Rental Property Investor · Kaysville, UT · Member since 2017 · 141 posts · 120 votes
7y
@Peter Rodriguez, Welcome to BP! Congrats on finding this awesome community! Finding deals is hard. Period. Especially in Utah! Every investor struggles with it. If it were easy, everyone would do it, right? I would highly recommend coming out to the local meet-ups and meeting people. Networking is one of the most valuable tools you can have in your toolbox. Meeting good wholesalers is a great strategy. Surrounding yourself with like minded people is extremely valuable. Check out these websites for the most valuable, inexpensive, networking groups and start attending! There are several events, in multiple different locations, at different times, etc. So find one that works for you and get out there!
Rental Property Investor · Kaysville, UT · Member since 2017 · 141 posts · 120 votes
7y
@Peter Rodriguez, Welcome to BP! Congrats on finding this awesome community! Finding deals is hard. Period. Especially in Utah! Every investor struggles with it. If it were easy, everyone would do it, right? I would highly recommend coming out to the local meet-ups and meeting people. Networking is one of the most valuable tools you can have in your toolbox. Meeting good wholesalers is a great strategy. Surrounding yourself with like minded people is extremely valuable. Check out these websites for the most valuable, inexpensive, networking groups and start attending! There are several events, in multiple different locations, at different times, etc. So find one that works for you and get out there!
Rental Property Investor · Bountiful utah · Member since 2018 · 6 posts · 7 votes
7y
Hey Peter,
Here is my best advice to you for this Utah market.
I would buy a home with a mother in law appt. Live in the mother in law and rent the larger unit. Live there for two years then buy another house with mother in law apartment. In Utah the top unit should cover most if not all of your mortgage.
The advantage here is to avoid having to place 20% down. As well as Utah has a history of rents going up year after year. Yet your mortgage stays the same. Do this 3 times and it should free up enough cash to make bigger moves. Good luck!
edit: I just realised I misread your post :). Still good luck to you
Real Estate Broker · Lehi, UT · Member since 2016 · 397 posts · 318 votes
7y
@Peter Rodriguez. I definitely agree with not wanting to work a day job for the rest of your life! I also agree with @Sean Nava with mother-in-laws or multi-family properties being a great way to get started in our current market. If you can get your mortgage covered or mostly covered on your first purchase while living in the property, then you will have a good start to allow you to save more money per month and propel you to your next purchase. Best of luck getting started! I would suggest analyzing as many deals as you can to try and learn the market. Then, when you see a good deal, you will know what it looks like. Best of luck!
The mother-in-laws and apartments at around 280k-330k seem okay, but I guess I zero idea what to put for the "pretend" rent when I analyze a deal like that. I try and look for comps in the area and all sorts of tools but I guess I don't know how to gauge the expenses of buying , closing and owning the home.
I remember seeing a bigger pockets podcast where it helped to get the Counties evaluation of the home $$ , but I can't figure out how to do that for utah counties.
You've all provided some great info I'll keep trying to figure out the math, and look for homes I can house Hack to start off with!
I would like to second @Jaiden Olsen that you need to network. Attend the meetings and meet like minded people. Nothing is more valuable that a good real estate agent that has experience with investing and can analyze the numbers, knows the market and has a good team they can plug you in with. Be careful though, there are a lot of agents that don't understand investing at all. House hacking is definitely one of the best ways to start! That's how I did it! Good luck!
Salt Lake City, UT · Member since 2018 · 219 posts · 182 votes
7y
@Peter Rodriguez When it comes to analyzing rent I would go to rentler or even better Facebook for rent in Utah pages. If you watch them you will see lots of mother-in-law apartments for rent along with the areas and prices and how much interaction they get on the posts. I am always happy to help you analyze them as well. I personally have quite a few homes with mother-in-law’s and know the housing and rental market very well.
Rental Property Investor · Jonesboro, AR · Member since 2014 · 34 posts · 13 votes
7y
I recently moved to the Provo area, would anyone in this thread be interested in talking real estate? - Invested in Arkansas SFR, looking to move into multi-family.
Real Estate Broker · Lehi, UT · Member since 2016 · 397 posts · 318 votes
7y
@Peter Rodriguez. Rentler is a great place to try and find a potential rent amount for a property. There are a lot of tools that will help you analyze a property. For a quick analysis, just download a simple mortgage calculator that you can plug in a purchase price, downpayment, interest rate, taxes, insurance, and any potential HOA fees. I use the quicken loan app on my phone for that. Really play around with how changing any of those numbers affects your overall return. Then, if the property seems to be making sense, you can move on to the more sophisticated analysis tools. An investor friendly real estate agent will be able to run a more in depth analysis for you.
Real Estate Broker · Lehi, UT · Member since 2016 · 397 posts · 318 votes
7y
@Steven Davis welcome to Utah! There are a lot of great members and meetings as @Jaiden Olsen posted above. Are you looking to buy multi-units locally or out-of-state?
Realtor · Minneapolis MN · Member since 2018 · 84 posts · 61 votes
7y
Hi Peter, There’s lots of great advice in this thread! The rei meetings mentioned by Jaiden are excellent!
Amy and Cherie are right about the rental apps. They’re great! I also have a spreadsheet of KSL rental listings I update weekly in areas my clients are interested in.
As a Realtor in SLC, when I work with buyers I try and get them to really think about how they will use their home. How will it fit their lifestyle? Looking for a house hack is no different. It’s just smarter!
How far are you willing to commute to work? How much debt are you willing to take on? Can you use a paintbrush, or a hammer? Can you rebuild things after you use your hammer! Where do your friends live? Do you want to live somewhere nice, profitable, or both? etc. etc.
Stash cash. Talk to lenders. Talk to agents. Work with the ones you trust to have your best interests at heart.