All Forum Posts by: Sergio Rodriguez

I'm skimming through post but can you educate me on Home Warranty?

@Thurman Schweitzer In this I would plan to make a single family home. Perhaps a 3-2 or 4-2.5. I would demolish it myself to save some cash. I would need a 20% down payment plus $5000 for closing costs (estimated by my lender). Then aside from the mortgage loan, I'd need a construction loan on top of that. I don't think I can do that on my own, unfortunately. But fortunately, that leaves available for a partnership! I ran the numbers again worst case and best case and for the most part, this investment would come out on top if the new home was listed for sale in March 2017. Is anyone interested in discussing? 

Mark Mathews Alison Kothmann Jacob Pereira Tyler H. I found out a lot more information from the broker and sellers of other properties in the nearby area. The lot is probably less than a third of an Acre with a 450 sq. ft. home on the property. The price is $126500, and the that is just the price of the property, not the 2/1 home on it. I found out it is only a single family home, not a duplex. If the seller doesn't get the offer he wants he will most likely keep it and build - is what I found out from the broker. The property is located in Frisco Heights which is near TCU near the Berkeley Place. There are some very old homes here and there is a lot of redevelopment and building here too. I found out through another property that there is an investor who owns 15 properties in Frisco Heights. He is planning on selling all units between $400,00 - $475,000. This got me even more interested in the property. So if you calculate a 20% down payment in this property + $2000 for DIY demolition + $150000-$20000 to build + $6000 for a 12 month mortgage payment then you're looking at profiting $50,000 to $100,000 (not including appreciation that these other new homes will bring to the table for the little lot). I can scrape by on the down payment but a construction loan may be out of my league. So much potential though! FYI there are no builder restrictions. I've requesting zoning codes for this area plus I will be speaking to my lender tomorrow to see what kind of deal I can offer. Thoughts?

Hello all,

I found this great property on sale near a college (great area to rent out to students). It is a duplex with probably a quarter acre to it. The only thing though is that the 2 units are a 2/1 and he building is very old and looks like it would topple down if I pushed it hard enough. 

I'm contacting the owner tomorrow about the property to get more information. Now ideally I would like to buy and hold and lease it out. But in this case the expenses of buying and rebuilding seem to be drastic and I'd like to see my money back in my pocket. Homes sale quick around here. 

My question is (1) if I wanted to buy and then rebuild, what should the proper steps be before putting an offer on the duplex. Should I get an estimate from a home builder, see the zoning codes for the area, etc? There are lots of things to do but with buyers in the market, I need to act fast to determine what I should do quick. 

(2) What would the ideal strategy be in this situation, buy and hold or sale after building is complete? Your thoughts?

Thanks all!

Exactly, the problem I'm facing @William Walker. I have two loans plus the car note: 

(1) 23k, 0% rate, currently in deferment for 2 years. 

(2) 14k, 5.6% rate, paying aggressively currently. 

(3) car note for 4k, 0% rate. No payment until 2018. 

So I plan to pay off the 14k, then the car, then the 23k loan at minimum. 

@Jack B. @William Walker Thanks for the feedback. This is exactly why I joined the BiggerPockets Blog: to get advise from everyone with different perspectives such as everyone in this thread. 

Currently my Student loans are about 10x as much as my car loans and with 0% interest on my car loan plus not having to pay until 2018, I'm paying my student loans aggressively. It will probably take me 6 months to get my DTI below 40%. In the mean time I plan to study like crazy.

Thanks Rob, I'll look into that like you suggested. Thank you. 

Originally posted by @Rob Gillespie:

Sergio,

My advice is coming from experience. I emptied my 401k and bought houses by the skin of my teeth to get started... it about drove me into BK. 

I would suggest owner financed deals, doing some wholesaling and Partners. 

If you have a 401k and it is left behind with another employer, I would roll it to a Self directed Custodian and invest into real estate inside of your retirement account. 

Just my 2 cents. 

good luck either way! Get out there and get going!! :-)

Thanks for your input Josh. I would definitely borrow from my 401k. Just enough for a down payment. My car note is under 5K for sure. I'm learning more and more as I go. 

Originally posted by @Josh C.:

If you were my brother and without knowing more of your situation I'd suggest you sell you car immediately if the note is more than 5K and don't cash out your 401k. Maybe take a loan against it, but don't cash it out and take that big tax hit.

Good luck!