Buying a house without living in it

[Eric Gross]

Hi BiggerPockets, I am looking for my first investment property. I have found multiple deals with my realtor but he has shot down owner financing as a way to get the deals. Instead he referred me to his lender who seemed shady and untrustworthy. My goal is to get my first buy and hold and learn from this first property. I don’t want to have to live in it and I was wondering if there were other conventional ways to get financing. My fiancé and I both have good credit and steady jobs. Any advice would be helpful. Thank you!

[Clayton Danly]

Hey Eric congratulations on getting into real estate investment! 

You're right, there are some shady lenders out there. If you're worried about credibility, best place to find quality lenders is the list of Hard Money Lenders under the network tab on Bigger Pockets. There are 27 featured lenders, all specializing in a different niche of the industry. If you find a lender through another source, make sure the company has an NMLS ID. 

While you should be able to get a conventional loan considering your credit and steady jobs, you may run into problems because of your low experience level. Hard Money Lenders could be worth looking into as they require far less paperwork to qualify you for a real estate investment loan.