All Forum Posts by: Tom S.

@Michael Klinger  As others posted, SoFi and Discover personal loans are good options and I've used them in the past.  2-3 business days from application to funds in my checking account.  No fees, no pre-pay. Both offered up to $40k, 12-14% rate which is higher but not bad for an unsecured personal loan.  Especially if using the funds short term, there's not too much interest.

@Abigail King  I started with a seller finance, $80k, 10% down ($8K) + $1k in closing costs.

Put about $40k in rehab in it.  Mostly on trade accounts with local businesses for the materials, some business credit cards, some of the contractors were OK with waiting 30 days for payment.  So minimal impact to credit during the rehab process.

It appraised for $173k after rehab, refinanced and paid everyone off including the seller, and walked with cash to do my next deal :)

@Brandon Eike  That's a decent amount to put down.  Have you gotten pre-approved with a lender?  Or working with a real estate agent yet?  I can't speak to Richmond, but when I started out I was able to get referrals to a good agent from a real estate investor group in my area.  The agent in turn also knew good lenders that worked with investors, so that's a good starting point.

Good luck!

@Inderpreet Singh  I use Liberty Mutual for my umbrella and have been very happy with them.  I have the rental properties insured with a variety of lenders and no issues with putting all of them under the umbrella policy.

@Enrique Toledo  If the seller is firm at 10% down, you can always get a personal loan for that 10%.  However, you have to be extremely careful financing 100% of the transaction as you still need reserves, closing costs, etc. and make sure it cash flows.

You didn't mention if this would be a rental or owner occupied. If OO you can do FHA loans with as little as 3.5% down.

Good luck!

@Elliot Angus  I'm not clear what the opportunity is, are you looking to purchase this property?  Take over the rent to own agreement from the existing tenants, or something else?

@Danny Lyu  If you're getting 10% down on that loan product, I would definitely do that and just close in your personal name.  Will be far easier to purchase more property with 10% downpayments vs 20-25% for each one.

Umbrella insurance isn't too expensive, $2M for $1200 per year.

Just be sure to run the properties as a good business, address any concerns brought up by the insurance company (they usually do annual inspections).  If they say put up higher railings, additional smoke detectors, etc, complete it promptly and document it.

I've been in the landlord business for 20 years, and I've always kept my properties to code and well maintained.  No issues with any lawsuits.

Good luck!

@Natali Cobb  I recently switched over to providing the washer / dryer to start, but say they're responsible for any additional maintenance.  So far so good.

I do feel like you attract more tenants by offering the W/D.  The downside is that when something breaks, it takes forever to schedule appointments, make sure the tenant is home or a property manager can let them in, and sometimes it even takes two appointments.  One to diagnose and one to fix after a part is ordered. 

My 2 cents...

@Kathy Merkh  I would say it's a scam.  Normal mortgage rates are in the high 6's now, for a personal residence, and higher for an investment property.  I don't see why anyone would led at 5%.  There should be no upfront fees for the loan, other than an appraisal.

Their website is also full of typos and grammar errors.

@Sharad Bagri Lots of people say "as long as the payments are being made on time, the lender won't care." But you'll have to change the insurance to the LLC, and the lender will be notified. I disagree, I had a time when my name and the name on the insurance didn't match and the lender was all over it, regardless of the on-time payments.

Your best bet is to refi into a commercial loan that allows the LLC (if you've already purchased the property), or close directly with a commercial loan / DSCR loan.