23 Year old Beginner Real Estate Investor with Many Questions

23 Year old Beginner Real Estate Investor with Many Questions

Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 22 posts · 5 votes

First time posting here.

TLDR: I am a new RE investor and have questions regarding long term wealth generation through RE. My Background: I am 23-year-old recent college graduate looking to purchase my first home/investment property in the greater Denver area. I work at a large engineering firm making around $64,000/year; I’ve saved up for a couple of years now and have around 40k in savings. I am single with no debt and am looking for a 4bdrm property at around the 300k price point ($330,000 max). My credit score is around 750, and I got pre-approved for 330K at 4.5% back in May. I can comfortably save 20k a year (with a 4k fun budget), and I plan to invest all of that into RE or the market.   My Plan: Use a 5% down conventional loan to purchase the property and rent out the other 3 rooms while I live in the 4th. I will live in it for as long as I need to until I can re-qualify for a second mortgage and move into that. Again, renting out the other 3 rooms while converting the first home into a full time rental. My aim is for the other 3 tenants to being paying most of the mortgage down, I do not expect to cash flow, but I’ll hopefully be living close to rent free. I believe I will need to live in the first property for at least a year under the 5% down owner-occupied loan rules, but I am not sure (someone chime in if they know). I will repeat this process until I’ve grown a sizable real estate portfolio (4-5 homes), then I hope to move into investing in larger/higher unit properties.
  My questions/concerns:
1. First, being a complete beginner, I’m sure I’m overlooking and missing things, do any of you see any problems or hang-ups with my plan? What would you do differently if you were in my shoes? Constructive, brutally honest criticism encouraged.
2. I’ve been reading a lot about rolling up closing costs, as well as costs of new furniture into my mortgage. What are the pros and cons to this. I will most likely need to completely furnish this house, I expect that to be around 3-4k. Would I still be able to depreciate those items?
3. From reading about the new tax laws, it looks like RE as become less beneficial from a tax itemizing standpoint, at least for beginners like me. Are there any benefits I am overlooking? The only one I see is that I can now depreciate items with a less than 20-year lifespan by 100%. I plan to use this aggressively to purchase new things, but still at my price point its making it much harder to justify itemizing over taking the standard deduction. Being very generous here are my tax write off #s. I plan to be very aggressive. ($6500 deprecations on ¾ of a 225,000) + ($2200 in property taxes. utilities and repairs) + ($1000 in depreciation of furniture/TV/Appliances) + ($2000 in mortgage interest) ($2500 state and local taxes.) That only equals $14,200, it’s hard to justify taking that over the standard deduction of $12,000 especially because I’ll have to pay back my deprecation eventually (I plan to do 1031 probably, but still ill have to pay it in the future).
4. Any tips for someone in my position? Small hacks that can help my returns? I am big into budgeting/planning/numbers and am trying to track my expected expenses as accurately as possible I’m at a point in my life where I’m willing and excited to expend the extra energy to maximize my potential for long term wealth. This is the best plan I’ve come up with.
Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!
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Most Popular Reply

Raleigh, NC · Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 8 votes
8y

Welcome, Cameron. I'm 21 and currently a senior in college, so I can't offer much advice but I'll be interested to see how you start investing and the advice you'll receive from others.

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  • Raleigh, NC · Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 8 votes
    8y

    Welcome, Cameron. I'm 21 and currently a senior in college, so I can't offer much advice but I'll be interested to see how you start investing and the advice you'll receive from others.

  • Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    I’m 32 and just learning we are closing on my wife’s business and then with the extra money I plan on buying rental and doing a little burrr maybe
  • Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    8y
    Welcome aboard. I’m 24, own several rentals out of state, and started about 2 years ago. My main topics I can help you with are turnkey investing, out of state and so on. I’m familiar with dfw, Raleigh, etc having lived there.
  • Seth WilcockPro Member
    Lender · Nashville, IN · Member since 2016 · 139 posts · 84 votes
    8y

    Hi Cameron - great post/question!  It sounds like you are in great shape to purchase your first home.  You may want to also consider a HomeReady or HomePossible loan.  Both of these loan programs are conventional financing, and with less than a 20% down payment, you would also receive a reduced mortgage insurance rate.  Both of these loan programs can get you into a home with as little as 3% down, which would give you some additional capital/reserves for improvements after purchase, or a larger contingency/emergency fund, or a good place to start on your next home.  When it comes to rolling your closing costs in, you will be able to roll your closing costs into the interest rate, not the loan amount, which would reduce your out of pocket expense at closing, but would result in a higher monthly payment.  I don't know of any loan program that will allow you to finance furniture and other personal property into the mortgage.  There are renovation loans that allow you to finance improvements to the home into your loan, but anything you can remove from the home is considered personal property and not real estate (e.g. furniture, window coverings, appliances).  I also don't believe you can depreciate personal property like this on a primary residence.  On a rental property - sure, but if you're going to live in the house and have roommates, then you may want to check with a CPA to see if you can depreciate personal property in a primary residence.

  • Dan MackinBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Erie, CO · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 512 votes
    8y

    Welcome officially to BP @Cameron Belknap. As @Seth Wilcock said you are likely better off pursuing something with a HomeReady or HomePossible loan if you're going for a single unit. 

    1. When you leave the first property are you going to continue to rent it room by room or as a whole unit? Your numbers will likely be better if you continue the room by room method, but it will just take a bit more work. 

    2.Be sure whenever you get the property to get a lease that is specific to room by room leasing. They are quite different than a typical lease. 

    3. As far as costs into your loan it's pretty straight forward for closing costs, just gets you a higher rate. As far as furniture that's a different game and not easily possible and really not worth it in my mind. 

    4. For other hacks there are all kinds of little things you can do. Hit me up if you want to grab a drink and we could chat.

  • Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 31k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Cameron Belknap:

    First time posting here.

    TLDR: I am a new RE investor and have questions regarding long term wealth generation through RE.

    My Background:

    I am 23-year-old recent college graduate looking to purchase my first home/investment property in the greater Denver area. I work at a large engineering firm making around $64,000/year; I’ve saved up for a couple of years now and have around 40k in savings. I am single with no debt and am looking for a 4bdrm property at around the 300k price point ($330,000 max). My credit score is around 750, and I got pre-approved for 330K at 4.5% back in May. I can comfortably save 20k a year (with a 4k fun budget), and I plan to invest all of that into RE or the market.

      My Plan: Use a 5% down conventional loan to purchase the property and rent out the other 3 rooms while I live in the 4th. I will live in it for as long as I need to until I can re-qualify for a second mortgage and move into that. Again, renting out the other 3 rooms while converting the first home into a full time rental. My aim is for the other 3 tenants to being paying most of the mortgage down, I do not expect to cash flow, but I’ll hopefully be living close to rent free. I believe I will need to live in the first property for at least a year under the 5% down owner-occupied loan rules, but I am not sure (someone chime in if they know). I will repeat this process until I’ve grown a sizable real estate portfolio (4-5 homes), then I hope to move into investing in larger/higher unit properties. My questions/concerns: 1. First, being a complete beginner, I’m sure I’m overlooking and missing things, do any of you see any problems or hang-ups with my plan? What would you do differently if you were in my shoes? Constructive, brutally honest criticism encouraged. 2. I’ve been reading a lot about rolling up closing costs, as well as costs of new furniture into my mortgage. What are the pros and cons to this. I will most likely need to completely furnish this house, I expect that to be around 3-4k. Would I still be able to depreciate those items? 3. From reading about the new tax laws, it looks like RE as become less beneficial from a tax itemizing standpoint, at least for beginners like me. Are there any benefits I am overlooking? The only one I see is that I can now depreciate items with a less than 20-year lifespan by 100%. I plan to use this aggressively to purchase new things, but still at my price point its making it much harder to justify itemizing over taking the standard deduction. Being very generous here are my tax write off #s. I plan to be very aggressive. ($6500 deprecations on ¾ of a 225,000) + ($2200 in property taxes. utilities and repairs) + ($1000 in depreciation of furniture/TV/Appliances) + ($2000 in mortgage interest) ($2500 state and local taxes.) That only equals $14,200, it’s hard to justify taking that over the standard deduction of $12,000 especially because I’ll have to pay back my deprecation eventually (I plan to do 1031 probably, but still ill have to pay it in the future). 4. Any tips for someone in my position? Small hacks that can help my returns? I am big into budgeting/planning/numbers and am trying to track my expected expenses as accurately as possible I’m at a point in my life where I’m willing and excited to expend the extra energy to maximize my potential for long term wealth. This is the best plan I’ve come up with. Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

    You can do the same plan with a 2-4 unit property. Will allow you a bit more privacy and rent potential than the SFR would.

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