Hello!

Long time member and researcher, first time posting!

I'm originally from a small 1k population town in Minnesota. My dad tried his hand in the flip and hold market, but hit a ceiling due to the small area.

I'm hoping to try buy and holds here in the metro where there is much more room to grow. I have no experience being the head honcho/owner in this industry, but have plenty of experience in the day to day operations of keeping up rentals, and have been researching this plan for the past several years. I finally have enough saved up for a down payment on my first rental, so i figured it was time to engage with the community which has already taught me so much!

great, tell us a little more about your plan and the numbers.  Also, what experience you have in the rental mgment field without being an owner, that sound interesting.!!

@Heath Olson congrats on the first post!

Do you know what you are looking for yet and in what areas? We should grab coffee sometime! 

Thanks Kris and Jordan!

I'm planning on using the FHA first time home buyer's loan to get something around 400k with a 15k down payment. I'm aiming for a tri or fourplex, but it's been hard to find them without access to the MLS so my next step is to find a good real estate agent to help with that.

I had hoped to purchase something close to the U of M targeting students, but what I've seen so far is priced to high to provide a good cash flow. I'll have to see more listings once I'm working with an agent to determine if that is an option or if i'll need to look further into the suburbs of Plymouth and Fridley to find better deals.

@Heath Olson I agree with your assessment of the UofMN area.  I would add that you have massive competition from LL's with deep pockets.  The small guys are multi-millionaires with 20+ properties and that does not include Doran who I believe is a billionaire.  It's shark-infested waters, to say the least.  You can make better money in other areas.

On the loan front, I recommend you start with a conventional 5% down loan first. This will allow you to do an FHA loan for your second house hack and have a total of 8.5% down. If you do the FHA loan first then you have 18.5% down because the 5% down conventional is only available if you do not own another property when you get the loan. This saves you 10% on your first 2 purchases.

Wanna meet for coffee?  I'll send you an invite & PM

~Tim

@Heath Olson

Welcome, Heath! I invest in Omaha primarily but I am looking to buy a duplex in the Midway area right now.  I really like this area for its accessibility to students at U of M, Hamline, Concordia, Macalaster, St Cats, and St Thomas. It really is in between all of those.

Also, I really like your FHA owner occupant idea. I think it is fine to use for a first loan and if you do it right, aka get a good deal with value add, you can refinance into a conventional mortgage down the road and use FHA again.

I have an amazing realtor who has been in the business for 25 years and works heavily with investors. He has been working with some of the same investors for 20 years and initially helped them buy properties and now is helping some of them unload properties. He could set you up on email notifications for new multi-families and could give you access to the MLS listings. I get an email every day and its great.

Let me know if you would like to chat more. Always happy to network with like minded people in the cities. Good luck out there :-) 

Kurt

Reach out to @Sam Steadman

Hi Heath - I've spent a lot of time analyzing properties in Minneapolis and St Paul and i'd be happy to help you out and share what I've learned over the last couple years.  I bought a Triplex in south Minneapolis earlier this year and my wife and I recently closed on a Duplex in St Paul we are moving into to house hack and remodel.  PM me if interested.

Hi Heath, we would be glad to meet with you and go over some ideas for investing in multifamily properties.