All Forum Posts by: Andrew Jervis

Hi All,

I recently introduced myself to the BP community here, but as general background I have been researching for a year or so now and am starting to build up the knowledge base to where I feel comfortable buying my first property. I am looking at 2-4 unit multifamily's in the Philadelphia area. Part of the reason why I caught on to the real estate bug was that I really enjoyed helping my girlfriend search for her first house, which she purchased earlier this year and which will be done construction and settled on Late October. We have been planning to move in together for awhile now, thus causing a dilemma for me in owner occupying. My plan as of now is still to move in with her at her new place.

I know that there are financing benefits of owner occupying, but just how significant are these benefits? It's hard for me to try to quantify how much my rate would increase and the general impact without owner occupying. 

Also, I'm not sure exactly how the terms of contracts with lenders work or the interpretation of the law, but it has been suggested to me by a few other investors I have met that I could live there for a few months and then "have to move" and just keep my mailing address there for a few months while then renting the property. Can anyone comment on the legality of this, or if it would violate a typical contract with a lender? Generally any information on owner occupancy (especially specific to the Philadelphia area) would be great.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome....already a lot of good tips I can use!

Hi All,

I have been a biggerpockets member for a number of months now but have yet to introduce myself to the biggerpockets community, so here goes...I am 26 years old and have resided(rent not own) in Philadelphia ever since graduating college in 2011, but also am familiar with the western suburbs as I grew up in the West Chester, PA area. About a year ago I finally realized my passion for real estate and have been reading/researching/browsing ever since. I have met a number of people and gone to a number of different real estate networking type events, attempting to learn as much as possible in as soon as possible. These events have helped me gain a great deal of knowledge but I am still a little overwhelmed with how much there is to learn and how much could be potentially go wrong. My strategy, at least for now, is to start by buying a 2-4 unit multifamily property. Within the last few weeks I have looked at 3 properties(I only went to see ones I REALLY thought were gems), and while I came away particularly impressed with the CF two of the properties could generate I just am not willing quite yet to put in any offers, because I'm still worried I still need more experience. By nature, I am a very conservative and I am finding it hard to jump in and actually move forward with purchasing a place.

I would love to be able to share a little bit more about my strategy and the properties that I have seen . As the community here is full of investors that are much seasoned than I am it would be great to be able to network with the BP community, particularly those that have experience in small multifamily properties in the Philly area. Would anyone be gracious enough to impart some of their wisdom on me? In general it would be great to continue to develop my real estate investing network. 

Also, if anyone has some financing advise it would be great to hear. I currently work full time as a financial analyst and have a strong finance background but still have a lot to learn on the real estate finance end of things. At this point I've built a relationship with a mortgage banker to get preapproved but haven't really shopped around yet so have a lot to learn in that realm as well. 

Andrew