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3 Reasons Why NOW Is The Time to Invest In Turnkey Rentals

There’s no doubt about it — interest rates are up, demand is down, and we’re starting to see prices dip as the market finally starts to cool down. 

 

Is the party over? Has the time come to hunker down and sit on your cash?

 

Far from it. Experienced investors know that the party is just getting started. Here are three reasons why now is the perfect time to consider buying a turnkey rental to start — or add to — your real estate empire.

1. The Time to Buy is When Everyone Else Hesitates

We know it’s scary to go against the grain. When everyone else is hunkered down and hoarding their cash, afraid of their own shadow, you’re the one “idiot” buying things. The market just crashed! How can you even think of buying things?

 

But when markets dip, that’s the best time to buy. After all, things are cheaper and have room to grow. The worst time to buy is in a hot market, at peak FOMO, when every offer sparks a bidding war and everyone is scrambling to get properties.

 

In an environment like this, with interest rates rising, buyers are a lot more hesitant. This means less competition, as well as decreased demand. There are more smoking deals out there than at the beginning of the year … and fewer people vying for them.

2. Rates Are Up … But Your Tenant Pays Your Mortgage

Yes, those mortgage rates have gone up in the wake of the Fed’s historic Federal Funds rate increases. Your mortgage payment will be higher than it would have been at the beginning of the year. 

 

This is somewhat bad news for homeowners (though they have good news as well — they will face fewer bidding wars too). After all, they have to shoulder the entire mortgage burden themselves.

 

But as a real estate investor, you don’t even pay your mortgage. If you buy right, your tenant pays your mortgage vis a vis their rent. As interest rates have gone up, so too have market rental rates, leaving landlords with little net change in cash flow. 

3. If Rates Go Down, Your Value Will Skyrocket

If you buy at a dip or a low point in the cycle, you’re very likely to experience robust appreciation over a window of 2-5 years. But if the Fed loosens up the rates that they just tightened, you might not even have to wait that long.

 

If rates go back down, demand will explode and your property’s value will skyrocket. You can then sell for a windfall profit or refinance at those lower rates, either to reduce your mortgage payment and increase your cash flow … or pull out cash and buy more property. 

 

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This is the buying opportunity of a lifetime. Don’t sit on the sidelines. MartelTurnkey is here to make it easy for you. We’re hard at work shaking every deal possible out of our carefully-chosen markets, and we have some screaming prices in store for you — which means more cash flow, more appreciation, and more ROI. 

 

If you’re even considering getting involved, don’t be shy — drop us a note! We’ll walk you through the whole process.

 

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Everything You Need to Know About Getting a Mortgage for an Investment Property

We have talked about how powerful it can be to invest in real estate with a mortgage loan for leverage. (Missed the article? Read it here.) 

 

That’s all well and good, but how do you get a mortgage loan on an investment property like a turnkey rental house? Is it like getting a mortgage for your personal residence? Is the process different? Are the requirements different?

 

Here’s what you need to know about the process of getting your first mortgage for a turnkey rental or any 1-4 unit investment property:

1. You Will Probably Get a Conventional Loan

A conventional loan conforms with the underwriting requirements of the Federal mortgage banks, FNMA (“Fannie Mae”) and FHMC (“Freddie Mac”). By conforming to these standards, Fannie and Freddie will insure your mortgage, reducing the risk for the lender and opening you up to the best-available terms.

 

FAQ: Are the interest rate and terms different for an investment property loan? 

Yes. The interest rates for an investment property are higher than for a primary residence. That being said, they are quite uniform across lenders. Our preferred lenders will give you the best rates, subject to your credit and qualifications, of course. Your introduction to them is part of our offering. 

2. Investment Properties Aren’t Eligible for a VA, FHA, or USDA Loan

If Fannie/Freddie loans are available for investors, what about the loan programs insured by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Federal Housing Administration (FHA), or the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)? Those loans have even better terms!

 

Unfortunately, they are also available exclusively to people who intend to use the home as their personal residence. In other words, they are off-limits to a turnkey rental or other investment property.

3. You Will Probably Need to Put 20% Down

Depending on the loan program they qualify for, most qualified buyers only need to put 3-5% down on their personal residence. Sometimes it’s as much as 10%. Sometimes, it’s as little as 0% with a VA loan. 

 

With investment properties, however, the lender will almost certainly require you to put 20% down — and the rates get better when you put more down. Duplexes and multi-family properties require at least 25% down.

 

The rationale is that people will work harder and make more sacrifices to keep their personal residence. In contrast, borrowers are more likely to walk away from an investment property if the going gets tough. After all, they don’t live there.

 

As such, lenders want you to have more skin in the game, a bigger equity cushion, and greater security that if they have to foreclose on the house, it won’t be less valuable than the loan balance.

4. You Will Need Stable Income

Lenders only want to write mortgage loans to borrowers with stable incomes. After all, how else can they expect the borrower to make the payments?

 

What about the rental income from the property… does that count? Not really. On paper, you just need the kind of stable income — wages, salary, investments, pensions, annuities, etc. — that makes you look like a qualified borrower for a loan of this size.

 

FAQ: What if I already have a mortgage on my own home? Do I need double the income to get double the mortgages?

Not necessarily. You just need to check the boxes for a borrower on this kind of loan. As you build a relationship with a lender and a track record of success as a landlord, it will get easier. Your lender will start “rubber-stamping” your turnkey rental loans. 

 

But, at some point — a dozen or more properties in — your lender will max you out at 10 conventional loans. At that point,  it will be time to consider refinancing into a portfolio loan or expanding into commercial real estate to grow your empire. 

5. You Will Probably Need a Higher Credit Score

For a personal residence, mortgage lenders can usually get a mortgage loan done with a credit score as low as 620. With FHA loans, the minimum is even lower — in the 500s. The terms may not be the best, but you can still get the loan.

 

For an investment property, you will probably need a higher credit score. 680 or higher is best. If that’s not you, you may need a co-guarantor with a better credit score.

 

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Need help getting approved for your investment property mortgage loan? We can help! Reach out to MartelTurnkey and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction, including an introduction to our preferred lenders who know our business very well.

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Expenses of Running a Rental Property — a Cheat Sheet

Rental Property Expenses Cheat Sheet

Many people make big mistakes when they try to determine the cash flow potential of a rental property. Basically, they think that if the market rent for the house is higher than the mortgage, they’re in the money.

 

It’s not that easy. If it were, anybody could do it. Lots of houses can be purchased with a mortgage payment lower than the market rent.

 

But as any homeowner can tell you, the expenses don’t stop at the mortgage. If you want positive cash flow for your rental property, your rental collection needs to cover all expenses.

 

Here’s a cheat sheet of expenses to make sure to account for when doing your cash flow analysis for a prospective rental property:

Mortgage Payment

First and foremost, you need to know your monthly mortgage payment. This is usually where people start, but the expense rabbit hole goes much deeper. 

Property Taxes

Property taxes to the county are mandatory; otherwise, the county can foreclose on your property, just like your lender. Property taxes are usually due once or twice a year, but your lender may require you to pay monthly into an “escrow” account to make sure there are funds available to pay those property taxes.

Insurance

Property insurance is usually required by a lender so a fire doesn’t destroy the collateral — at least not without an insurance policy to claim against it. 

 

If the property is in a FEMA-designated flood-risk zone, the lender may require flood insurance, as certain flood damage is not covered by homeowner’s insurance. 

 

Landlords may also want to consider liability insurance, which will protect them in the event of a lawsuit filed by a tenant. The lender may require payments into the escrow fund to cover insurance as well.

Fees and Assessments

Property taxes may not be the only assessment against your property. Condo association or homeowner’s association fees are common offenders. Yes, your HOA can foreclose on you if you don’t pay your HOA fees! The lender may require you to fund HOA fees in your escrow account too — they really don’t want someone else foreclosing your property before they can.

Utilities

As the landlord, you are sometimes responsible for some utilities, like water, electricity, or gas. You may be able to bill these back to the tenant for extra income.

Repairs and Maintenance

Maintenance of the property falls to the owner, not the tenant. Maintenance emergencies can arise out of nowhere and be very costly in terms of contractor costs, handyman costs, and replacement of major appliances like a refrigerator or HVAC. Smart landlords don’t pocket every dollar of excess rent — they usually pay some or even most of it into a “maintenance fund” to cover any big expenses that may arise. 

Contract Services

Contract services are recurring maintenance services that might include gardening and landscaping, trash collection, pest control, and routine maintenance (changing air filters, flushing water heaters, etc.)

Professional Services

Professional services might include tax preparation and legal fees. Legal fees could include contract review, litigation costs, and eviction fees.  

Property Management

If you decide to hire a property manager to free yourself from operational responsibility for the property, you will usually need to pay that manager a percentage of the gross rents collected. Current rates are typically 8% -10% of the gross rents.

 

Vacancy Expense

Few rental properties can maintain 100% occupancy at all times. With proper management you can get close, but it’s usually wise to factor in at least some vacancy expense — time when your property is vacant and not collecting any rent. Cities usually have a prevailing market vacancy rate which you can use to be conservative, but somewhere between 5% and 10% of the gross rent potential is standard.

 

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If you calculate all relevant expenses and come out with a number that is less than the gross rent potential, congratulations! You have identified a property with strong potential for positive cash flow, all the while appreciating in value.

 

Having trouble estimating expenses? Martel Turnkey can help! We have extensive experience making accurate calculations of real estate expenses. Every property in our inventory includes detailed expense projections, which we can back up with evidence. Want to do cash flow analysis the easy way? Reach out to us — we’re glad to help!



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The Fed is Raising Interest Rates … What Now for the Real Estate Market?

We’ve enjoyed bottom-of-the-barrel interest rates for years, but that may be about to change. The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a quarter-point last month, and we expect that to be the first of at least three interest rate hikes to happen this year.

 

So is the party coming to an end? What will happen to the real estate market — for homeowners and investors — in an environment of rising interest rates?

What Happens When the Fed Raises Interest Rates?

First things first, the Fed doesn’t dictate what interest rate your bank can charge you for a mortgage. That’s not the interest rate they control. 

 

What they do control is the Federal Funds Rate, the rate at which FDIC-insured banks are allowed to lend money to each other. 

 

Does this affect the interest rates you pay on your mortgage, car loan, or credit card? It can, but it’s not guaranteed. 

Why Does the Fed Raise Interest Rates?

The Fed may not directly control the interest rates banks pay, but by making it more expensive for them to lend, they are hoping that these interest rates trickle down to consumers in the form of higher interest rates on consumer loans, credit cards, and other loans. 

 

Why? Why raise interest rates at all? Don’t we have enough to worry about in terms of rising costs? Are the Fed just committed to being killjoys and party poopers?

 

Raising the Federal Funds Rate is one of several tools the Fed uses to try and control the supply of money in the economy. If it’s more expensive to lend to each other, banks will likely flood the economy with less financing. If money becomes scarce, it will become more valuable — which means it acts as a counterweight to inflation.

 

Considering inflation has tipped the scales at nearly 8% over the past year, you can see why the Fed would want to take this kind of action. Paying a little more interest may not be fun, but compare that to the recent increases to the price of gas and food, costing the average household over $5,200 extra out of pocket compared to last year.

What Will Happen to the Real Estate Market Now?

So if our historically low interest rate market is coming to an end, what’s next for real estate markets?

 

Actually, the real estate market has done relatively well in environments of rising interest rates, like those we experienced from 2004-2006, as well as 2018. Both of those eras experienced hot real estate markets.

 

The interest rate you pay for a mortgage has less to do with the Federal Funds Rate, and more to do with the demand for mortgage bonds — big bundles of mortgages that banks package together and then sell as an investment. If the demand for these bonds is high, it puts downward pressure on mortgage interest rates.

 

Right now, mortgage bonds are being bought up en masse by the Fed, of all things. Since the pandemic, the Fed has bought over $40 billion worth of mortgage bonds per month in an effort to keep the housing market hot.

 

Ultimately, the real estate market responds to the laws of supply and demand. Inflation and foreign conflicts have made the demand for US real estate high, while the demand for mortgage bonds is likely to slow any coming increases in mortgage rates.

 

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If you want to take advantage of historically low interest rates while they last, Martel Turnkey can help you act fast by putting the right investment property in front of you — rehabbed, rented, and ready to buy.  Lock in for now for 30 years and you will be glad you made this decision.



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Is the 30-Year Mortgage Worth It? (The Answer May Surprise You)

30 Year Mortgage

In the era of bitcoin, everyone wants to be a disruptor — an iconoclast that tears down the old and ushers in the new. That’s how people become billionaires — right?

 

In that kind of entrepreneurial environment, the 30-year mortgage seems like a dinosaur. “Thirty-year fixed rate?! That’s what my grandfather told me to get! And he still refuses to get into an Uber.”

 

Well, sometimes you need to listen to your grandfather. Maybe this will blow your mind, but it shouldn’t. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the best deal in the financial world. If you want to turn a good credit score into generational wealth, it’s your best friend.

 

Why? For three reasons …  

1. The Interest is Absurdly Low

Interest is the cost we pay for credit. If you have ever gone mortgage-shopping, you’re probably used to seeing interest rates in the 4-4.5% range. On a good day, you might see rates below 4%.

 

Compare that to as much 10-20% for personal loans, 5-14%+ for student loans, up to 13% for small business loans from a bank, up to 60% for invoice loans, and as much as 200% for merchant cash advances, according to Value Penguin. And don’t even get us started on credit cards, where interest rates of 20% or higher are the norm.

 

Yes, we’re in a low-interest-rate environment, and that may come to an end one day … but even if mortgage rates go up, other loan rates will too. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will still be among the best deals in town.

2. Your Payment is Locked for a Ridiculous Period

In addition to this low interest rate, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage locks this rate in for a ridiculously long period of time. 

 

How many businesses get to lock in their cost of credit for 30 years and never have it change? With the 30-year mortgage, your debt service repayment never changes, making it easy to budget compared to other forms of business credit.

 

Almost no business can take advantage of 30-year fixed-rate financing … but the owner of the lowliest rental house can. 

3. It Provides Insane Leverage

Return-on-investment allows businesses to grow … but leveraged ROI makes them grow quickly. 

 

In this article, we demonstrate how adding a simple mortgage to a simple rental house increases the ROI from 6.5% to 17.5%, rocketing past the S&P 500 in terms of annualized return. And that’s before you take into account the many tax advantages of real estate ownership.

 

Other assets and businesses can be leveraged, but not with the ease that anyone with credit and income can achieve by walking into their local credit union. 

 

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The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the secret weapon behind the millions of Americans who have become millionaires simply by owning rental property. With terms this good, it’s actually fairly easy to do.

 

Martel Turnkey makes it even easier by providing you with the properties themselves —rehabbed, rented, and ready to go. We can even provide you with detailed profit-and-loss statements so you know exactly how big a mortgage you should get to avoid going into the red. 

 

Want to put this Holy Grail of a business credit solution into practice, fast? Contact Martel Turnkey today!