All Forum Posts by: Crystal Smith

Hello all, 

I am in the process of buying my first property but have hit a roadblock. I want to house hack a 2-3 flat in the west loop or river north of Chicago but do not qualify for a loan because I am a 1099 employee that started work the end of last year and I am being told I need 2 years of documentation to show sufficient funds.

My husband has a W2 job but his commission is not accounted for either, so we only qualify based on a very small income that does not reflect our overall income status. 

With that being said, I want to buy a multi family (roughly 800K-1 million) and house hack with a 10% down using my own funds and would like to figure out a way to do that. I know asking a family member to cosign is a possibility but I am open to any other suggestions. We also would be open to other investors joining our team to help us out while making a nice return. All advice is appreciated in advance! 

I know that anytime Trump's name is mentioned, someone gets triggered. Either the post is too anti-Trump, or too Pro-Trump. 

Let me be clear - I do not condemn Trump's policies or necessarily know whether they will be positive in the long-term future or not for real estate investors. Further, "Downward Pressure" may be "bad" for investors, but it may also be "good" for renters - his policies, if I am correct, may negatively impact housing prices and rents, to the detriment of investors and to the benefit of renters, in the near-term. 

"Positive" or "Negative" impacts are relative. I write from the standpoint of a real estate investor, and I perceive Trump's actions to be threatening to near-term real estate investment returns, on the whole. I believe this because I think that on the whole, his first two weeks of actions are likely to: 

- Have zero no impact on near-term supply (deliveries for single family and multifamily homes 2025 are a result of actions put into motion several years ago)

- Put upward pressure on interest rates: Trump's demand that the Fed lower rates will have absolutely no effect, other than providing a cheap source of easy social media clicks and engagement for real estate pundits. However, the implementation of tariffs, or just the threat of tariffs, is likely to influence rates, by impacting inflation numbers, and this influence may come quickly if prices for many common goods and services and raw materials rise in anticipation of tariffs, or in response to their implementation. 

- Put downward pressure on demand: I personally believe it is unlikely that Trump actually deports millions of illegal immigrants who have settled in the United States. This, to me, seems impractical, and a PR nightmare. It's possible he carries it out, but I believe it unlikely. I believe it is far more likely, however, that the effect of his stance and actions materially lessens the flow of new illegal immigrants. This will slow new demand for rentals. In the event that any meaningful percentage of 10-15 million (estimates seem to vary widely depending on which news source you prefer) current illegal immigrants are deported, real estate investors will have a big problem as vacancies soar. It is likely that a huge percentage of that 10M-15M illegal immigrant population are renters. Regardless of whether investors currently rent to illegal immigrants, their competition in the market likely does.

- Put Upward pressure on real estate operating costs: Increased costs for raw materials and supplies, and the likely increased costs for labor involved in many real estate related CapEx and maintenance projects signal the risk of increase in costs for real estate operators.

If there is no impact on near-term supply, a modest slowing of inbound (illegal) migration, more reason to believe that the cost of many goods and services will increase, and real reason to believe that inflation triggered by something other than an increase in the money supply (namely the cost of specific goods and services that are NOT housing going up, which comprise the CPI) will force the Fed to raise rates, this, on the whole, is not good for real estate investment returns. 

No, I do not think that there will be a housing crash or a massive drop, nationwide, in rents and prices. Yes, there will be offsets (do Tariffs and slowing illegal immigration increase wages for some workers - likely yes). But, I believe that the actions of the first two weeks should give investors, on the whole, reason to incrementally revise down their expectations for growth in prices or rent growth in 2025. There may also be incrementally better probability of deals, as investors who are dependent on rates coming down may find their hopes disappointed. 

I think 2025 will be, by and large a buyer's market, and that the new administration's policies only, and again incrementally, make me more confident that this will be the case.

What do other investors think? Do you agree or disagree? 

What do you guys think about this? Current bill status can be found here.

Hey BP Community,

I'm curious to hear your insights on building a successful real estate investment team. For those of you who have scaled your businesses, who would you consider the absolute essential members to have on board early on, even when capital might be tight?

Conversely, which team members or roles are more strategic hires that you brought on later, once you had more capital and a more established portfolio?

I'm interested in understanding the ideal progression of team building as you grow as an investor. Any advice or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your wisdom.

Best,

Shaun

Savannah 

Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply.

I am using some of these measures.

First issue I encountered: land trust fails to work as smoke screen, because the deed is recorded in trustee name. Using LLC as trustee is also not considered appropriate by many. So only solution I could think is using a 3rd part Trustee service .And getting a trustee deed which will be recorded in future when I sell the property.

What do you think?  

Hello everyone! I bought a house back in 2015 paid it off last year and bought another in 2021 half paid off. First house is worth around 200k the other is around 450k. They are both located in Texas. So I have around 400k in equity. Bought both at right figures (I think). First for 90k second for 280k. I want to get more aggressive and buy more and scale in time. I contacted some lenders but did not really make much progress because of their fees and costs. I dont have good credit. What would be the best path to go from here? 

Thank you in advance for answers and thoughts.

Hi everyone! This is my first post here so I´ll try to be quick.

I am starting my wholesaling carreer and first of all need to know what makes a market or neighborhood good for wholesaling. I live in Madrid, Spain and will invest here. I currently have 2 choices:

Market 1: mid-high income area, very strong appreciation and rental demand but low rent yields due to high prices. Very desirable neighborhood, old houses (1900s-1980s) and great to live and invest for long-term growth. Houses very well kept and "luxury"

- Average income is 50,000USD 

- Annual appreciation for 2024 was 20.5%

- Annual rental growth for 2024 was 11.9%

- The price per square feet is $765

- Average rental yield is 2.58%

- 0.5% of houses need full renovation and 2.87% of houses need "some" renovation.

- Unemployment rate is 5.24%

- Houses for sale are 1,065 (similar population than Market 2). 174 houses in need of renovation (listed online)

Market 2: middle income neighborhood, lots of new developments (by demolishing old houses and making new ones), it has twice as many inmigrants than market 1 and recently has been getting a lot of attention from investors. Old houses (1950s-1980s). Used to be a very bad area but it is now improving quickly.

- Average income is 35,000USD

- Annual appreciation for 2024 was 17%

- Annual rental growth for 2024 was 11.4%

- The price per square feet is $504

- Average rental yield is 4.47%

- 1.74% of houses need full renovation and 7.4% of houses need "some" renovation.

- Unemployment rate is 7.29%

- Houses for sale are 533 (similar population than Market 1). 105 houses in need of renovation (listed online)

Further considerations: 

Market 1 (Chamberi) has always been a prime area in Madrid, old buildings but with quality materials and high historical value. Market 2 (Tetuan) was built for low income families in the 50s-80s and has almost no historical value compared to Chamberi. There is also another Market, called Vallecas with slightly higher amount of distressed properties, half the house price as market 1 and 2, 15% annual appreciation and in a very low-income neighborhood. Should I consider it too?

I have been living in market 1 (Chamberi) for the past 6 months and market 2 (Tetúan) is 30 minutes walking from my house. Market 3 is on the other side of the city.

Market 1 has TWICE as many houses for sale than market 2, despite having the same population.

In Spain, income is much lower than in the US, the most expensive neighborhood has annual income of $57,000, so Market 1 (Chamberi) is on the very high side of the spectrum and Market 2 (Tetuan) in the middle.

In the city, vacancy rate is 6.3% and 82% of them are in good condition. There is a high home occupation problem and eviction laws are weak, this causes some homeowners to put their houses off the market.

In Spain the wholesaling market is very small and very few people know about it, there is however a recent upward trend in flippers, especially in Madrid.

In which of these markets should I invest and what variables should I use to decide the best area? Am I on the right track of analysis? 

I will greatly appreciate your responses and look forward to starting my investing carreer and become part of this amazing community!!!