Newbie from Sacramento, CA

[Ian Ballard]

Greetings BP! My name is Ian Ballard. I've been in the Sacramento area nearly all my life. I currently work as Technical Arts Director for a local church. That's basically coordinating the installation of equipment and training volunteers in the use of all of our Lighting, Media and Audio infrastructure. I'm quite the techie so it's something I thoroughly enjoy. As for real estate it's always been something in the back of my mind ever since I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. (Cliche I know). I never thought I had the support structure to actually go after it until I found BP. I'm a big podcast listener so I've been devouring the BP podcast and learning so much. I have very little experience in the field thus far and so my main focus at the moment is finding a solid mentor who would be willing to let me come alongside them and learn on a daily or at least weekly basis. Goals I have for the short term are getting into a house hack as close to the start of the new year as possible. My current landlord is getting ready to put the house on the market. And as I've been contemplating it, it just makes more sense to pay my own mortgage than someone else's. In the meantime I've been doing the little deal shopping I know how, and that's browsing the MLS. I'd love to get some insight on next steps here from this awesome BP community. Long term goals include buy-and-hold investing, possibly wholesaling, and maybe even a house flip or two. Who knows where this thing will take me. I'm excited to meet you all and look forward to the many conversations that will follow! Ian Ballard

[Derek Jones]

@Account Closed FHA with CHDAP. It's for first time buyers only and has to be primary residence. Technically chdap was renamed myhome but it's the same thing. It breaks it down to normal fha loan for 3.5% down, and it adds a 3% grant so you only need to come up with the .5%. There are some other stipulation as well though. It's through CalHFA which can be found here http://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/programs/index.htm