All Forum Posts by: Wendell Butler

Hello everyone!

Just starting a thread to see peoples thoughts. Why do you think a lot of people do not house hack or are against it? It literally is one of the best first steps you can take in real estate for your future. 

Other than lack of understanding or knowing about it, I think one of the biggest factors is that society teaches everyone to go to college, get a job, get married, get a house, have kids etc. The road to mediocracy, which is fine and many people enjoy it, but it's interesting that society and our culture tries to keep people in that realm.

What are your thoughts!

Welcome to BP and congratulations on your future graduation! Your interest in house hacking is one of the best ways to initially get into real estate investing. You are far ahead of most college grads already by thinking about doing this.

@Brian J Allen is a great resource for any multifamily in those areas, especially Worcester. 

If you have any questions regarding the lending side of the transaction, please reach out to me anytime!

I agree with Andrew and Jon. HELOC would probably be your best bet at first. When you bought the property initially you could have done a renovation loan, which would have set you up with the rehab costs, unfortunately that’s in the past. Otherwise you could do a renovation cash-out refinance, but like Jon said you may have a seasoning period of around 6 months or more before you can do that. Another option is reaching out to other people/investors to help provide some money to help rehab. You may have to give up equity or % of cash flow, but could be worth it. Then once the rehab is complete you could always cash out refinance and pay them off (out of the deal). All depends on your timeline though and how fast you want to get this done!

Hello Deric! Your plan is most certainly attainable if you follow the correct steps and keep learning. I would recommend reading some of Brandon Turners books to understand real estate investing. Then I would find an agent that specializes in multifamily like @Brian J Allen stated. I would also look for a Loan Officer that specializes in those as well. Once you have that team formed you can create a plan, learn and accomplish your goals. With my clients I set up plans to reach their goals financially and then work with other likeminded realtors to help make it happen. It is definitely a team effort once you get started, then as you learn you will gain traction. Do not be afraid to network and ask questions!

@Jordan Sand Awesome, thank you for that info!

@Jordan Sand Thank you for your input! Does Hemlane have a phone app yet that works well? I know that was one con from it I saw when researching. 

@Barry Ruby that is very true!

Awesome thank you all! Yes I agree, I just want to start with one that I will become a master at and it can grow with me. Although buildium might be a little bit expensive to start when you are smaller, I think it'll help my business become a more well oiled machine as it grows. As it continues to grow too, the cost won't matter as much because it'll be such a essential tool I need, plus I'll have a lot more cash flow.

Hello Jon! It is helpful, thank you, but in this area there are not many sales similar to the property I purchased. Also most sales are cheap and all over the place because a lot of investors are purchasing and rehabbing the properties currently. It is a rural town/city that is just rapidly growing and almost gentrifying (I am getting in at the perfect time).

This is a 7-8 unit property and my plan is to buy at a discount (which I am currently, based on the potential of the property), then stabilize to that potential. I am just trying to get a more firm number for after stabilization, which I thought using the cap rate will allow me to achieve. The hard part is finding similar stabilized properties and using the calculations you explained to find the pure "potential". I just want to know around what I will be able to refinance and get a loan for and cash out.

I think the best way to check this is the calculations you stated, but then again most properties are not sold that are stabilized here, a lot are in disrepair. So when I do this it is quite all over the place.

Your calculations you explained are definitely the right way to do it outside of CAP rate, I just think its hard in an area I am in. I've looked at cities closest to this one and have used a general CAP rate I found there. Also I have talked with numerous investors in the area and the cap rate seems to be from 7-8%. But that is a huge margin for calculating a BRRRR!

Either way, I think I am in a good predicament based on the numbers, once stabilized it will be hard for the bank to not want to give me what I think it's worth. I am just trying to learn of better way to do this in rural type areas, cities and urban/suburban areas seem to be easier to calculate these.

Thank you, that makes sense. It would be nice if there was a platform or website that has cap rate information regarding the geographical area. There is not a lot of inventory now where I live to do your own calculations. Also when they were last sold, the appreciation and prices have changed a lot. So it's hard to grasp a cap rate where I have this property (Northeast CT).