Buy Real Estate Now, Refinance Later? Investment Property Financing Strategies Explained

Andrew Kunisawa (00:00)
I would say that the biggest thing that people are doing right now is that they’re waiting. They’re trying to play a waiting game like they’re trying to time the market. When are the prices going to go down enough that I can feel confident and get in? when are interest rates gonna drop so I can buy at the time when the rates are the lowest? And that’s really that concept is really inhibiting or really holding a lot of people back because if you wait.

For that. Number one, you’re probably not smart enough to time the market right. There’s very few people that can do that.

Joseph Crooms (02:09)
Hey everyone. Welcome to Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. Today I am your host, Joseph Crooms. thank you for being here. I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with.

His name is Andrew Kunisawa. and I hope I pronounced it right. But he will correct me. So Andrew, did I get the first and last name not correct? And if not, please give your full name and say hello.

Andrew Kunisawa (02:39)
You got the first name right, Andrew. Kunisawa It looks harder than it really is.

Joseph Crooms (02:43)
It really is. Okay, got you. Andrew, I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for agreeing to be on our show. I think our listeners are going to take away something from how you’re approaching the business. your business is

Accelerated Lending Group. All right. So let me ask you this first. Why is it Accelerated Lending Group? How is it that you accelerate and help clients quick?

Andrew Kunisawa (03:12)
The name was born because a lot of traditional banks operate in a different way. they have to go through loan committees, they have to have a longer process. As a mortgage broker, we’re able to operate much quicker. Closing deals in two to three weeks is the norm, not the exception. So that’s where Accelerated Lending Group came from.

Joseph Crooms (03:37)
And how did that group come about? I mean, was it a group thing or was it your brainstorm?

Andrew Kunisawa (03:47)
so I’m not the broker. I’m one of the loan officers in the company, but the broker and I started lending together back in the nineties and we’ve been friends for a long time. when he decided to open up Accelerated Lending Group back in 2017, we had I had stepped away from lending for a period of time and he called me and said it’s time to come back home and I’m forming a new company and let’s make things happen and that’s

That’s where I’ve been.

Joseph Crooms (04:18)
What year did that happen in? 2017 or

Andrew Kunisawa (04:21)
Twenty

seven yeah, twenty seventeen.

Joseph Crooms (04:23)
Twenty seventeen. So how is your volume or book of business in the last five years? you brought you back home. W what would you how what is your volume? What is your book of business say from the last five years to now?

Andrew Kunisawa (04:39)
Starting off was in the twenty seventeen timeframe was really difficult to get things started. when COVID hit, obviously the we were all a little bit apprehensive of about what was gonna happen, but ended up having my best career years during that COVID period from 2020 through 2022, 2023. and then back down to more of a normal range. For me, I’m not a huge producer.

usually in the ten to fifteen million dollar range for me is where I’m at. so I’m not again, I’m not a huge producer, but I have been around the block for a long time.

Joseph Crooms (06:10)
Let me ask you this question. a lot of times I heard operators say COVID hurt. It sounds to me you’re saying that was one of my best periods of time. Why?

Andrew Kunisawa (06:25)
for us, interest rates were the lowest that they’ve been in our lifetime and really ever. And so it spawned not only the refinance market, but also the purchase market. And the hardest thing was I was telling people, I was kind of screaming from the rooftops, you have to buy now. And people continued to be afraid that the market was gonna crash, and so they sat on the sidelines.

sometimes 2020, 2021, they sat on the sidelines. And while houses were appreciating, they were losing out. And so I tried to continue to educate people. And then finally people started realizing, yeah, I can actually get a house. The bubble there’s not going to be a bubble that’s going to burst. And they made some of them made hundreds of thousands of dollars in those two to three year period.

Joseph Crooms (07:20)
How did you market to those people? I mean, I yeah, I know they’re sitting home, but how did you convince them or persuade them to say now is the time?

Andrew Kunisawa (07:33)
A couple of things that I do is I’m in person at different events, charity events, city events, community events, and I couple that with social media marketing. I haven’t done paid advertisement, I do it all organically, I do everything myself. but I try to position myself as someone who’s in the community, as a local expert, someone who knows my area.

someone who is dependable, relatable, and I just try to bring that information through people that way. And I say, especially with the realtor contacts that I have, getting to know the realtors, liking their posts, sharing their posts, and then when I meet them in person, they’ve already kind of got to know me through social media, and that makes our conversations a lot easier.

Joseph Crooms (08:32)
Andrew, during COVID, it seemed like you really capitalized on that.

What do you say, what would you say that after COVID, where did it land you at as far as in the ears of your peers, real estate brokers? Where was your name at?

Andrew Kunisawa (08:58)
I would say that people understood what I was doing and they really appreciated the efforts that I would I was taking. While during that time there was a lot of refinancing going on. those were the ones everybody wanted a two percent rate or you know, one and a half percent rate, whatever. Everybody wanted that. And sometimes people that were buying and selling homes, they kind of got pushed to the back burner like, I’m too busy refinancing houses. But I was a little bit different and I pushed

The purchasing as the main thing. That’s the most important because getting people into houses long term is really the key. So I really focused all of my realtor partners. I always told them I’m never too busy for you. When you’re working, I’m working, whether it’s in the evenings, on the weekends. So I made myself much more accessible for people to understand how important the time was that they were buying and selling and refinancing in.

Joseph Crooms (10:32)
Did your market footprint did it expand or what markets are you operating in?

Andrew Kunisawa (10:39)
I live in Ventura County, so that’s primarily where I advertise as far as being out and about, but I can do owner-occupied loans all over the state of California. And then for investor loans, I can do those over almost all 50 states.

Joseph Crooms (10:59)
How do you position yourself in all fifty states?

Andrew Kunisawa (11:06)
So, what I’m trying to do at the present time is not necessarily market in those other states, but market in my area, especially for younger people, to be able to buy homes in other areas that are more affordable. Where I live, the average price house is like $850,000. And to buy an investment property, that’s a minimum down payment of 20%. So

Let’s just use round numbers. 800,000, 20% is $160,000. A lot of people coming into the market don’t have that much money. But conversely, there’s a ton of people that have $40,000, $50,000 that they’ve saved up that they’re able to put into an investment property. And those are other places, other states where the property values are maybe buying a $100,000 house or an $80,000 house.

Now they’re able to get into these properties and make cash flow for them. Where if they try to buy a property here where I live, it’s a lot harder to buy to make cash flow.

Joseph Crooms (12:11)
What’s been the key to keeping your machine running smoothly?

Andrew Kunisawa (12:15)
It’s consistently engaging with people on the social media and in person and constantly being in front of people. That’s the big thing.

Joseph Crooms (12:28)
Now that’s not something that like everybody’s really good at or conscientious of, but building relationships is really key. What relationships have you found that are more pertinent to your market and your venture and that you started to develop it?

Andrew Kunisawa (12:53)
I view real estate relationships very much like you’re saying. Relationships are the key to what my success is. And if I can make a re a if I can make an individual successful, then that’s a relationship that I know that I’m gonna have for a long time. So whether that’s a real estate agent or a borrower, having that having that connection with them goes beyond just, hey, I’m doing a loan for you. Hey, I’m doing a transaction for you.

It’s me supporting them. It’s me being accessible to them so that they can get the most out of everything that they have. And I can kind of look at what they’re trying to do, structure those transactions around that, around their short term and their long term goals.

Joseph Crooms (13:40)
Andrew, is most of your business is it commercial or is it residential or both?

Andrew Kunisawa (13:45)
It’s probably ninety five percent residential.

Joseph Crooms (13:51)
So tell me, what is the difference between a borrower privately and a real estate broker coming to the table saying, I guess I need you to help me get a loan? What’s how is that really? How what is the different conversation that you have with?

Andrew Kunisawa (14:13)
Generally a real estate investor is already someone seasoned. They understand what the market means. So they don’t necessarily need as much education. That being said, some of them don’t understand what DSCR means. that stands for debt service coverage ratio, which means if your mortgage, if your rents pay your mortgage, you get the loan. And so

That’s a concept that not everybody understands. And we even have loans for if your mortgage, if your leases don’t pay, don’t cover the mortgage payment, you can still get the loan under that program. So that’s an education that most first-time investors, the most people coming in, they need a lot of that information where most seasoned investors already understand.

Joseph Crooms (15:47)
I think you said that if their rent can pay the mortgage, you’ll get the loan, right? So what size residential areas do are you mostly investing in?

Andrew Kunisawa (15:59)
Most of the loans that I do are one to four units.

Joseph Crooms (16:02)
one to four units. so is the one bedroom or the one apartment or the one house, it could be a sec it normally is a secondary investment for the for the person.

Andrew Kunisawa (16:14)
It has to be an investment property where they don’t live in it. So you could have a single family residence or you could have a duplex, a triplex, a four-plex. And as long as the rents from those units, let’s say, for example, your rents are twenty five hundred dollars a month for a two-bedroom place, and you’ve got four of them, that’s ten thousand dollars. As long as your mortgage, including your taxes and your insurance, is less than ten thousand dollars.

you’re gonna qualify for that loan as long as your credit scores are good and you have enough reserves in the bank to cover, I believe it’s six months of those mortgage payments.

Joseph Crooms (16:56)
What is the credit score needed?

Andrew Kunisawa (16:59)
Minimum credit score for almost all of these programs is 680. Some of them will go down a little bit lower, but as you go lower in the credit scores, pricing gets a little bit worse. And sometimes loan to value will drop a little bit.

Joseph Crooms (17:14)
Do you also help veterans?

Andrew Kunisawa (17:17)
Absolutely. Veterans are the VA loans are only for owner-occupied, but as a veteran, you can also buy rental properties too, but just not under the VA loan.

Joseph Crooms (17:33)
So, I know a question that I’m very interested in learning about, and I’m pretty sure our listeners, now every operator knows has had a moment where things got real. maybe a deal that went sideways. Do you mind sharing one of those moments with us?

Andrew Kunisawa (17:50)
Absolutely. And any loan officer that has been around, if you haven’t had a deal go sideways, then you you’re not trying hard enough. That’s all I’m gonna say. So I I had I had a loan. I know I will say this. I have never ever lost a earnest money deposit in a transaction. Never. usually when I do a loan, I’ve done enough research on the borrower and the deal to know that it’s a good deal.

But that being said, there’s been some pretty bumpy times when a lender maybe is not responding as good as they should, and it’s creating time drag on the deal. And as as all investors know, the longer a deal takes, the more likely it is to fall apart. In an in real estate investing, especially in investor type loans, you want to get in and you want to get out of the deal. That’s the key. And so the longer things go.

the worse it is. And I had one particular one where the lender was dragging his feet and not getting all of the not getting the things that needed to go out like a closing disclosure and the loan docs. They weren’t getting them out in a timely fashion. And it drug the loan past 30 days. It drove it drug the loan out to 37 days in closing. And for me, it made me look really bad because I don’t like missing a deadline.

And it puts everybody in a bad spot because any kind of a real estate transaction, a lot of times there’s not just you know the seller and the buyer. Sometimes that seller is making an offer on another property and is dependent on the sale of the one that they’re doing. So it can really be a ripple effect and stressful. But by maintaining good communication with all sides, not just the borrower, but with the realtors involved, both the listing and the buying agent, it helps them to understand.

that we were doing what we had to do. But it was also a learning curve for me that some lenders are just not the best. They may have the lowest rate, but maybe not the best for each particular loan.

Joseph Crooms (20:00)
Andrew, let me ask you question. What does composure mean for you when you’re in a situation mean in like that?

Andrew Kunisawa (20:07)
That’s a huge thing because as I mentioned, there’s going to be rough spots in every loan. And I always tell people this up front. There’s going to be some bumps along the road in the road, but I’m your fixer. I’m the one who’s going to make sure the deal gets structured. I’m going to make sure that the deal closes because I’m a hundred percent confident that it’s a good deal. So when problems come up, I’m going to communicate with you. I’m going to tell you what’s happening. And then I’m going to tell you what the solution is going to be that we’re going to do.

And that goes a huge, that goes a long way with both the borrowers and their real estate agents. Because some loan officers, when there’s a problem, they’ll like to hide and they’ll they won’t answer their phones. But all agents and all borrowers know that when they call me, I’m picking up the phone.

Joseph Crooms (20:54)
Thank you for sharing it, Andrew. So that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about enough. It’s honestly what separates the folks who just dabble from the ones who stay in the game for the long term. Let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving next, or what’s the next real goal?

Andrew Kunisawa (21:14)
The most I think the thing that I’m really looking at right now is trying to help young people like I mentioned getting into investor loans in other states. so I’ve set up I’ve set up kind of a program to help them see how to use Section 8 housing, applicants from Section 8 housing to put into their rentals, and that’s a guaranteed income for them. The money just pays, they pay like a slot.

And so when you have the right property manager screening your applicants, you have the right the right company that’s making sure that the property is in good shape, and the and having the right area that you’re buying in. So not only are you getting the maximum amount from Section 8, but also you’re having properties that are ascending in value, not just being stagnant. That’s really a key for success. And that’s what I’m

Most excited about trying to help, especially some of the, you know, some of the younger people looking to get into the market that can’t afford maybe in the area that I live, but are looking to try to get into real estate.

Joseph Crooms (22:23)
Coming to a close, but I think that our listeners are gonna really benefit from this question. Are you also building sort of clandestine teams or like with other people, like other key people that can help your people that you gave loans to? Like you mentioned property management.

Andrew Kunisawa (22:46)
Absolutely. I have one partner that works for another mortgage company and she calls me her human Rolodex because I always have a person to connect if she needs it, whether it’s a a property manager, electrician, a a painter, whatever it is, and even lenders in other states, if it’s something that I can’t do.

I have she says, I have never been stumped in anything that she’s ever asked me. And so that’s again, going back to building relationships. I only do that with people that I know. I don’t just say, hey, I found this person on the internet and you can call them. I don’t do that. It’s only the people that I have some sort of connection with that I can trust and that I can say, Hey, this is my person here, call them and they will take care of you like I take care of you.

Joseph Crooms (23:45)
Thank you. listen, we’re about to wrap up. Is there any subject matter that you want to cover briefly that you think that we haven’t covered?

Andrew Kunisawa (23:57)
I would say that the biggest thing that people are doing right now is that they’re waiting. They’re trying to play a waiting game like they’re trying to time the market. When are the prices going to go down enough that I can feel confident and get in? when are interest rates gonna drop so I can buy at the time when the rates are the lowest? And that’s really that concept is really inhibiting or really holding a lot of people back because if you wait.

For that. Number one, you’re probably not smart enough to time the market right. There’s very few people that can do that.

Even the best economists can’t do that. And so you’re probably going to miss out on deals that are happening right now. The second part is if you’re waiting for interest rates to drop, they may not drop. They may go up a little bit. And like we’ve seen in the last year or so, that we thought rates were going to drop, but guess what? They didn’t drop. So buying now.

if you can afford the property, buy now and you’re gonna see steady appreciation you’re in the property, you’re gonna see being able to get your foot in the door and start earning equity. And then at some point, sure, rates are gonna drop. We know that they that’s what happens. Rates go up, rates go down. At some point you’re gonna have an opportunity to refinance your loan to a lower rate, but getting in now is what’s more important.

The deal now is what you have to focus on. And then you can look l long term at your success.

Joseph Crooms (25:30)
Thank you so much, Andrew, for sharing that. and thank you for having a vision to move out of California into all the states. And I see how you’re doing that. So you can’t fake that. Relationships are everything in this space. And thank you for sharing your experience, especially in building relationships and and how your network has grown. All right, before we wrap up, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing.

What’s the best way to reach you? And please repeat yourself you can say it twice.

Andrew Kunisawa (26:06)
my cell phone is always on. Andrew Kunisawa Accelerated Lending Group 805-218-9946. You can send me messages on my socials, Instagram, you can follow me, @thekunis T-H-E-K-U-N-I-S, is my Instagram name, or my name Andrew Kunisawa on Facebook. You can find me there.

And always glad to connect, always and I really I can’t emphasize this enough. I always love helping people to achieve their dreams and make their dreams come true. I feel like there was a famous sales, salesperson, Zig Ziglar, and he said, if you make other people successful, you’ll be successful. And I feel that very much. It create it brings me the best.

Feeling when I can see somebody else being successful that I’ve helped along the way.

Joseph Crooms (27:04)
Well, thank you so much, Andrew.

Perfect. Well listen, I appreciate

Andrew Kunisawa (27:08)
Appreciate Joseph.

Joseph Crooms (27:09)
Yes. thank you so being here. I appreciate your time, your story, your exploring and taking others with you into other states and other possibilities. Thank you for sharing that. we need more people in the space who are doing things the right way. Thanks again, Andrew, for being here.