All Forum Posts by: Travis Timmons

@Sal Sharay don't pay a 4-5 figure price tag for mentorship. Most of us learned for little to no money here, self educating, networking, and getting reps one property at a time. 

I have nothing to sell and would be happy to help if you think that I can be a resource. My background is in live-in flips, short term, mid term, and long term rentals. Feel free to send me a DM.

First piece of advice would be to gain some sort of subject matter expertise. Match the strategy that lights you up with the location where it works (hopefully close to home).

I think that @Doug Smith gave you some great advice. You're stacking risk factors - new investor, foreclosure auctions, flips, relying on info from propstream as if it is accurate, asking a lot of questions that present a real "you don't know what you don't know" risk. 

I'd suggest going to the courthouse steps and just observing for a month or two. You may find someone kind enough to ask what you are doing and answer some of your questions (you also may not, but it's worth a shot). 

Fact of the matter is that flipping is just plain hard. You either need access to deal flow or access to cheaper than retail labor - whether that is you doing the work or a crew that you employ - to make most flips work. 

It's nervy, stressful, and expensive to start. The hardest part is bleeding cash for several months (down payment, carrying costs, furnishing, make ready/renovation expenses) before you make a dime of booking revenue. You need more cash than you likely expect to get a property to market. 

It's a good business that has drastically changed my financial future, but margins are tight and it's a lot of work. Make sure that it is something that you really want to do.

I have nothing to sell and would be happy to help if you think that I can be a resource. 

Get the FHA or conventional loan on the next 2-4 unit house hack property while you have no debt on the first rental. A refi on that would count against your DTI, which is always the biggest obstacle for investors going from their first to second property or house hack. If you want to refinance the paid off property after that, you have DSCR loans as an option if your DTI pushes the limit.

And if you want to keep the free and clear property paid off, that's okay too. Life does not exist on a spreadsheet. It's really nice owning a paid off property and having that stability.

Nice work...keep that snowball rolling down the hill. I'm of the opinion that you do not refinance the first one until you are ready to take on the next deal. If you have a 3-5% down payment for a 2-4 unit house hack without a refi/HELOC, buy property #2, stabilize it, and then save that cash out refinance until when you are ready for property #3.

Feel free to send me a message if you want to discuss further. I am happy to help and have nothing to sell. 

Your hometown may not be the best "secret" market or up and coming place that gets you a home run of a deal, but it's likely the place you feel most comfortable taking action. 

It's like a workout regimen or diet - the best one is the one that you will actually stay consistent in doing. You know the neighborhoods where people want to live, have some local resources, and probably feel a lot safer getting started there. It's a great place to get the first one and figure out if this is something that you want to do. 

Owner occupied strategies are going to be the easiest way to get started. My wife and I started with a live-in flip. That or a house hack (buy a single family home and rent out the bedrooms or a small multifamily and rent out the other units) presents the lowest barrier to entry. Owner occupied loans start at 3.5% down as opposed to the standard 20% down for an investment loan. 

It's a long game and slow and steady still wins the race. You'll find plenty of information on the BP podcasts and content for new investors. Feel free to shoot me a message if you think that I can be a resource. We've done live-in flips (on our 3rd right now), short term, mid term, and long term rentals. 

Make sure you get on a plane and check out the areas where you are looking. And a HELOC is a great short term debt instrument. Don't use it for a down payment. It just puts too much pressure on the deal and adds the risk of a 100% financed deal.

Easy...when you start getting stressed about debt, just stop thinking about it. 

I think that building wealth requires one to be both optimistic and paranoid. That fear and stress will protect you; it's a good thing that you need to listen to. Once you get to the point where you have 20-50% equity in a property, it is easier because you can get out from under that payment by selling if you have to. Going the house hack route with 3-5% down is going to be nervy for the first few years. Make sure you have job security and plenty of cash reserves.

Become a co-host before doing arbitrage. Property management fees for STRs is 15-25% of gross booking revenue. That is every bit or more that you would make from arbitrage and you have ZERO downside risks or upfront costs. The only cost is your time trying to acquire new customers and managing the property (which you would do anyway with arbitrage). It's just a better business. It's also easier to scale by a long shot.

If you don't want to do that, I still think you could find a more lucrative business or part time job that would provide a better ROI than arbitrage. It can work, but it's a really tough business.

I've sold 3 businesses, and my lesson learned after a cash windfall is to not do anything for 6 months. You have this itch like you have to do something with it or you are losing money. That's just not true. Nothing fails like success and stupid loses more than smart wins.

And I would not invest that cash in real estate unless you like or love real estate. Margins are just too tight to give up that kind of liquidity if you are not all in on RE as a business.