Bought my first property, need suggestions or tips/id on how to get into real estate.
Most Popular Reply
Quote from @Tony Vue:
Quote from @Caleb Brown:
Did you run numbers beforehand? This should have been analyzed before purchasing where you look at estimated mortgage payment vs market rents. What was your intent when purchasing this house?$2,150 mortgage with $1,300 market rent will never work as a rental. You could try roommates, short or midterm renting but math will be tough. I would look for roommates and after 2 years potentially sell depending on where rents would be. Focus on hustling outside your job to make more $$ too. Having no money will make anything tough.
Yes we ran numbers, my initial intent was to just buy a house for me and the family. Real estate came into mind when I started digging deeper to real estate. I just want to know if I can still get into real estate, this house would be my primary residence for now. I just want to know what would be my opinions if I wanted to get going into real estate.
Thanks.
My question, if you ran the numbers why did you choose to buy this property.
- rent: $1300/month and landlord pays the maintenance and cap ex.
- purchase at $2300/month dropping to $2150/month in the future and you pay the maintenance and cap ex.
You likely could rent for ~50% of your cost to own the property.
>What steps should I go about to start my real estate journey?
to be blunt, one step would be not to purchase a property that will cost you 2 times what it would cost you to rent a similar property. Next step is save for the down payment so that you are not paying 9% for DPA. Another step is to work to improve your credit score/risk so that you can get financing on an owner occupied home for less than 7%.
Do not rush to start RE investing. Be cautious including accurate and conservative underwriting. RE will not always be the optimal investment.
Good luck
19 Replies
- Real Estate Agent · Kansas City · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes2mo
Did you run numbers beforehand? This should have been analyzed before purchasing where you look at estimated mortgage payment vs market rents. What was your intent when purchasing this house?$2,150 mortgage with $1,300 market rent will never work as a rental. You could try roommates, short or midterm renting but math will be tough. I would look for roommates and after 2 years potentially sell depending on where rents would be. Focus on hustling outside your job to make more $$ too. Having no money will make anything tough.
Quote from @Caleb Brown:
Did you run numbers beforehand? This should have been analyzed before purchasing where you look at estimated mortgage payment vs market rents. What was your intent when purchasing this house?$2,150 mortgage with $1,300 market rent will never work as a rental. You could try roommates, short or midterm renting but math will be tough. I would look for roommates and after 2 years potentially sell depending on where rents would be. Focus on hustling outside your job to make more $$ too. Having no money will make anything tough.
Yes we ran numbers, my initial intent was to just buy a house for me and the family. Real estate came into mind when I started digging deeper to real estate. I just want to know if I can still get into real estate, this house would be my primary residence for now. I just want to know what would be my opinions if I wanted to get going into real estate.
Thanks.
Quote from @Tony Vue:
Quote from @Caleb Brown:
Did you run numbers beforehand? This should have been analyzed before purchasing where you look at estimated mortgage payment vs market rents. What was your intent when purchasing this house?$2,150 mortgage with $1,300 market rent will never work as a rental. You could try roommates, short or midterm renting but math will be tough. I would look for roommates and after 2 years potentially sell depending on where rents would be. Focus on hustling outside your job to make more $$ too. Having no money will make anything tough.
Yes we ran numbers, my initial intent was to just buy a house for me and the family. Real estate came into mind when I started digging deeper to real estate. I just want to know if I can still get into real estate, this house would be my primary residence for now. I just want to know what would be my opinions if I wanted to get going into real estate.
Thanks.
My question, if you ran the numbers why did you choose to buy this property.
- rent: $1300/month and landlord pays the maintenance and cap ex.
- purchase at $2300/month dropping to $2150/month in the future and you pay the maintenance and cap ex.
You likely could rent for ~50% of your cost to own the property.
>What steps should I go about to start my real estate journey?
to be blunt, one step would be not to purchase a property that will cost you 2 times what it would cost you to rent a similar property. Next step is save for the down payment so that you are not paying 9% for DPA. Another step is to work to improve your credit score/risk so that you can get financing on an owner occupied home for less than 7%.Do not rush to start RE investing. Be cautious including accurate and conservative underwriting. RE will not always be the optimal investment.
Good luck
Quote from @Dan H.:
Quote from @Tony Vue:
Quote from @Caleb Brown:
Did you run numbers beforehand? This should have been analyzed before purchasing where you look at estimated mortgage payment vs market rents. What was your intent when purchasing this house?$2,150 mortgage with $1,300 market rent will never work as a rental. You could try roommates, short or midterm renting but math will be tough. I would look for roommates and after 2 years potentially sell depending on where rents would be. Focus on hustling outside your job to make more $$ too. Having no money will make anything tough.
Yes we ran numbers, my initial intent was to just buy a house for me and the family. Real estate came into mind when I started digging deeper to real estate. I just want to know if I can still get into real estate, this house would be my primary residence for now. I just want to know what would be my opinions if I wanted to get going into real estate.
Thanks.
My question, if you ran the numbers why did you choose to buy this property.
- rent: $1300/month and landlord pays the maintenance and cap ex.
- purchase at $2300/month dropping to $2150/month in the future and you pay the maintenance and cap ex.
You likely could rent for ~50% of your cost to own the property.
>What steps should I go about to start my real estate journey?
to be blunt, one step would be not to purchase a property that will cost you 2 times what it would cost you to rent a similar property. Next step is save for the down payment so that you are not paying 9% for DPA. Another step is to work to improve your credit score/risk so that you can get financing on an owner occupied home for less than 7%.Do not rush to start RE investing. Be cautious including accurate and conservative underwriting. RE will not always be the optimal investment.
Good luck
My plans was just to buy a house to live, I didn't think of turning it into a rental until after the fact. I just wanted to know what my opinions would be if I do decide to turn it into a rental in the future.
But thanks for being blunt and honest, I take this as a lesson learned.
- 2moArman AhmedPro MemberReal Estate Agent · Columbus Cleveland Dayton, OH · Member since 2024 · 2k+ posts · 966 votes
Quote from @Tony Vue:
Bought my first property for 250k, my monthly payment is 2300. I have A DPA loan with my mortgage. DPA is at 9% interest and my mortgage it's self is at 7%. After my DPA is paid off, mortgage will drop to 2150 a month. My property is a a small 1200 sq feet ranch style home with 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 2 car garage. Even if I hurry up and pay off the DPA which is a total of 12,500 and have the mortgage go from 2300 down to 2150, I can not rent it out as is on current rent market, which around my area is about 1300 a month for a 3 bedroom. So my question if I make this into my primary residence for now until I refinance, What steps should I go about to start my real estate journey? Am I stuck until I can refinance my house? Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm new at this and just starting off with no money. I work a 9 to 5 job and want to be financially free.
Thanks.
I wouldn’t rush to refinance or try to force this house into a rental if the numbers don’t work. You’re not stuck, though. Use the next year or two to build cash reserves, improve your credit, learn underwriting, and start networking with investors and lenders. When you’re ready for the next property, you can house hack again or look at other Midwest markets where the purchase price and rent-to-price ratio may give you a much better shot at positive cash flow. The first property doesn’t have to be a home run; it can just be the foundation for the next one.
- 2moWale LawalBusiness MemberReal Estate Broker · Houston | Dallas | Austin, TX · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
This is not a dead end, consider this place to be your starting point and concentrate on saving money, establishing good credit and building up equity, as opposed to forcing this into a rent where you lose money in the range of $800+ monthly. Before doing the refinancing process, discuss with your lender how you are working under DPA terms and what will be your next steps; at the same time, learn deal analysis and seek your next property.
Good luck!
NETWORTH BUILDERS5236 ReviewsQuote from @Wale Lawal:
This is not a dead end, consider this place to be your starting point and concentrate on saving money, establishing good credit and building up equity, as opposed to forcing this into a rent where you lose money in the range of $800+ monthly. Before doing the refinancing process, discuss with your lender how you are working under DPA terms and what will be your next steps; at the same time, learn deal analysis and seek your next property.
Good luck!
Thanks, been so busy trying to close this deal. Sorry for the late reply.
- 2moAaron ZimmermanBusiness MemberAccountant · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
I would probably consider selling this place and house hack another place in your area. Build up savings as much as you can in the interim and don't rush in too quick.
Brick House CPAs53 Reviews - Investor · Pacific Northwest · Member since 2026 · 538 posts · 313 votes2mo
I don’t think you’re stuck at all. I think the mistake would be trying to force the house you bought for your family into becoming an investment just because you’ve now gotten interested in real estate.
At $1,300 market rent against a $2,150–$2,300 payment, this house is nowhere close to being a conventional rental today. And that's before vacancy, repairs, CapEx, insurance changes, management, etc. A refinance would have to change the payment dramatically, not just shave a couple hundred bucks off, before that math becomes interesting.
I’d treat this house as what you originally bought it to be: your home.
Then I’d use it to improve your position for the next deal.
The thing I would be especially careful about is rushing to throw $12,500 at the DPA just to save $150/month. Paying off 9% debt may ultimately make sense, but if you’re starting with very little cash, liquidity matters too. A homeowner with no reserves and a paid-off DPA can be in a worse position than a homeowner with the DPA and $10K sitting in the bank when the furnace dies.
Before doing anything with that loan, I’d read the actual DPA documents and talk to the servicer. Some assistance programs have specific occupancy, repayment, refinance, sale, or forgiveness provisions. You want to understand those before deciding the DPA is simply a 9% loan that should be attacked as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, start underwriting properties.
Not someday. Now.
Pull duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, small houses, whatever fits the strategy you think you want. Run the financing. Run realistic rents. Add vacancy, repairs, taxes, insurance and reserves. Then keep doing it until you can look at a listing and know pretty quickly why it does or doesn’t work.
You’ve already learned one useful lesson from this house: purchase price by itself doesn’t tell you whether something is an investment.
That lesson is worth something.
And I wouldn’t sell a perfectly good family home just because it fails a rental test it was never purchased to pass.
Your first real estate investment does not have to be the first piece of real estate you own.
Use this house to stabilize your family, build savings, improve your income and credit, learn the numbers, and make the next purchase intentionally as an investment.
That’s not being stuck.
That’s getting ready.
- Thank you so much, this is such a big step for me and it's been making me nervous. Every word of encouragement/ advice means a lot. Been so busy with appraisal and inspection, trying to close the deal that I haven't had time to reply back.
Quote from @Michael Eskenasy:
I don’t think you’re stuck at all. I think the mistake would be trying to force the house you bought for your family into becoming an investment just because you’ve now gotten interested in real estate.
At $1,300 market rent against a $2,150–$2,300 payment, this house is nowhere close to being a conventional rental today. And that's before vacancy, repairs, CapEx, insurance changes, management, etc. A refinance would have to change the payment dramatically, not just shave a couple hundred bucks off, before that math becomes interesting.
I’d treat this house as what you originally bought it to be: your home.
Then I’d use it to improve your position for the next deal.
The thing I would be especially careful about is rushing to throw $12,500 at the DPA just to save $150/month. Paying off 9% debt may ultimately make sense, but if you’re starting with very little cash, liquidity matters too. A homeowner with no reserves and a paid-off DPA can be in a worse position than a homeowner with the DPA and $10K sitting in the bank when the furnace dies.
Before doing anything with that loan, I’d read the actual DPA documents and talk to the servicer. Some assistance programs have specific occupancy, repayment, refinance, sale, or forgiveness provisions. You want to understand those before deciding the DPA is simply a 9% loan that should be attacked as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, start underwriting properties.
Not someday. Now.
Pull duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, small houses, whatever fits the strategy you think you want. Run the financing. Run realistic rents. Add vacancy, repairs, taxes, insurance and reserves. Then keep doing it until you can look at a listing and know pretty quickly why it does or doesn’t work.
You’ve already learned one useful lesson from this house: purchase price by itself doesn’t tell you whether something is an investment.
That lesson is worth something.
And I wouldn’t sell a perfectly good family home just because it fails a rental test it was never purchased to pass.
Your first real estate investment does not have to be the first piece of real estate you own.
Use this house to stabilize your family, build savings, improve your income and credit, learn the numbers, and make the next purchase intentionally as an investment.
That’s not being stuck.
That’s getting ready.
- Investor · Pacific Northwest · Member since 2026 · 538 posts · 313 votes2mo
No worries Tony, what do you need help with right now? What spot in your vision is currently missing?
Quote from @Michael Eskenasy:
No worries Tony, what do you need help with right now? What spot in your vision is currently missing?
My vision is living at my first property for now and then when ready, see what I can do to achieve my next property and hopefully use that to start my real estate journey. I know I'm thinking way ahead of myself but I like to plan things ahead and set a path to follow.
- Investor · Pacific Northwest · Member since 2026 · 538 posts · 313 votes2mo
Then let's do it. Send me what you want to do, you're planning ahead...let's go
Quote from @Michael Eskenasy:
Then let's do it. Send me what you want to do, you're planning ahead...let's go
Will do, when I have the time to actually sit and plan things out, I'll let you know. Thanks again.
- 2moDan HandfordPro MemberInvestor · Lexington, SC · Member since 2018 · 779 posts · 501 votes
Tony, the large gap between your payment and market rent means I would not rush to turn this particular house into a rental. Refinancing may reduce the payment eventually, but it will not necessarily close a gap of several hundred dollars before repairs, vacancy, and management. For now, using it as your primary residence, building cash reserves, learning the local rental market, and increasing income may be the strongest next step. Your first property does not have to become your first rental. What matters is avoiding a forced strategy that creates a monthly cash drain. Have you calculated the full rental result including taxes, insurance, repairs, vacancy, and utilities?
- 2moDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 13k+ posts · 9k+ votes
Define family please!
Wife? Kids?
This will affect your living arrangement flexibility.
Curious as to why you have no savings?
Without a LOT of experience, it's VERY difficult to invest in real estate with little or no money.
Highly recommend creating a budget and sticking to it, to build savings.In the meantime, start becoming an expert on the real estate around you.
If a fantastic deal popped up tomorrow, how would you even know it was a deal?
Logical Property Management4.9469 Reviews - 2moDiana KhanPro MemberAttorney · 10451 Mill Run Cir #755 Owings Mills, MD 21117 · Member since 2024 · 658 posts · 232 votes
@Tony Vue , one thing I’d do is use this first home as a learning tool while you live in it. Keep track of what owning it actually costs you each month, including the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, and the little expenses you did not expect.
After a few months, compare those real numbers with what you thought the home would cost before you bought it. That experience can help you look at your next property very differently and build a much better buy box before making another offer.
You do not have to turn this house into a rental for it to teach you something valuable about investing. Happy to connect and follow your journey.
Quote from @Diana Khan:
@Tony Vue , one thing I’d do is use this first home as a learning tool while you live in it. Keep track of what owning it actually costs you each month, including the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, and the little expenses you did not expect.
After a few months, compare those real numbers with what you thought the home would cost before you bought it. That experience can help you look at your next property very differently and build a much better buy box before making another offer.
You do not have to turn this house into a rental for it to teach you something valuable about investing. Happy to connect and follow your journey.
Thank you so much, this took some weight off my shoulders as it's our first time and it's a very big step. I don't really have anyone to turn to for advice.
thanks again.
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