All Forum Posts by: Scott Wolf

Long-term, buy and hold rentals. Family business, now it's my turn. California is crazy overpriced, so I'm investing in my home state of Florida. Nice to meet you all!

My husband lost his job 2 weeks ago and it was his W2 we were using for the loan (30yr at 6.625 percent). We were supposed to close on Tuesday but on Friday afternoon I got a call from my loan officer that the underwriters had found out. (His job officially stops May 28th so we assumed there was no way the they'd know about it.) 

I really don't want to give up the property. It's a quad and there are four tenants paying under market rent. Our plan was to get those tenants out, do some light improvements and then rent two out at the market rate of $1500 a month and turn the other two into MTRs at $2400.

To save the deal, I have a couple of options (I know about): 
1) Do a securities backed loan and then refinance into a conventional mortgage asap when he gets a new job

2) Liquidate our stocks and tap into our cash reserves and pay cash and then do a cash out refinance when rates are better (which I doubt will be anytime soon)

3) Do a DSCR loan at 7.725 percent with 30 percent down and then refinance in 6 months or whenever he gets a job.

What should I do? Are there other options I'm not thinking about?

Thanks so much for the help!

Thanks for your perspective. I completely understand that in order to be successful at something, you have to put your heart and soul into it and doing anything part time will not get you to be successful.  However, i was initially only trying to break into the business. Learn the basics, and then perhaps venture into it full time.  Walking away from your 20+ yr old career isn't always the easiest, and would be quite reckless if you ask me !! 

I wanted to share a real-world cautionary tale, and might be something others here need to be aware of.

A couple in Florida recently saw their property taxes jump from $15,000 to $91,000 a year after doing what many of us might call a smart long-term move: renovating and expanding their home.

They kept the foundation and outer walls intact, assuming their homestead and Save Our Homes protections would remain in place. But the renovations (which included a second story and a new roof) triggered a full reassessment of their home’s value, from $650K to over $4.4M based on surrounding sales, not the cost of construction.

Here’s what made it worse:

• A neighboring property sold for $4.9M—all cash—right before their reassessment.

• All-cash buyers have flooded the market in their ZIP code (62% of transactions in 2023), driving up comps and pushing appraisals higher.

• Even though they appealed, the county cited Florida law: substantial improvements = new construction = full market reassessment.

This isn’t just a sob story, it’s a wake-up call for investors and homeowners.

Key Takeaways:

• Renovations can backfire if you're not careful with how improvements affect property tax laws in your state.

• All-cash buyers can unintentionally raise your comps—and your tax burden—overnight.

• Don’t assume local protections will stay in place if you “work around” them—confirm everything in writing before starting.

• Talk to local appraisers, attorneys, and tax consultants before making major changes to homesteaded or long-held properties.

This couple now faces losing the home they’ve loved for over 20 years—not because they overleveraged, but because the system wasn’t built for people trying to stay put.

Would love to hear from others:

• Have you seen property tax surprises like this?

• How are you navigating rising assessments or planning renovations in a high-growth market?

My wife and I have been flipping one house a year in our local market here in Texas. So far we have been successful.

I am now to the point where I would like to begin looking into taking on more than one flip a year but I am running into funding problems. We have always used conventional funding but our local banks aren't fond of lending for investment properties. 

We have discussed seeking private money or possibly hard money but we have no idea where to get started. Any guidance or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Hi all,

I'm 23, bought my first three duplexes last fall (in a partnership, not the sole owner). I was in college at the time of investment and didn't have the bandwidth to take on a renovation, so all three properties were relatively straight forward: 20% down fixed 30-year, place a tenant, wait. 

My biggest takeaway from the experience is that we tied up a lot of capital for very little cash flow -- essentially, I don't feel that I put myself in a position to scale. I'd like for my next investment to be made with some sort of exit plan to recycle and reuse the capital put into it. I'd lean towards a BRRRR, but I certainly won't have enough capital to make a cash purchase for a while.

Where should I go next? Should I be looking at apartment complexes for better cash flow? Some sort of flip? I appreciate that it takes time to build passive income in real-estate, but I'm hoping there's a smarter way to go about it than saving up $50K to dump into a property that cash flows a few hundred a month. 

Would appreciate any advice regarding the direction I should go next. Another thing that might be an important factor is that I'm confident I could raise about $0.5mil in cash if I did want to bring on other investors who've expressed interest. 

Thank you,

Ryan

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a DSCR lender that can help with a $115,000 loan amount. I’m putting 20% down, and the property is an investment rental.

Most lenders I’ve spoken to have higher minimum loan amounts ($100K+), so I’m hoping someone here has experience with a lender that works with smaller balances in this range.

Any recommendations or broker referrals would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance 🙏

700 - 720. 720 is more reasonable