All Forum Posts by: Rob Sawyer

I'm getting a HELOC on a paid off vacation home I 50/50 co-own with an elderly, health-compromised relative whose credit is MUCH better than mine currently and plan to use the proceeds to completely pay off higher interest debt as well as acquire my first property or two. Looking at a $200K line against a $300K lakefront property.

What structure (draw vs repay term, etc.) and recommendations would you make regarding how best to get in place as well as pitfalls and lesser known opportunities should I know about as I move forward with this plan?

Thanks in advance for your help and interest in guiding me. 

@Jack Medford I'd like to be able to tell you which indicators might be best but I'm too inexperienced and still learning market analysis. Nonetheless, I do think you are not being unreasonable in choosing them. Keep up the great work!

@Jack Medford What a great and thorough analysis Jack!

Although all markets are different, your indicators and methodology can be applied to any market in the country.

Thanks very much for sharing your "good ol' human" prognostication!

Hello Central New York Real Estate Investors!

We had a lot of new faces at our January meeting and made some great connections! If you missed it, no worries!  Our next meeting is coming up in a couple of weeks on 2/4 at 7pm so plan on it now and save the date!

As you may know, these winter months are great times to get properties at discounted prices from more motivated sellers. Hope everyone is analyzing properties and making offers on those that make sense for your strategy!  If you don't yet have a strategy, come to our meetup and talk with those that do and you'll get an idea of what ones are working in our area and why from those more successful and experienced.

For our February meeting, we will again be at the Syracuse ALOFT Inner Harbor and their lobby bar due to heavy construction at the Embassy Suites. The ALOFT bar is where we started as it is nice and has both food and beverages for those who'd like to enjoy either while we network with each other and discuss whatever issues are forefront in your mind right now. This will be a great opportunity to build on the new year with renewing old contacts and meeting new ones!

The best part of this meetup is the continually changing mix of skills and knowledge everyone brings, even if only some solid tidbits from a BP Podcast or other industry best practices. If you are interested in attending our meetup, you are more than welcome, regardless of experience. Also, please feel free to send me a connection request as the whole point of our group is networking, not selling.

Looking forward to seeing you at this meetup on Feb 4th and making 2020 your best year yet!

Happy New Year Central New York Real Estate Investors!

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves over the last few weeks! With the busy holidays now almost behind us, we should all be looking to what we want to do in 2020!

With winter upon us (tho it feels more like spring at the moment) we are in the midst of a great time to make offers on deals as the holidays will be over and everyone is looking for a fresh start, including tired landlords who were SURE their property would have sold by now! Having failed that, the thought of still having to maintain and deal with a property through the rest of the long winter (especially if vacant) is enough to make weary people want to flex on their price, especially with favorable (meets their needs) terms. As an investor owner, it's also a great time to get some deferred interior work done as contractors are typically less busy and looking for work for their best crew members trying to keep them busy over the winter.

With that in mind, we'll hold our monthly meeting on Tues 1/7/20 to share advice and knowledge on how to get these properties under contract as well as the best way to make offers that will have the best chance of being accepted.

For our January meeting, we will be returning to the Syracuse ALOFT Inner Harbor and their lobby bar due to heavy construction at the Embassy Suites. The ALOFT bar is where we started as it is nice and has both food and beverages for those who'd like to enjoy either while we network with each other and discuss whatever issues are forefront in your mind right now. This will be a great opportunity to start off the new year with renewing old contacts and meeting new ones!

The best part of this meetup is the continually changing mix of skills and knowledge everyone brings, even if only some solid tidbits from a BP Podcast or other industry best practices. If you are interested in attending our meetup, you are more than welcome, regardless of experience. Also, please feel free to send me a connection request as the whole point of our group is networking, not selling.

Looking forward to seeing you at this meetup and starting off 2020 in a big way!

@Jim K. "You can't make crap run a marathon and dance."

HA! Great phrasing Jim!

AND good advice that many never think about...

@Nathan G. Thanks Nathan! Hoping I haven't missed the boat on this...but I may have. Regardless, it's good info to have, so thanks again

@Chris Mason Yup...I sure did. That's a pisser. Hope to find a 2-4 deal before Freddie closes it but everything is way overpriced and the numbers don't pencil out. Will keep trying tho. Thanks for the info Chris, you da man!

I recently read somewhere (maybe on BP?) about new Fannie Mae (Home Affordable??) & Freddie Mac (Home Possible) loan programs that rival FHA for loan down payments and favorable terms.

Has anyone taken advantage of either of these?

I seem to remember that Fannie Mae was restricted to SFH but that Freddie Mac could be used on 1-4 units.

Sounded quite good but does anyone have any insight/experience in using either of these? If so, please weigh in.

Thanks!

@Simon Stahl Try running the numbers on a $500K property. Some costs are fixed that won't increase as the numbers increase.

Haven't crunched it but guessing perhaps that's his paradigm? Or not $100K and under perhaps?