All Forum Posts by: Austin J.

Let me explain a little further. Firstly, I've been renting an apartment for $800/mo for 2 years and I've despised every second of it. I looked for 7 months. Looked at probably a hundred duplexes. For several reasons, I needed something FAST. This was verifiably the only Duplex that would have worked for all of us. I ran the numbers, I knew what I was getting into. It doesn't cashflow, but it is many times better than renting like I have been. Admittedly, I rushed into it. Being my first property (& having listened to every single podcast) im nervous about it not cashflowing and I want to quickly alleviate myself of that stress. Its not the ideal move, however, for me it was a huge step in the right direction. I have about 60k in stocks that I can liquidate if I absolutely have to, so im prepared for whatever may happen. I want to find a solid cashflowing property to offset the home I plan to live in for at least the next 5 years. I want to acquire said property with very little cash out of pocket. Was hoping to hear some methods of creative financing others have successfully used that I could implement. 

@Robert Biggerstaff My dilemma is that my debt to income ratio is much to high now to go conventional.

Just Closed on my first property, and I'm feeling like I made a mistake. Bought a duplex for $157,400. My mom will live in one half and I plan to occupy the other. I got a great deal in one sense- My mom supplied the down payment, and instead of charging the $900/mo it rented for, I would only charge her $600/mo with the understanding that I was 'paying her back' $300 every month toward the down payment she put up. However, my mortgage is $1285/mo and I have to carry flood insurance of $250/mo +utilities for a grand total of around $1900/mo. I did NOT buy a cashflowing property, even if I rented out my side. The next obvious step, to me, seems to be buying a solid cashflowing property that will offset this negative cash flow. The problem is that my debt to income ratio was just barely where it needed to be to buy this one. What are some ways to buy another property relatively quickly? Im hesitant about using hard money, but I suppose I would if the numbers worked. What are some practical creative financing strategies that I could possibly implement?

@Jeremy Taggart could I just submit an offer and make it contingent on the property being vacant upon closing?

I want to buy a duplex and live in one unit, and rent out the other unit to my mom. I found the perfect property, but one half just began a long term lease back in may. How can I get them out of the house? I hate to evict someone for no reason but I need the building. I’ve looked at everything.

Mike D'Arrigo i will be investing exclusively locally at first. I know what I don’t know!

I have decided I want to buy multi family properties with the goal of building passive cash flow. I’d prefer to have a property manager from the start. I have about 15k to work with, a partner who is interested in going into a deal with me(has done one other deal) as well as 100k in an account in my name that belongs to another person(who has given me permission to borrow against, however that works). The thing I am nervous about is value add. I know that buying turn key is always an option. But is it worth it to try and do any sort of rehab work through some contractor I don’t know when I have no knowledge on rehabbing or any kind of value add whatsoever? Or is turnkey my only sensible option for my first deal?

Living in northeast Ohio, what are the perfect (or just acceptable) criteria of a first multi family property. Don’t have a lot of cash, don’t know anything about rehabbing, no contacts in the industry, no time to manage it myself. Do I look for turnkey? What is my ideal scenario from the eyes of more experienced investors?

Low risk is important to keep her nerves at ease, however my goal is to help her create streams of income that she can live on without having to use the money. I will refer her to vanguard and find her a financial planner to be safe. But Considering I have the passion and fire of a thousand suns for real estate, how can I go about creating these streams for her? Do i try to find a killer apartment deal? Do I look at commercial NNN properties? As mentioned, I don’t have any experience in actually investing in real estate, so I’m hesitant to entrust myself with her own wealthbuilding, but I have done the research. I’m currently getting my license just for the knowledge. I’ve listened to every podcast twice, I’ve read every book that has been recommended to me. I’m ready to jump in. So do I ease into it, have her give me a small loan, buy a great multi family deal and generate the first of many great returns for her? I realize that I’m making this a little bit about me, and I feel bad about that. I truly want to help my mom, so of course I will point her in the “safest and surest” path to a decent return. But at the same time, I know I can generate more than a CD. I just haven’t done it yet.

Thank you all for your advice. I was under the impression that 8% was a pretty standard “preferred rate of return”. She is not accredited, 45 years old but has very bad epilepsy so she is living off of social security. Can’t drive. Can’t really do much at all. I don’t think she should be shooting for the stars, but naturally I want to find her the best possible return with the lowest amount of risk. She just wants an income stream so it doesn’t start drying up.