All Forum Posts by: Remy Lattin

Congratulations Saul! If you become a member of the Utah Apartment Association they have all the forms you'll need.  You'll also get access to do background checks and other benefits.

I've used AMC Building Materials. They sell pretty high quality cabinets for the price. I've always installed them myself so I can't speak to how the installers are, but the cabinets themselves are quite good and can be picked up same day or within a week depending on what you choose.

Hi Nate.  Of the 3 options, the 3 bedroom in Salt Lake has the best numbers, however with 20% down on a 15 year mortgage they all cash flow negative according to my best guestimates.  The most important thing to do on any investment is to run the numbers.  PM me and I can send you a good deal analyzer spreadsheet so you can run the numbers yourself.

I just closed on one with AFCU last week. They'll do 80% LTV. The only difference between an investment and an owner occupied HELOC was a .5% interest rate increase, and they don't waive the $150 application fee. If you're looking to get one that's not AFCU I'd recommend just calling around a few other credit unions. I would imagine that others offer similar loans.

Hey Josh,  I've never heard anyone say that they want to flip a property as a hobby before.  Your statement, "I know it would be a "cost" instead of "make" situation. That is why I would just consider it being a hobby rather than an investment" worries me because it seems like you're already mentally preparing your mind for failure by telling yourself you're not doing it for the money.

If you were in a position that you really didn't need money and you just had tons of extra time to kill then I'd say ok, that makes sense, but that doesn't seem to be your current situation.  If you want a hobby, fix up and improve your own home; that's actually fun.  Working on someone else's home is just work.  That's not to say that you can't enjoy working on someone else's home, but if you aren't pretty certain that you can make a decent profit from it I don't think that there's going to be much enjoyment.

As for finding something in Orem/Provo for around $20k I'd have to agree with @Mike Palmer.  In that area you'd be pretty lucky to find anything less than $100k.

Whatever you decide to do, treat real estate investing like a business, not a hobby.  Hopefully you will find enjoyment in the process, but if your number 1 goal isn't to make money you're probably better off playing video games.

Michael Pyrtle with ADR demolition is a great demo guy.  He just worked for me last week and I was amazed how fast they tore out the chimney and flooring.  PM me for his contact info.

@Ira Ashton can you accept my colleague request so I can PM you?

One thing that I noticed is that it's not available until 4/1.  From my experience, most people are not looking for a place to move into in 4-6 weeks, they're looking to move in a couple of weeks or less so be glad you have plenty of time to find your perfect tenant.

I would echo the advice already stated that you should definitely have an application fee of $25-$30 per adult and let your potential applicants know up front and stated clearly what the requirements are before they even come look at it to save yourself and them a lot of wasted time.

There are a lot of low quality tenants out there and they have a hard time finding a place to live so it's not unusual to get a lot of low quality inquiries.  Just weed them out as efficiently as possible and stick to your rental requirements.  With a whole month to find someone and the strong rental market that we're in you should be just fine. 

If a couple more weeks go by and you're still getting the same results then maybe relist it at a little lower price.  I don't mind being slightly under market value if it means I can set my requirements high and still attract a higher quality tenant.

Thanks @Ira Ashton I'll PM you.

GC