All Forum Posts by: Ross Sims

@Ian Reeves I appreciate your input! Yeah so basically I didn't buy this specifically for a flip, my lease on my apartment ends in July so I wanted to buy a house to live in instead of paying rent. If I start doing well as a real estate agent, I could definitely rent this one out and buy another one, but as of right now I'm not sure if I could purchase another one. Because if I rent it out I still need somewhere to live, ha!

Hello! I'm not entirely sure this is the forum I should ask this, so if you know of a better one please let me know.

So a brief history of what got me here. I am 25 and am currently working two part-time jobs by choice. I'm also currently getting my real estate license for South Carolina. I plan to do that full-time but keep one of my part-time jobs (it's with my church.) Anyway, I just wanted to give you a little background so that you can answer better. So my father co-signed on the loan with me for my first home. I close on the property in 30 days.

I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the house going forward, whether to fix it for a flip or for a rental. I know people sometimes do quite a few flips in order to get capital to purchase a larger and nicer rental property.

I'm looking for advice for anything in this department, because I can't figure out which would be better for me. I do not make a lot of money at the time so it may be another year before I can buy another property but I want to know what I should do to this one in the meantime. I figured I would put more high end things in the house if I'm looking to flip it, versus renting it.

I bought the house for $98,500 with the seller paying closing costs. ARV in this neighborhood looks to be around $130,000 with an upgraded house. I have roughly $10,000 to spend on renovations. Here is the link: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7...

I plan to remove all flooring and put nicer laminate down throughout, with the exception of the bathroom. I plan to finish the ceiling in the converted garage, paint all walls of course, re-tile bathroom, add backslash in the kitchen. If the budget allows I would like to remove the wall between the living room and the kitchen, relocating the fridge. Although the cabinets and countertops are new, I don't love them. I'd like to replace the counter tops as well and maybe put in a farmhouse sink (but I feel like these kind of upgrades aren't essential for a rental.) The neighborhood is in North Charleston which has an overall stereotype of being a little low end, although there are many parts of it being gentrified. This is an established stable neighborhood.

The end goal for me is definitely a steady passive income, but flipping may help me get there. And I am new to all of this and don't have tons of handyman experience, my father is a wealth of knowledge in fixing things but doesn't live in the area so I will be consulting him a good bit on things. Gonna try to do my best to do things that I can and hire for what I need to. Have you found that there are certain things that aren't worth your time (removing popcorn ceilings, etc.)

Random Question: How long do you have to have rental income for the bank to include it in your income?

As of now, they would be live-in flips just so that I don't have an extra mortgage and a time crunch to finish. I want to eventually be able to purchase in the Summerville, SC area right outside of Charleston. It has grown exponentially the past few years and is still set to expand like crazy with Boeing and other companies coming in to the Charleston area.

I appreciate everyone taking the time to read this and I welcome all discussions about it!

Hello! I'm not entirely sure this is the forum I should ask this, so if you know of a better one please let me know. 

So a brief history of what got me here. I am currently working two part-time jobs by choice. I'm also currently getting my real estate license for South Carolina. I plan to do that full-time but keep one of my part-time jobs (it's with my church.) Anyway, I just wanted to give you a little background so that you can answer better. So my father co-signed on the loan with me for my first home. I close on the property in 30 days. 

I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the house going forward, whether to fix it for a flip or for a rental. I know people sometimes do quite a few flips in order to get capital to purchase a larger and nicer rental property. 

I'm looking for advice for anything in this department, because I can't figure out which would be better for me. I do not make a lot of money at the time so it may be another year before I can buy another property but I want to know what I should do to this one in the meantime. I figured I would put more high end things in the house if I'm looking to flip it, versus renting it. 

I bought the house for $98,500 with the seller paying closing costs. ARV in this neighborhood looks to be around $130,000 with an upgraded house. I have roughly $10,000 to spend on renovations. Here is the link: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7...

I plan to remove all flooring and put nicer laminate down throughout, with the exception of the bathroom. I plan to finish the ceiling in the converted garage, paint all walls of course, re-tile bathroom, add backslash in the kitchen. If the budget allows I would like to remove the wall between the living room and the kitchen, relocating the fridge. Although the cabinets and countertops are new, I don't love them. I'd like to replace the counter tops as well and maybe put in a farmhouse sink (but I feel like these kind of upgrades aren't essential for a rental.) The neighborhood is in North Charleston which has an overall stereotype of being a little low end, although there are many parts of it being gentrified. This is an established stable neighborhood. 

The end goal for me is definitely a steady passive income, but flipping may help me get there. And I am new to all of this and don't have tons of handyman experience, my father is a wealth of knowledge in fixing things but doesn't live in the area so I will be consulting him a good bit on things. Gonna try to do my best to do things that I can and hire for what I need to. Have you found that there are certain things that aren't worth your time (removing popcorn ceilings, etc.) 

Random Question: How long do you have to have rental income for the bank to include it in your income?

As of now, they would be live-in flips just so that I don't have an extra mortgage and a time crunch to finish. I want to eventually be able to purchase in the Summerville, SC area right outside of Charleston. It has grown exponentially the past few years and is still set to expand like crazy with Boeing and other companies coming in to the Charleston area. 

I appreciate everyone taking the time to read this and I welcome all discussions about it!

This is awesome! I am in the same boat really. Currently getting my real estate license. I just bought a house and close in 30 days on it. Currently trying to decide how exactly I want to fix it up (flip it or rent it.) 

I'd love to hear what your thoughts are going into real estate being an agent, how you plan to transition from a full time job to that, and what companies you have learned about and are considering. Shoot me a message!

@Nicholas Lohr yeah that is what I was thinking. Wanted to see if I understood it right. And I got the $72,000 from what I would still owe on the house. The $80,000 minus the $8,000 I put as the down payment. 

Hey BP world!

Reaching out to gain some clarity to on the BRRRR method and house flipping in general. Where my confusion comes in is in the debt to income portion of these deals.

Let's say I buy my first home around $80,000 (foreclosed) and put $10,000 into it and then I rent it and go to refinance it. Let's just say that it appraises with comps around $130,000. I've read that most banks will cash you out for the value of up to 70% of the home, so $91,000 in this case. Assuming I put $8000 down on the home that would mean I get cash out at ($91,000-$72,000) = $19,000.

So really I'm back to what I started with...roughly a $9000 down payment and $10000 for renovations. To me it seems like I'm not making money. But I guess it's the fact that I know own a home and someone is paying the mortgage and I am having some cashflow from it. 

But when I go to purchase my next property, how does the debt to income ration work? Since the house I bought is providing a small positive cashflow, does it basically negate the mortgages affect on my debt to income ratio? I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense. I can clarify anything if it is confusing. 

And how do you handle the risk of taking on more mortgages and let's say that all my tenants left so that would leave me with 3 or so mortgages to pay. What if my salary isn't high enough to cover that?

@Troy Gandee thanks for the encouragement! I'm excited to get started! 

@Troy Gandee thank you! I will take a look into all of that. Yes I saw one duplex that met my requirements and it was for sale on Zillow but my agent and I looked on the MLS and it's closed already. I think I may shift my focus to a house I can lightly Reno and flip. Start building up my capital. There seem to be a few REO properties that look promising in my area!

@Justin Smith I really appreciate that! Thanks for sharing some of your experience! I see that a lot of people in the investment sphere don't ever pull the plug and invest. I know it is always somewhat of a gamble, but you have to get some skin in the game. Another guy on here had advised me that I don't need to invest until I make more money...I get what he means but neither of my part-time jobs are in any jeopardy of getting pulled and I think this is the right time for me. 

I am considering changing careers to become a real estate agent, but I know it is a hard path and takes a lot of time to build up clients and to see the fruit of it. So I would partly be doing it to gain knowledge, not just make more money. Even selling 6 houses a year I'd come out more than I am now with the average home price in this area. I have a friend that did real estate in the area for 10+ years and is now a home inspector. He also owns 11 properties in the Summerville/North Charleston area. I will definitely be relying on his expertise. 

I'd love to hear more about your investments and how you accomplished it all, especially with your job being demanding. A friend of mine here works as a firefighter as well, so I know it can be a challenging career!

Hello Bigger Pockets community!

This is actually my first post on here, I just discovered BP last week. I think I have listened to 15 of their podcasts already!

I'll give you a little background on my situation. I am 25 years old with zero debt to my name. I went the tradition route and obtained my bachelors degree from The University of Alabama. I then moved from there to Charleston, SC and have been here since July 2016. I currently work part-time with a bank and part-time with a church. I know Charleston has some great real estate opportunities. I would love to get started and quit renting from others.

Here is where I would like some advice. I have about $13,000 for a down payment. My gross annual income is around $19,000. I am a first time home buyer. My current goal is to buy a duplex in my price range, preferably under budget, REO, or just a great deal. I will more than likely put 2.5% or so down and with the first time home buyer program in South Carolina they will give me a $5,000 grant towards the down payment. I would use the remainder of the $13,000 for any kind of repairs and touch-ups needed. My dad will be co-signing on the loan with me so I will probably be approved for a loan far greater than I would want/should take on. I would feel comfortable with a $100,000 duplex.

I would live in one side of the duplex, so there may not be cash flow but the tenant rent would cover my mortgage. I would potentially apply the BRRR strategy, or portions of it anyway. My next goal would be to purchase a second duplex and move in to that one so that my current one would create a positive cash flow. Then potentially purchase a flip to start snowballing some funds for larger rentals.

One last thing, I am thinking of getting my real estate license. I know that most don't think you need it for real estate investing. For me it would be for two reasons: to help me learn the industry and it would become a potential greater revenue stream thank working part-time at the bank.

I would love to connect and network with anyone in my area, or even from afar.

Thanks for reading!