All Forum Posts by: Ryan Allison

@Bao Chau Tran Look at Citizens Bank, they have good secondary property rates with 10% down and PMI is reasonable.

If you do wind up going to the Tampa area, I'd highly recommend you get a good pulse on the insurance rates as well as these can flutuate a ton depending on the area.  That was a major learning curve for me.  

@James McGovern have you thought about doing a house hack near UCONN?  That's probably what I would do if I was in your shoes.  You'll most likely need a co-signor but I think that would be a great way to get started.  

Would you consider cash for keys for the tenants?  

House hacking deals definitely exist where no work is needed.  It's all about the numbers though.  Those properties generally don't cash flow as much.  As you mentioned, these are popular so they get scooped quick.  

I have never used an FHA loan but I believe they have way stricter guidelines on what needs to be working and in good order during inspection. That combined with FHA typically has a long closing window sometimes makes it a deterrent for sellers to accept an offer w/ FHA.

ARV has a LOT of factors. In my opinion, trhe big ones are reconfiguring the layout to add a bedroom or bathroom (or both).

Have you looked into the 203K loan at all?  Based on what you're saying, it may be a good fit for you if you can find the right property.  

@Dilman R. You'll get money on this deal but I think you can get a LOT better return elsewhere.  Where's the condo located?  

To me, the pros of renting a condo are that you typically have way less maintenance.  However, the cash on cash returns typically are way lower than other investments because of it.  It depends on your appetite for investing, would you rather have a lower return and less maintenance or a higher return for more involvement?  

If you're looking to make money and don't mind being more involved, I agree with Jeff that you can make way more money elsewhere.  To me, rent to value of .6% is too low, even if it is in a GREAT area of CT with lots of appreciation potential.  

@James Dietter where are you looking, still in Fairfield County?  

I’m curious why you got out of flipping.  Is it just because you think there will be good deals on the Commercial MF side or if there was something specific that you got tired of.  

I personally have no experience in the commercial space i was just curious 

DCU in mass will loan up to 85% LTV in Connecticut too. Definitely ask about the closing costs tho on 15% down because from what I've found they're very High to the point where it makes more sense just to do 20% down.

@Dilman R. I have chosen to invest out of CT for now.  I still pay attention to the market in CT and agree with @Michael Doherty, there's plenty of opportunity to make money here, but ultimately I've decided to go in other areas where i see larger appreciation potential.

I spent quite a bit of time researching where I wanted to go and to start building a team.  Took a several months, hopefully it will pay off.  It does suck that I can't pop over to see progress or check out showings but technology makes things a lot easier nowadays.  

@Diana T. I also found a credit union that had 15% down, but it is only for Single family homes.  The issue for this particular bank was  that closing costs with 15% down were significantly more than the typical 20% down, so if you haven't already, definitely inquire about that.  In this deal, cash to close between 15% at this credit union and 20% down at other insititutions was almost identical so obviously you'd rather have the equity than it go into thin air at close.

For multi-families, I could not find a bank (& I tried a bunch) for 15% down.  I think it would have to be a specialty loan because I believe that any Fannie / Sallie Mae backed loan require at least 20-25% down for multis.

Good luck @Kevin Finn.  Do you see yourself staying in Boston or moving back to CT?