(New) New Member Introduction, Eastern North Carolina -Ideas for next step?
Hello All,
Been a member for almost a year, have read for countless hours, here at BP and also in my ever-growing RE library! I'm ready to DO something! I wanted to lay out some simple facts and ideas and see if some of the more experienced members can help me proceed efficiently.
About me: Mid 30's, employed, good credit, no debt (except current home, has ~30k in equity). I know my local market pretty well, and am comfortable with construction. Single, but soon to be engaged - shhhh...don't tell her, it's a surprise! She is finishing up Nursing school, will be employed full-time by next summer, also has good credit, very small amount of debt, never owned a home.
We live together in a 4br home that I built 5 years ago. We also have 2 rommmate "tenants" that help significantly with the mortgage. Most of my cash reserves are tied up in the house, so I will sell in order to fund the investment property(s). I was planning to wait until next spring (when she is finishing school) to sell the house, unless one or more of the roommates were to move out, in which time we will take that opportunity to list it sooner.
My plan: Acquire rental units to buy and hold, am open to MFR or SFR that will cash flow so I can re-invest and exponentially grow my portfolio longterm. Short-term, I'm trying to find a strategy that will help me acquire multiple properties relatively quickly so they can start working for us asap! We are planning to live in one of the properties as O/O to help with financing options. I would gladly live in one property that needed rehab while the work was being done, then rent and move to the next one, etc. My point here is that we are flexible and determined to do whatever makes the most sense.
Help me: Strategically figure out how to leverage, say $40k into our first few properties - I am familiar with tons of creative financing options but I'm interested specifically in conventional financing using our good credit to get started. I'm thinking that acquiring and managing our first few rentals (building experience and cash flow) will serve as an additional asset for the second wave of acquisitions (that may require more creative financing).
I am committed to getting involved on the forums and asking some of the questions that keep me up at night, so here's the first one:
Is there any benefit to us NOT being married when we start buying? For example, could she get better financing as a first time buyer for "her" property, and I do the same with "my" property purchase? Or is there not any difference if we're married? She is actually OK with purchasing something completely in her name/credit etc if that will help us longterm.
I've got a lot more questions to ask, but this is good to start. Who knows, maybe someone else was wondering the same thing?
Thanks in advance!