Mortgage Approval Question

[Jacob Camilliere]

**I just posted this in the Mortgage Forum but then realized the Starting Out section may be better**

Hello All,

Recently graduated college and looking to kick off my real estate investing career. I am trying to figure out how much of conventional mortgage I will be able to get approved for. Heres my situation...

I got my first post grad full time job starting in late August in Charlotte, NC. I'll be making 55k/year locked in for two years. The third year I will be making 25%-50% higher base salary plus commissions.

I have 27k in student loans. Repayment, as of right now is $300/month for 10 years but I will most likely pay it off quicker.

My rent is roughly $700/month including utilities, wifi, etc.

I currently have about 15k in liquid assets/cash equivalents and then about 8k in less liquid assets (Mutual funds/Crypto).

My other expenses are very minimal as I am being very frugal for the foreseeable future.

I don't start working until late august but i am trying to start my real estate investing career as quickly as possible. So my question is approximately how much of a mortgage will i be able to be approved for if i am putting 20% down and the property is strictly an investment property? The property will most likely be a duplex/triplex and FHA is out of the question, as I am locked into a one year lease.

Also, any tips on getting started are welcome.

[Colleen Goldstein]

Go get pre-qual’d as that will be the most accurate sense of what you can qualify for and give you estimates on payments. In my opinion, I don’t think you will have a lot of trouble if you stay in a moderate price range ($130-150). Banks will count your schooling as years of work, so despite the lack of long term job expirience it won’t affect you. Is the monthly cost reflective of the new job in Charlotte?

I'd say your best bet given your current situation, but a 3% to 5% FHA Home, rent out rooms and live there and you'll be able to springboard your savings and investing. I wouldn't say it's out of the question as as cpnventional you're looking at 15-20% down + $3-5k in closing costs + reserves for vacancy and misc repairs if it's completely move-in ready. That will obviously take time, so may not be as much of an issue with your 1 year lease if you can line it up right.

Duplexes are hard to find in Charlotte and extremely overpriced for investments so I would opt for a house hack within a SFH for your first purchase.