Everyone’s always worried about another crash. They want to know, “Are we at the top of the market?”. They’re worried because they don’t want to lose their investments. The thing is, if you bought the house at the right time and you’ve got a tenant in there, then as long as you can cover that note every month, it doesn’t matter if the market crashes. You can wait it out.
In the last housing run we had, a lot of people were able to buy NINA loans, No Income, No Assets. Right after the crash, the market regulations had really tightened up for loans, but they’ve sort of relaxed right now. Banks are looking for a solid down payment, but by removing those NINA loans, there’s more stability in the housing market then there was last time.
No income, no assets, no job, no down payment; those kinds of loans are forever off the market and thank God for that. These loans were a large part of what propped up the bubble last time. Since then, the ratings agencies have also learned their lessons, and they’re keeping a closer eye on portfolios.
Christian Olin is a retail lender with On Q, and they do $5 billion in loans a year. From the investor side of the business, he’s seen a lot of entrepreneurs, and he’s got some great advice for BRRRR investors. With a little strategy, BRRRR investors can continue to add cash flowing rentals to the portfolios despite any shifts in the market.
OUTTHINK AND OUTWORK THE HEDGE FUNDS
Right now the inventory is so low, and hedge funds have bought massive amounts of rentals and taken them off the market. But the thing is, you don’t want to compete with these guys. They’ve got the ability to buy 500 houses at once, and what you need to do is pick an area and get to know that area. Start walking around, knocking on doors and leaving mailers. Let people know that you’re an individual investor and put a human face on your mailers.
How do you differentiate yourself from the huge commercial real estate investors? The thing is that too many people want to automate their marketing campaigns. So if your marketing campaign isn’t working anymore, maybe it’s time to change to something else like a niche email campaign, door hangers, or more guerilla marketing strategies. I tell my students all the time, if you can’t find homes in your market, then it’s time to expand your marketing or expand your market.
BORROW THE RIGHT AMOUNT THE FIRST TIME
When you’re borrowing for the BRRRR strategy, Christian wants you to be prepared to take out the right amount of money the first time so that you have enough liquidity to get that property ready without going back to the bank for a loan modification.
One of the major problems that Christian sees in the marketplace is that a lot of people come to him when they’re three quarters of the way through the rehab, and there’s no way to get an appraisal on it. At that point, they have to find another hard money lender to cure up their loan, and when the interest rate is 10%, 12%, even 18%, every day you wait for a loan is devouring up your profit.
Christian likes to walk investors through the property before they buy so that he can understand what the property’s going to be worth in the end. Learning about an investor’s long term goals with that property helps him advise his clients to borrow the right amount of money the first time through.
THE 15 YEAR MORTGAGE LOAN BEATS THE 30 YEAR MORTGAGE
I like to call the 15 year mortgage “Every man’s way to millions” because it’s a fantastic way to build long term wealth. If you buy a property and you’re all in at 70 or 75 percent, then you put a tenant in there and refinance, 15 years from now that property is going to be paid off. During those 15 years, you’re cash flowing the property, and at the end, you have a debt free asset that’s appreciated, and you didn’t pay for it. Your tenant paid that mortgage off.
I’ve never seen a better time to buy a property, rent it out, and refinance it. It’s the perfect way to stack cash flowing assets in your portfolio. If you compare the 30-year amortization schedule and the 15-year amortization schedule, you can see that the amount you’re paying is flipped. On the 15-year loan, you pay off that principal so much faster, and you really save on interest.
INVESTOR SOFTWARE & CRMS MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS EASIER
When you’re out seeing a property and there are seven other people looking at it, your emotions can get hyped up pretty fast. Christian has seen guys get so excited about turning a property into an AirBnB, where they think that they’re going to pull in $10,000 a month, that they then forget to look hard at the numbers.
Take a step back. Maybe a property isn’t sexy and doesn’t have curb appeal. But if the numbers work, then that’s the property you want. One of the coolest ways that Christian’s seen investors remove the emotion from decisions is by leaning on software. Investor software can help you find properties that meet your criteria, and CRMs like Accelerated Investor Office can help you automate your business and reduce your decision fatigue.
CONCLUSION
The BRRRR strategy can be an incredibly effective way to build wealth, but you’ve got to stick to the numbers. If you don’t borrow enough money to get through the rehab, then you’re going to struggle to make a profit. Go in with a solid plan, remove the emotion from your decisions, and build wealth with a long term cash flowing portfolio.
Be Daring,
Josh
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