All Forum Posts by: Samuel Collier

I think if you were planning on selling the condo to buy another investment property it would be a different story, but since you said you would use that money to pay off your primary residence, I dont think you should sell. (Unless you become desperate for cash as a result of your wife not working.)

I like leverage for a couple reasons. Staying leveraged is going to allow you to amplify your return on your own money through any appreciation. For example, if you bought a 100K property with 10k of your own money, and it appreciates to 110K, you just made a 100% return on your money. If you had paid all cash for that property, you would have only made a 10% return on the money you put in. The next reason, and not a lot of people talk about this one, is inflation. The purchasing power of our dollar is decreasing every year. So since your mortgage payment is fixed, its actually costing you less and less each year due to inflation eating into that $1,173. Who knows what the $1,173 payment will be in terms of real dollars in 9 years? It will almost certainly be less. Couple that with an increase in rent that im sure you would implement a few times within the next decade, I think the longer you can hold onto it the better.

Greensboro is worth a look. Closing on my first SFR March 29th.

The Greensboro and Winston Salem area is still a well kept secret in my opinion. Both are areas with populations around 300K and are only an hour and a half from Raleigh and Charlotte. I'm closing on my first house March 29th.

I don't think you need to worry about age or lack of experience if you're working with a reputable bank or a (good) lender. I am a lender and I come across plenty of people well into their late twenties and early thirties who don't know the first thing about buying or financing a house. And that's okay, because it is my job to educate them anyway. If you have the money and the credit score, banks are going to be willing to work with you. That is how they get paid. People will be even less inclined to notice or mention your age if you carry yourself well and speak with confidence. The only scenario I can see age or lack of experience being a hurdle is if you were trying to secure private or investor money.

@Price Paramore I went to an Equity Trust presentation workshop and they seemed cool. The one thing that worries me is that they have horrible Yelp reviews. The most common complaints I saw were excessive fees, and then it being nearly impossible to reach someone on the phone to discuss said fees. As well as a fee to close your account. I did try to look them up on the Better Business Bureau and I didn't seem to find anything troubling. But the sheer number of complaints I found elsewhere made me a bit hesitant. As with everything, do your due diligence.

@Dawn Brenengen Hahaha yep, you found me. What a small world

Dont be afraid to look near NC State. They are one of the biggest colleges around and I lived in a college rental in Raleigh for about six months. We were paying $1950 for a four bedroom, to give you some perspective on how much you would be able to command in rent. 

Charlotte is becoming an increasingly expensive area to buy in so I would imagine that the majority of places worth buying are probably too expensive to cashflow. But, I've spent a decent amount of time in Charlotte so I know a little bit about it. Anything in Providence school district, Myers Park, Butler, Ardrey Kell, Mallard Creek, Independence, the Matthews area (suburb), Marvin Ridge, Indian Trail, anything near UNC Charlotte, Belmont Abbey college. A lot of Tryon road is where things start to decline in quality. As far as the going rate per unit, I suggest rentometer.com. You just type in an address and it will give you a ball park estimate.

My advice is to reach out to local residents wherever you plan on investing if you’re not familiar with the area. I know that in my market in Greensboro, NC, sometimes the difference between attracting quality tenants and having months of vacancy/multiple evictions is only a matter of a few streets over. Take time to research the schools, maybe even type in some surrounding streets on google street view to see what the area looks like. But trustworthy boots on the ground will almost always be your best bet.

One thing to think about is that, depending on how much you're writing off, it could hinder your ability to get a loan in the future (assuming you wanted to finance multiple properties.) Tax write-offs will reduce the amount of income a lender can credit you with for qualifying purposes.