Financing a multi-family

[Victor Tofilski]

Hi, I'm 20 years old and I'm currently living with my parents. I was looking into buying a duplex and living in one side and renting out the other. I was approved for a FHA loan and I have about 20k saved up but that's still not nearly enough for anything in my area. Anyone have any idea how I can get more money or where I can invest it in the meantime, thanks.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Victor Tofilski:

Hi, I'm 20 years old and I'm currently living with my parents. I was looking into buying a duplex and living in one side and renting out the other. I was approved for a FHA loan and I have about 20k saved up but that's still not nearly enough for anything in my area. Anyone have any idea how I can get more money or where I can invest it in the meantime, thanks.

Housing isn't going to get any cheaper. Figure out how to increase your income and set more aside. Get a second job at McDonalds for $15 an hour. Work 20 hours a week and save it all while continuing to save like you've currently done. You could double your savings in under ten months. Rent your car using Turo and ride a bike to work. Sell your car and ride a bike. If you have extra space where you're currently living, rent it out as storage. Deliver food for DoorDash or drive for Lyft/Uber. Stop eating out, drinking, smoking, drinking $5 lattes, or whatever is wasting your money and tighten your budget. Buy items on classifieds for cheap and resell them for a profit. 

You can't do what everyone else does and expect to get ahead. Live like no one else today so you can live like no one else tomorrow. An employee of mine picked up a second job waiting tables for two five-hour shifts on the weekends and she got on a budget. She made about $1,000 a month as a waitress and saved enough in one year for a down payment on her first home, a simple townhouse. She was single, so she rented out the basement for extra income and kept waiting tables to save more. It's been six years and she now has a large single-family home on land (she covers the mortgage by renting out rooms), a nice fourplex, a nice office building (she occupies a large office and rents out other spaces), and a brand-new Ford F150. Six years ago she was in an apartment with a net worth of about $20,000. Today she is creeping up on $1 million in net worth and her income is probably 4x what it was working for me.

Nobody controls your future but you.