All Forum Posts by: Kevin Romines

I find that there is always value in being a connector. Be the person that brings the parties together. Invite those that are not in the business that want to be. Invite the experienced people as well. The experienced people love to dispense advice and maybe even mentor someone. It may not be where you immediately find your next deal, but it is invaluable to your business for the long haul. 

As far as your business, you can drive for dollars looking for any properties that have deferred maintenance, vacant or whatever criteria that you are looking for? Do a direct mail campaign and mail it 7 times. The bulk of your success comes in the 5-7 mailing. I am averaging a 6% response rate on the initial mailings in my area, and it only adds to that response rate then next times that I mail out. 

You can also get together with experienced realtors to tell them of your criteria and tell them so long as the numbers work, you will buy. They will be motivated and can guide you as you go.

Don't let anyone ever tell you no, its your dream, its your business, its your future, go make it happen and be prepared for bumps in the road!!! BE HAPPY!!!

Some area's have better returns then others. If you don't have the correct returns on a project, then  it just may not be one of the better options. It might be better to buy in a different location or even a smaller community to get the correct returns right up front. 

When the numbers end up with smaller returns, it has the ability to limit your choices and exit plans. As much as I love to make mortgage loans, no one ever wants to be a slave to the payments? I would weigh all your options and just make sure the level of returns are there? I have found that most investors want a 10-15% return after all expenses. 

If there is a local landlord association in your area, I would go attend and talk to the experienced buy and holders and see what their rates of returns are and if they like the numbers you looking at?

The 2% rule means that you want to get 2% of the purchase price in rents. This is a quickie rule of thumb but can be a good starting point. Its really difficult to hit that in most areas in our state, but there are areas that will get you between 1.3-1.75% and if you were to buy a distressed property and rehab it, you generally can make your money there? 

In the end, it doesn't really matter where your passive income comes from, its all a matter of the risks, time and head aches along the way as well as ongoing. That monthly check that might be smaller that comes in without any maintenance and head aches just might be better then a monthly check that comes in at higher numbers, but requires a lot of constant effort and head aches along the way?

Use BP's BRRRR calculator and it will give you a better sense of things to look for?

I have taken many prep courses over the years, both on the mortgage side of things as well as insurance. I recently used Pro-schools for some continuing ed on my loan officer license. They did a good job of getting that info in to you, but their clock is way off. They tell you that its a 2 hour course when in reality its double that or more at times. I have used other companies in the past that also did a decent job of getting it drilled into you, but didn't take so much time. I cant remember the names of some of those other schools and prep courses, but virtually all of them that do the mortgage side of things also do the real estate licensing side of things as well. I would look at the Washington State real estate commissioners website as I'm sure they have a list of approved course providers and choose from that list after researching the companies.

That said, welcome to the industry and may your sales close quickly and smoothly. Cheers to your future career helping families obtain their dreams!!! 

In terms of doing an FHA loan on your next purchase, you can have more than 1 FHA loan at a time, especially since your relocating. I'm not sure what your existing loan terms are, but in crunching general numbers based on what you owe, you should get close to break even on the property if you rented it?

That said, my 1st gut instinct is to try and sell it with a back up option of a lease option if you cant sell it. On the lease option you generally will set the purchase price based a little higher than current market value and closer to what the value might be in the future? You can also set the monthly lease payment higher then current market rents and best of all, collect an option fee up front, they then have skin in the game and in theory will take better care of the place. 

By all things I have seen and heard and I research a lot, on a national basis and more importantly in Washington state, we have a huge lack of inventory problem. NAR predicts this wont start to be resolved until late 2018 on a national basis. The reason for this is that all new building virtually dried up over night back after the meltdown occurred because lenders weren't lending money. And one of the hardest hit was the new construction builders. This is creating today's situation of a lack of inventory. I bet you will be surprised and can get it sold. But if not the next best thing is to sell it on the Lease option type of scenario.

Good luck and say hi to the great folks of Oklahoma, especially Antlers Oklahoma, where my dad's family is from!!!

I can be a good resource if you have questions or need some help? My office is in Olympia, but I tend to cover several counties. I have bought and sold via contracts and wholesaled successfully. I am also a mortgage banker with Guild Mortgage and have been in the industry for the last 17 years, so I generally can get you answers in almost all cases. Feel free to touch bases with me anytime?

I can help you out with that, call, email or PM me, I'd be happy to fill you in on several options. 

Being in this market (my office is just a few miles south of Lakewood) as @Marcia Maynard mentioned, the market here is very tough right now for buyers. If you pile on additional requests to the seller, you run the risk that another buyer with a cleaner offer will beat you out on the deal. My mom just lost a deal yesterday and she was 7K over asking. There is a severe shortage of inventory, so you as the buyer need to make your offers as clean and easy as possible or potentially lose out.

As mentioned above, your on a month to month tenancy with them, so change the rules, increase the rents on the worst of the two and get them to leave or get paid for the additional head aches. Then go in, clean it up and get better tenants with your rules in place. Then turn to the other inherited tenant and give them the new rules and higher rents, if they don't like it, they can move and you rinse and repeat. 

Best of luck to you.

Are you going to pay cash or hard money? If you need a ref. to some nice terms on hard money, I have the details that will steer you in a good direction? PM me if needed?

Double close can be more expensive due to the selling closing costs and the fact that some escrow offices wont do them. The best advice I can give is to call the escrow companies in advance of any deals you are working on, ask if they will do the double close and compile a list in the given areas that you will be working in? I would follow that up with a face to face sit down with them to go over the major points of your business practices and have them address any concerns long before you ever get to a deal. 

Just like any person in the business, they want to make their customers happy and get the deal done as efficiently as possible. Good outcomes are good for everybody. You can also consider transactional funding if the escrow companies wont do a double close?

You can get up to 100% purchase and 100% rehab if the seller will carry back a small 2nd. Or if you can come in with 10% plus closing costs, you can get 90% purchase & 100% rehab money at as low as 7% range. Lock that deal up, decide if your going to rehab it or wholesale it. Make the money on the deal?

Although, I'm dumb founded to think that the seller hasn't considered all his options compared to losing the property? People don't think straight when they are under duress?