All Forum Posts by: Rebecca Belnap

@Kyle Donnelly Just want to make sure I understand correctly.  You are moving to Utah County now, but will move away in 3-4 years, and want to keep it as a rental after that.  I'm not a Realtor, but I could help with financing.

A lot depends on how big of a home you need and how much down payment you have. If you want a no money down loan, you will need to go single family. There is one no money down program that I have seen that will allow a duplex, but the rules are strict. If it works, it would be great because it is a Grant for the 3.5% down for an FHA loan that you wouldn't have to pay back.

If you have 3.5% down, you could potentially buy a Triplex or 4 plex.  Just keep in mind that prices here are a lot more than in most areas of Texas.  A single family will run you from $200,000 to $400,000.  A 4plex is $600,000 to $850,000.

@Trevor Carver You were right first.  You must live in the home for 2 of the last 5 years to not have the gain.  At 2 years and a day, you are fine.

@Nick Elg Hi Nick, welcome to biggerpockets. There is a very active investing community here is Utah.  The local REIAs are a great place to network, my favorite is the UREIA.  It's such a strong sellers market right now that it is tough to find the deals, but they are out there.  I'm an investor and a loan officer.  If you have any questions, just ask and you will find lots of people happy to help if they can.

@Shazia Chiu Cold calling will get you some business, but it is very hard and burns you out.  Same with door knocking.  You want to get to warm calling as fast as possible.  This would be calling people who you know have an interest, not just in buying or selling, but buying or selling with you.  To do that you really need marketing.  Send out info to friends, family, and neighbors.  Find expensive apartment complexes and send postcards at least monthly.  That can get expensive, so co-brand with a lender.  Learn to really listen to your clients so you know what they what.  Help them get to their dreams.

Understand that you have to stay in their mind.  Understand that no one will trust you until the 3rd to 10th time you have contacted them.  If you only contact a person once you are wasting your time and theirs.  Have good CRM software that breaks up clients into categories and sends them info about their interests regularly.  Call with something useful to say.  Build a network of people who may not be ready today, but know that when they are ready, they would be crazy not to use you.

If you have a good low interest rate on your car (like 3%), keep paying the loan for about 4 months and then pay it off in full before working on getting the house.

DO NOT RENEW for another 12 months.  The payment you are paying should be enough for an inexpensive 5 bedroom home.  With the info you have given, you should qualify.  Just make sure you get to work on getting pre-approved for a loan at least 2 months before you plan to move, just in case you need to make some financial changes after you apply.

Good luck.

@Casey Christensen To make it work in Utah County, your timing is off.  My business partner and I picked up several rentals between 2010 and 2015 in utah county that do just what you are saying, but the market is just too hot right now.  Two weeks ago, we closed on a duplex in Vernal.  Every time I tell an investor that I bought in Vernal, they hold up their nose and ask why.

My answer is that if you are a buyer, buy in a buyer's market.  With gas prices down, but rising, Vernal is low right now.  We got a 3 bed 1 bath per side with a large yard and each has it's own garage that is about 14' X 30'.  It's about 3 blocks from the temple and all of the neighbors have well kept yards.  It was $158,800 and will rent for $675 per side (we had hoped for $750 per side, but we are discovering that was optimistic.)

If we were to sell our Orem duplex, we would ask $260,000 for our smaller 2 bed 1 bath no garages that rents for $800 per side, and I know we would be in a multiple offer situation in less than 24 hours.  I'm tempted but my partner wants to hold.

My advice, know your market and buy at the right time.  The hottest seller's market in the history of Utah is a tough time to buy in.  Great time to sell.  Look for places that are a buyer's market and understand why they are a buyer's market.  You don't want a ghost town.

@Coco Zuniga Great job.  We want pictures when you close.  It's sort of like showing off someone's new baby.

@Taylor Hansen Great to have you here.  You will find a large group of active bigger pockets members here in Utah County.  We are happy to help.

@Christine Taylor I'm not talking about then, I'm talking about now with the new title company handling this new sale.  They can record the easement when you go to close in 2 weeks.  Their lawyer can advise you if the building has been in place long enough for the easement to count.  If it is long enough, the easement exists whither it was recorded or not and there is no need to involve the neighbor.  

@Taylor Hansen Welcome to bigger pockets.  We have a large and helpful group here in Utah so you will always have people to bounce ideas off of and often you can see people live at the meetup groups.

Right now your plan seems vague. Work to flesh it out a bit. How do you plan to finance the multiplex? Will you house hack (live in) or do non-owner occupied? Do you have enough equity in your current property to get a HELOC for investing?

This is a great place to start and you can go as fast or slow as you need to.  Just be sure to listen to the podcasts and learn all you can.  Good luck!