I finished my refi on Friday. Took about an hour. I had to sign three sets of loan documents. You can guess what my signature looked like at the end. I brought in bagels for the loan office and you would have thought I brought in lost puppies. They were a huge hit. Doesn’t anyone do those type of things anymore?

Over my Asiago Cheese bagel my broker and I had a great chat. We discussed purchasing properties like my first two rentals. Only this time, I’m in control of the transaction. Before my LTV was 80%. This resulted in higher mortgage payments. I also lost a property in the deal because lending guidelines changed over night. I have seen plenty of keepers for 70-75 cents on the dollar after repairs. My mortgage broker knows a bunch of folks doing hard money loans. All he needs to do is validate I can support a new mortgage and they will loan the money.

While I’m about 5k short on reserves for my next rental, that will hopefully be in the next 4-6 months. My current focus is rehabs to provide that money to roll into rentals. The current plan with the rehab money is to keep 2/3 in the business for taxes and growth. The final third will go toward investments with a very small amount (less then $500) coming out for fun. (my reward).

I have no intention of rehabbing 12-20 properties a year. 5-6 would be great. I would like to invest with more of my own money though. If I stay small, there is no reason why this would hinder my progress down the road.

First things first though, I need to get the rehabs done. I should be hearing back from the probate seller by middle of this week with yeah or nay. He has contacted me 5 times to discuss the deal. If I get the contract closed I try and give as many updates as possible. I’m planning on many long, but very exciting days ahead.

Sorry for the late night ramble, but I wanted to get the post out before I prepared the next offer. I leave you with this quote “The only way it gets better for you is when you get better. Better is not something you wish; it’s something you become.” Jim Rohn in Seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness.