Buying My First Property in the City

[Nicholas Carelli]

Hello Everyone,

I am 25 years old and I have been living at home saving money since I graduated college in 2013. I am hoping that within the next year I will leap into the real estate market with the purchase of my first property. If I can stay true to my budget I should have about $60,000 to $70,000 saved up by May/June of 2017 and since I am getting up there in age, I would like to move out of my parents house ha. So logically I thought that my first property would be one that I would live in and later rent once I have stayed there for a couple years. I am from Philadelphia so I plan on buying a 2 bedroom condo downtown in the city since that's where I would like to be and having one of my friends live with me and pay rent/split utilities. The condos I have been looking at are ranging from $150,000 to $250,000 in price and I plan to put down 20%, hoping to not spend over $50,000 on a down payment. Philadelphia has been in the midst of this great rejuvenation period, where all of the once bad neighborhoods are being revitalized for young professionals. So I am very confident that renting the space after I leave will not be difficult.  

Do you think that this is a good overall plan to start out? Or should I invest strictly in a rental property and continue to live at home and save? Any insight would much appreciated, thank you in advance for you time!

Nick Carelli

[Derrick Wilson]

Hey whats up nick I'm 39 so I just lol when you said you getting old. But I would buy a 4plex with an fha203k loan that way you will be living in your own house/investment and your tenants would be paying your mortgage, so you should be living for free and making money. The best part is you would have 60-70k by next year but using the fha203k loan you would only need 3% for your down payment and a little extra for your closing cost and remember the 6% seller consession  so you wont be using much of that money for your down payment and would have a very nice reserve fund. Boom!!!