All Forum Posts by: Austin Lynk

Thank you for the responses. I sincerely appreciate it. Closing date was 2/4/22.

Our intent when buying the home was to live in it for at least of year. We terminated our apartment lease at the same time the home closed and have completely moved in. That said, we have decided not we'd like to rent it. However, nothing has changed in our lives to warrant this (no change of jobs, family, kids, etc.) which I believe muddies the situation. 

Updated question - the lender has said we are okay to live in it for 6 months and 1 day at any point in the year and rent for the rest of the period (which we will satisfy). If we satisfy this requirement, do we have any worries with the IRS? Or is the lender the only concern?

First, thank you for taking the time read this snipped and consider providing advice.

Situation:

I purchased a home as a primary residence this year. The lender requires me to live in the home for 6 months and 1 day (majority of the year) to satisfy the primary residence requirement. They assume this is the first 6 months and 1 day, but it's generally considered a grey area as far as 6 months and 1 day at any point in the first year - I'm okay with taking this risk.

Question: 

Can I rent out the home the other 5 months, as long as I'm satisfying the primary mortgage requirement from the lender? Given I will have the report rental income to the IRS (since it will be more than 14 days), will they have any concern seeing this is year 1 of a primary mortgage and it is being rented? Could this trigger an audit / flag for mortgage fraud?

Ultimately, I want to get this home on the rental market ASAP which avoiding prison. 

Thank you for your thoughts, feedback, questions and advice. Sincerely. 

Austin

Hey Natali - reach out if you have any deals!

Hey @Whitney Hutten - thanks for the response. This would not be a live-in (that was part of my previous plan). The likely outcome of my search would be a rent-ready SFH or MF, but wanted to note that'd I'd be open to a BRRRR if it qualified for a conventional loan (I hear these are rare).

I can't house hack because I'm fully remote, but my employer won't sign a letter saying I can live in Charlotte, meaning I won't qualify for an owner-occupied loan. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

Hey all - really appreciate the feedback on my first post. Since then, I've determined that I'm going to forgo the live-in property (not by choice, necessarily) and shoot for a pure investment property.

With that said, I'm pretty flexible on my criteria in order to achieve the highest cashflow property possible. My plan is a buy a turn-key or near turn-key property in the Charlotte, Gastonia, or Mooresville market - I'm open to SFH and MFH, considering going with the MFH home if cash flow significantly outweighs that of any SFH deal that I'm able to find.

A few questions for those willing to share knowledge:

- I'm shooting for cash flow, not units. Any insight as to what combination from the above I have the best chance for max cash flow + appreciation? (heard a lot of great things about Gastonia)

- I've heard that I can get down payments as low as 15%, but the rates are much higher. If I can afford 20-25%, would you recommend I go ahead and put that higher amount down?

- Have you ever heard of properties that qualify for conventional financing that I'd be able to BRRRR? I have a network of contractors and am open to rehab if I'm able to re-fi, but am avoiding hard money in my first project.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts - looking forward to giving back to the community as I continue to learn.

Austin

Thanks all!

Appreciate all of the feedback - I am reconsidering ability to find a house hack multi-family inside the 485 loop and considering a SFH that I'd live in for a year, then rent thereafter. In the meantime, I'm hoping to secure a multi-family in Gastonia, Statesville or other surrounding areas of Charlotte.

I hope to share a revised strategy soon for additional feedback - really appreciate the thoughts here from everyone and thank you immensely for your time

Hey Ellie - speaking for the water, skip the Charlotte inflated prices and head for Cornelius or Davidson. High-income colleges and Lake Norman. Good luck!

Hey @Colleen Goldstein - well said and appreciate the feedback. I've always been an equities investor, so the dollar cost average approach makes a lot of sense - I just hadn't though of it through the lens of real estate. Great point!

Do you think I'd be able to find a 2-4 unit inside of the 485 loop that'd make sense, if I was able to secure first time homeowner, owner-occupied financing (3-5% down through HomePossible or HomeReady, not FHA).

Looking forward to connecting. 

Thanks so much, @Presley Grooms, and congrats on getting past analysis paralysis and jumping in.

Was that 3% loan FHA or another program?

I'm hoping to jump into an occupant owner multi-family at first (house hack), but have a feeling its going to be really tough in the location + budget I want. Worst case, I'd go for SFR with little/no money down, live in for 1 year, then begin renting.

Appreciate the insight!

Hey @George B. Washington - what have you tried so far?