All Forum Posts by: Travis Shelburne

@Cham Vee I’m curious why you would want to consolidate two loans into one? I don’t think there’s an advantage to having one loan over two, unless it’s for administrative ease.

Great work on getting two multi-families, not a bad problem to have.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to see what ideas others could offer on my current situation and provide me with some needed feedback. I purchased this property in Highlands, NC two years ago for $10,000 due to the previous owner wanting to get rid of the property with no plans to develop it. I paid cash, so no mortgage on the lot.

Due to covid the entire area is seeing a steady increase, housing options are scarce, so land development is the next piece of the market that’s slowly starting to come up. I’ve done a market analysis on the lot myself, and have spoken with three local realtors to gauge what they’re seeing in the area as well. It’s in a good development with the average home price around $750,000. The lot is valued anywhere from 75k-200k, and has no septic permit, water well or tree clearing. My plan right now is to reevaluate the market next summer.

How could I use this lot to help further my investment strategies. Should I sit on it, sell it, develop it, or use it for the equity?

Thank you for your response! Really helps. I didn't think we could influence the appraisal process that much, considering they have laws to ensure that buyers/sellers do not have an unfair advantage influencing it. Having said that, the previous owner of my house, and also a friend, knew everyone (lender, realtor, appraiser) personally. So clearly there are holes in the process. Anyway, I'll give an update once I've gone through. If anyone else has any advice they'd like to give I'm all ears. Thanks!

Hello everyone! I purchased my first house in 2015 in a semi-rural area south of Houston that is developing quickly and expected to grow considerably over the next 10 years. I purchased the house for 147,000 in 2015, and the house appraised for 159,000. Since then, I put on a new roof and plan to do some other small improvements to add value. I want to refinance my house and have already spoken to a lender that I have a good relationship with. So that's in place, but I'm not sure when I should approach the appraisal. When I do my own limited research online the estimated value of my home is about 205,000 (Zillow), Chase is a little higher. Zillow's private estimate is about 215,000 I know these are rough, general numbers, and wanted advice on how to estimate the appraised value of my house before I spend $400 on getting it done professionally. I plan to repaint the house, add some basic landscaping in the front, sand and stain my cutting board countertops and replace the rotted wood on my fascia and soffit outside. I'm assuming the value of the house and especially the appearance and curb appeal will greatly help with the official appraisal. Is there an educated way to assess the appraised value before I make these fixes and repairs? If so, and it's favorable, then I can refi-cash out and use hat money for the repairs. If not, then I could do the repairs with the little money I have and can then look to refinance after all repairs are done. Thoughts?? Thanks for any help, this is my first post so I apologize if I'm missing pertinent info or am not clear.