All Forum Posts by: Chui O.

@Daniel Ryu, Thank you so much! Those are wonderful information to get me started!

Hi @Daniel Ryu and @Mike D'Arrigo  I was researching on international investors on BP and came across several of your posts on that topic. They were very useful, thank you for sharing!

I  am a Singaporean, currently living in Pittsburgh though I am are not sure how long I will be staying in the USA. So I am hoping to structure my RE investments in USA as though I am a foreigner to ensure that everything is already setup correctly in case I do decide to return to SG one day.

I am most concerned about what kind of entities (LLC here or in SG?) a foreigner investor need to setup to hold their investments and what are the tax considerations to be aware of.

If you don't mind, could you please share your experience on the above or do you have any resources that you could recommend me to find out more? Could you also share more on what you are doing for online money transfers?I do plan to speak to an international attorney at some point but would like to do some research myself before that. 

Thank you so much for your help. 

@Mike D'Arrigo

Is it possible for a complete newbie to completely rehab 2000sqft house? The house is partially gutted and a complete rehab will be needed. 

What would be the estimated cost, if I plan to rehab and live in it, would I be able to get a full FHA 203K mortgage loan that covers the rehab costs? Are banks the right entity to talk to about FHA 203K loans?

How can I make sure I get the right contractors (any links or resources to read up)?

Hi, 

Are there loans available for rehab work or does rehab work have to paid in cash? 

So if I have $30K cash, I need to factor rehab work as part of that $30K, meaning my downpayment should not be more than $10k or $20K?

Thanks!

@Jake Thomas, Wow! Congratulations on your 4 rental properties! If you don't mind me asking, did you use your own cash for all the downpayments of the 4 properties, or did you use the BRRR method that Brandon spoke about? Also, thanks for heads up on the DTI thing, I actually did forget that the rent we are paying count as debt :-(. Think we will probably try to speak to some lenders too and see how far/how much we can get.

@Casey LaValle, thanks for sharing your analysis. I am going to try driving around Mt Lebanon a little more the next couple of days to get a better feel too. 

Hi @Casey LaValle, I just started looking at Mount Lebanon. Houses look really nice there for the price. But seems like there are a lot of houses for sale compared to Squirrel Hill and Fox Chapel. Does that seem to be signs of oversupply in Mt Lebanon area and potentially could affect the price appreciation and rental market over the years?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I will definitely keep a lookout in these areas!

@Jerry Kisasonak, unfortunately we are looking at Squirrel Hill (mainly for the school), where prices are 2-3x the median. Which is why I would really like to get into the more affordable market without compromising on the kids' education. 

@Mike Hanneman, yes, that would have been ideal for where we want to be. But duplexes are hard to come by, I will try to look harder but I also want to have a few backup option if duplexes do not come through. Good to hear it won't be too difficult to qualify for a loan if it's just rental, thanks!

@David Faulkner, I hear ya, in fact for the last couple of years, I was so focused on saving up and buying our first residential property. Until one day, someone told me, well, if you could buy and rent out a more affordable house, you could at least start recovering back some of the rent you are paying. That was like an aha! moment for me. I could actually "lose" less money each month on my rent. Looking at it another way, it's me trying to earn more income as well. 

@Thomas S., yes, exactly that. I calculated that it was actually cheaper to rent than buy where we wanted. If we bought, after property taxes, etc, we could potentially be paying more than our rent right now. Definitely encouraging to hear that it had worked for your son. Were there any tax deductions or benefits that he was missing out by not have a primary residence first? Thanks!

Thanks for your replies. 

@Virgilio Garcia, I am really new to this RE thingy... so flipping and wholesaling is sort of beyond me right now. I was hoping to start small and learn along the way with a Single Family property first. Although the reading I have been doing seems to point me towards a 4-plex. But I am not sure where to find 4-plex investable properties in the Pittsburgh area. 

@Kurt K., yes, my main concern is having to commit to expensive loan and price which will limit our ability to even go into rental properties. 

@David Faulkner, yes, I understand what you mean about get started by managing our own first property. But we have young kids, so considering the need for a decent school district, we are sort of bound/limited in our choices for our primary residence. :-(