we had to come up with difference of about $5,000 (0% loan from HVAC company for 12 months). I don't know what kind of deal you are getting or if SC is a buyers or sellers market which can impact how much room there is for negotiation. If units are functional and inspector did not find any issues, I don't think seller is going to agree to replace them just because of the age of the units. @Sid Leibowitz made a good point in regards to the service agreement and I would also recommend a home warranty, just in case.

@Andrew Kemp Welcome to BP and Merry Christmas. I agree with what others have posted in regards to finding a mentor/partner to help you valuate deal and help with down payment. Another option is to invest in a primary residence using an FHA loan like a small 2-4 unit and house hack to get your foot in the door.

Please keep us in the loop.

Good luck!

@Brad Larsen You make some excellent points on your post but I disagree with a few. There are a lot of blogs here on BP as to why multifamily is a better investment compared to single family. In my opinion, some of the main reasons why I would prefer to invest in a multifamily are economy of scale, easier and cheaper to manage and you have more control over value, just to name a few. The SFH value is market dependent and if the house is vacant you have $0 cash flow. In regards to comparable rents, you definitely have to do your due diligence and verify all the information coming from the seller and build relationships with local property managers in the area who know the market rents really well. I do agree that for your FIRST investment unless you already know what you are doing the SFH and the BRRRR method are excellent ways to begin but if you are going that route why not use the FHA loan on a small 2-4 unit and house hack to get your foot in the door?