All Forum Posts by: Timothy Church

@Meir Greenblatt

It was a thought briefly when I got the appraisal. I even thought about making it a pure investment property with 5 apartments upstairs and increase the value even higher. I decided to do this project this way solely for the betterment of life. It wasn't just about the money. When this project is completed, I will have cut my cost of living down to half of what it was and currently have the investments to cover those costs if need be. I'll finally have hit my financial independence mark and can enjoy the freedom that comes with it. With my son turning one next month, I wanted to make sure I am as involved in his life as I can be. Going this route allows me to work as I choose instead of needing to find the next deal.

Plus I've let real estate kind of consume me over the last 4 years. I went from having one $88k rental in College Station to owning roughly $3M in properties. I'm ready for a slow down. Don't get me wrong, I'll still always be looking and working in real estate but that anxiety of needing it will be gone. I'm considering working on a bit of a debt snowball with my properties and deleveraging them a bit. 

Overall, it is a lifestyle choice. I'll be reading, brewing, and playing with my kid more than I could have if I'd just flipped the property. 

@Bruce C. That is one of the harder things to do. Currently, Freddie and Fannie don't like Airbnb as income due to its fluctuation over the course of the year. Now they are okay if there is a long term agreement with someone doing Airbnb arbitrage as they see that there is someone to hold accountable for the fixed rent. It gets to be a grey area if you set up a company to do the arbitrage as it is borderline mortgage fraud by charging yourself rent and counting it as income.

Your best bet will be talking with local credit unions or other lenders that are portfolio lenders. They typically are able to work with you on things like this. They might want a solid year's performance to count it though. For most lenders, what is on the tax returns is what matters the most. It puts you in that wonderful catch of every tax season. Do you focus on write-offs and limiting your tax liability or do you show a higher income to help with loans!

@Cynthia Corder Thanks! Let me know if you'd like to grab a coffee sometime!

@Bruce C. Permission was from the wife! Thankfully you don't need a permit for homebrewing or else I'd be waiting for something else as well. Mid-February works for me. Hopefully, we will actually be upstairs by then and have the downstairs for it's intended use.

Well, I got a wonderful Christmas present from the city. Turns out they don't agree with the ICC interpretation of the code.... They don't agree with how the people who wrote the code interpret the code. Therefore, I will need a full sprinkler system for the building. An important lesson has now been discovered. While you should always do things to code, the city has the final say in what that code says. Yayy bureaucracy! 

On the bright side, I got permission from the city to rent out the bottom units. I already have one unit rented out to a local hair salon and have a handful of prospective tenants for the remaining two spaces. I'll say when you plan on living in a place you are much more picky on your tenants. I'm hoping to secure tenants for the remaining two spaces this month or so. 

Now we are to the hurry up and wait part. Now that the city has made a decision on the sprinklers, I have to wait for my final building permit for the upstairs of the building. Hopefully, that will show up soon as we are at a bit of a standstill till then. Once that is done we can hopefully get some walls up quickly.

They will perform but not typically at a cashflow point. They can work well as a way of having a condo with minimal cost out of pocket though. 

If you do self manage or go with a certain companies, they can cashflow an okay return based on your cash in. Honestly managing them even at a distance isn't difficult. While I manage for a few of my clients, most I set them up with the tools to automate things and they are able to run it without issue. If you can answer text messages, you can run it. At least while it is only one!

Be happy to show you the tools to help you get a feel for if you'd like to take one on. 

Almost all of the subfloor is up and the upstairs is slowly being cleaned out. It looks like I will have to buy a little more maple to put it throughout my personal residence but I am happy with it! 

Tomorrow should be the day I get the final go-ahead from the fire marshall regarding the sprinkler system. If things go according to plan, we will be able to wrap up all of the commercial space as well as back apartment this week! They just need fresh paint and a bit of electrical conduit run and we will be ready to go.

I even already have a tenant lined up for one of the commercial spaces. This property will be actually be making some money! 

I'm really excited that the back apartment will be done. Since we will be moving upstairs, I went ahead and put my house for rent and got a tenant in 2 days! We will be needing this space done to use it as storage while we go live in one of my Airbnbs. The back apartment is going to be an awesome hang out space. It will have my office, my wife's art room, a central hangout area with tv and card table, a kitchen which I've gotten permission to use as my brewery, and a large great room with the pool table I just finished restoring!! If anyone is in the Galveston area and wants to have a beer and shoot some pool, I'll need to break in the table!

I have a vacation rentals in Galveston. I'll send you a PM shortly. 

After reading the historical documents at the Rosenberg Library here in Galveston, I discovered that there is maple flooring underneath the current subfloor. We took up some pieces and it is there! Unfortunately, a large area was removed for some electrical work but it looks like there will be enough to at least do my personal residence.

We will still have to tile the other apartments but I count this as a win!

The last of the walls are down! It is finally time to get this place clean and start building out. I also just started the process of having the sprinkler system set up. Hopefully, it will go fast so that way I can get the bottom rented!

@Bruce C.

Hahaha, you might regret that! The last of the demo is 3-inch concrete/plaster walls over chicken wire. It is a great way to take out any frustration you may have though.

The whole building is 9,727 sq ft but the 2nd floor is slightly larger than the bottom due to an overhang. The structure is in great shape so it is more cosmetic work. I'm actually looking to get a large mural painted on the front face whenever we do the exterior work next year. This first round is focused on the build-out to get it ready for occupancy. Eventually, I want to build out an upper balcony and paint the entire building.

I love being able to give Galveston a much-needed facelift. I'm really excited to live downtown though. I enjoy that lifestyle of being able to walk most places.