Hello from NYC!

[Robert Nebel]

Hey guys, my name is Bob and I'm from Staten Island, NY. I joined Bigger Pockets looking to learn more about real estate investing (available strategies, tools to help find the best deals to focus on, etc.) and looking for guidance from mentors / other experienced real estate investors on the best path foward in my current position (23 yrs old with a small amount saved up). 

Would appreciate any help or guidance from anyone!

[Matt F.]

Hey Robert, I would like to recommend something that I have found helpful.

Very simple

- go to a mortgage calculator online (a free one that does not require you to input any information about yourself)

- take the amount of $100,000 as your purchase price, and play with the variables

- hold everything constant, but vary your down payment amount (5%, 10%, 20%, etc) and see what that does to the mortgage amount

- then hold everything constant and do the same for interest rate (4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, etc)

By doing this on a simple amount of $100,000, you can begin to see the magnitude of changes to down payment and interest rate

Depending on the situation, this may end up surprising you. I ended up losing out on a great deal over a price difference of $25,000. When I realized that the cost of financing that extra $25,000 was minuscule, it was a helpful lesson.

in your particular case, if you are able to qualify for a low down payment loan of 3%, 5%, 10% etc, the numbers may end up working better than you expect.

Hope this helps!