How much cash should I have?

Question

So I am new and getting into real estate. I have 10k saved up to put towards real estate along with 20k for my own personnel life emergency funds. I'm looking between the 60k-100k but have not gotten myself actually qualified. I know I don't have enough money to pull a HELOC or Equity Loan from my primary residence (loan is 488k and worth 590k). What would you all recommend? Is that enough saved up? Should I hold off and save more? Should i try to pull a small 15-20k personal loan (might effect my prequal though)? As of now, FHA, HELOC, Equity Loan, and Househacking are not options for me.

Sarah West · Answer

@Jarrett Mel Williams more cash the better, but 20K for downpayment and closing costs might be a good target to go after. I recommend working with a lender, credit union, bank whatever to see what you could prequalify for and also understand what their loan minimum is. For example if you are looking at 60K houses and your lender requires 20% down, the actual loan would be for 48K and some establishments won't do that.

John Warren · Answer

@Jarrett Mel Williams focus on saving money and focus on other ways you can access capital. Can you do a cash out refinance on your home? Maybe a HELOC? What about a 401k loan? 10k isn't enough to do much damage unless you are house hacking, and you never want to be stretched to the point of breaking as an investor.