All Forum Posts by: Travis Sperr

@Chad Clanton I have had two properties broken into.

one a small rehab - paint sprayer and some tools were stolen - no material. Contractor told me what happen, I paid for new door that was kicked in, but not the tools. The contractor makes a decision every night when he packs up if he will take the tools with him or leave on site. Leave at your own risk.

7 unit townhome development - broke into and about 20k worth of damage and stolen copper wire, low voltage wire. Contractor paid the deductible on my builders risk policy to get the work redone. 

In any case it depends - if the project is under construction, I lean on the contractor - to lock up, not staging material not needed for a few weeks, keeping site secure. After complete it is all on the owner. I would be likely to replace or split costs on material but not tools. Also an option to insure it all with the right policy.

You can still bid as an owner occ in the investor period. If you want to buy as an investor bid accordingly. 

Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading the posts, I answer seriously.

Absolutely you can broker loans to private individuals without any cash or credit - the biggest piece is licensing and regulations in your area - study up on that, find the money then find the borrowers. You find the borrower and broker the loan to a private investor/lender. Not always as easy as described, but possible. 

@Rick H. perfect suggestion - recording in this scenario protects you from him selling it out from under you. In most places you can record the contract, but you might just prepare a one page doc stating you have a contract on the property and to contact you in regards to a closing. the title search will show this if the property is being sold.

I have put property under contract for 9 months - development deal, allows me to get permits before closing. The likelihood of prices going down are pretty low in most markets. In some ways it is an option - if the market tanks you are only out your EM, if it goes up or stays the same you are all good. Lowest EM possible.

Calhoun Ventures runs a well known operation in the Twin Cities. Good reputation locally. The Twin Cities still has great buy and hold opportunities, especially compared to other markets.

@Mike McFadden How much in repairs? 

@Michael Shahan You mentioned not wanting to sell - looks like your best option based on your goal to pay down debt. 

Otherwise a refi is a good use of the equity for a rate reduction - $30k over 15 years at 4% will cost you 30k in interest.

Would you buy this condo today if you didn't own it?

@Jon Mccarthy I preface this comment with - I have no idea what your financial picture looks like, but I gather from the comments-

You don't have an interest rate problem, you may have had a spending problem that you are now trying to fix. Wrapping all your debt into a home equity loan - may lower your payment, but how long are you going to make those "lower" payments until you actually are not saving money? Typically the lines of credit are interest only, so although your payment will be lower - you will not get any principal reduction unless you put more money toward the payment, which you could do now to pay off the debt.

If you wanted to do something "crazy" to get started - why not sell one or both of the cars and pay cash for a cheap car? 

You mention not wanting to waste time working a W2 to pay down debt and wanting to wholesale. the good news is you can do both - wholesaling requires very little capital.

Just my 2 cents, take it for what you paid for it. I see people looking to get started all of time, it takes discipline to become a successful investor - whether that is time, energy or finances.

All comes down to behavior, without knowing the type of debts, are you going to aggressively pay the debt off? Or park it in the heloc and finance it over the next 15 years? If your behaviors will get you right back into debt then it isn't worth it. 

Tough one to answer without knowing the whole picture, but if the debt is an issue, you might consider paying it off before looking for real estate to invest in to prevent any future problems.

@Linda Weygant Welcome! Great to connect this afternoon!