All Forum Posts by: Brenden Mitchum

@Kevin Andre

You'll likely have to find a cosigner. But first step is to find a great lender in your area. I am sure this won't be too difficult since there are tons of Phoenix investors here on BP that you can ask for a recommendation.

By the way man, I think it's awesome that you are getting started on this so early. Veteran investors often praise me on getting started early but you are six years ahead of me! So just keep your foot on the gas and don't let up!

Hey @Josh Nelson.

This sounds like a great idea! You knock out two or three birds with one stone here by finding an investment property, a place to stay and giving your mom some space. I highly recommend you get in touch with your lender (assuming you have one already) and ask them. They will be able to give you a definitive definition. As far as I know, what makes something a primary residence is that you live there during a larger chunk of the year than you live anywhere else. If you are there only every other weekend, this likely won't qualify. Also, you can only have one primary residence. Another thing to think about is that you would likely have to prove this in some way (voter registration, tax return, etc.).

Hope this helps a bit! Please feel free to reach out anytime if you have other questions or just want to chat!

Hey @Sam Arak!

While I do not live in Jersey, I think I may be able to help here. When I was looking to get on some buyers lists here in ATL, I did not search for a "wholesale website." What I did was start asking around. I got in touch with investors in my area and asked who they use. Yes, you may think "why would they tell me since I am their competition?" But most of us are hear to help each other and understand the importance of giving that aid. So my advice to you is to start poking around BP until you find some investors in your area. Then reach out to them. You can start off with a little introduction and tell them you are looking for some wholesalers in the area. I do recommend also trying to add some value in some way, rather than just asking for something from them.

Hey @Kevin Andre!

First off, if you are thinking about getting started in real estate with an FHA house hack, you definitely want to start looking for a great lender in your area. They are a fantastic source of information and will be able to answer any financing questions you may have.

Now, since I am not a lender and do not have years of experience like some people on here, please do not take anything I say as 100% fact. This is just what I have learned from my short time working with lenders to find my first house hack. So to answer your first question, no they will not count rental income when calculating income to pay mortgage. This does not generally happen until you get into commercial properties.

As far as I am aware, as soon as the property is yours you can start advertising bedrooms/units for rent.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck on the house hack journey and keep us updated! Please, feel free to message me anytime with questions or just to chat!

Hey @Thomas Laskey! First off, welcome to the BP community!

I, too, am searching for my first house hack. I am currently looking in Gwinnett and Cobb. What areas are you looking? Also, which strategy are you thinking? I highly recommend reading Craig Curelop's The House Hacking Strategy if you have not already. He also has a fantastic bp episode. 

And definitely start getting out to as many meet ups as you can. Being active here on BP won't hurt either!

Hey @Trey Holmes, welcome to the BP community!

I am by no means a veteran investor, but I would still be happy to offer some advice if you'll have it.

My advice is to focus in on one strategy and get really good at that. So rather than trying to decide if you should flip or hold a property, figure out what makes a good property for your strategy of choice. In order to determine this strategy you'll need to map out some long and short-term goals. Without a plan, you'll just wonder around aimlessly and get distracted by every shiny object; which is not very productive.

And just stay active here in the BP forums as much as you can!

Please let me know if you have any questions or just want to chat. I'm sure there is a ton we could both learn from each other!

Hey @Alex Liccione! I love Atlanta for a number of reasons. However, I highly recommend you do some market analysis research to determine where would be the best place for you to invest in your strategy of choice. Here in Atlanta, I am not seeing any turnkeys that cash flow. I highly encourage anyone to disagree with proof, but this is just what I am seeing. So if what you truly seek is turnkey, you'll likely want to look elsewhere. This will involve some of that market research on your part. 

Please, feel free to message me anytime with questions or just to chat!

Hi @Saba Sheik. First off, welcome to the BP community!

5 quadplexes!? What an awesome opportunity! So to me this sounds like something that is a bit outside the realm of the BP rental property calculator. You certainly can use the calculator to get a general idea if you'd like and you can do this both as a 20-unit and as 5 quads. However, I believe the rental property calculator is geared towards residential and this is most definitely a commercial deal you have here. So my advice would be to analyze it as such. You will need to find a deal analyzer appropriate for commercial multifamily (apartments). 

Have you contacted the owner yet and gotten the income (rent roll) and expenses (t-12)? If you do not know what these are, I can recommend a few books, podcasts and even a cheap course. You can also find tons of information right here in the forums.

Please, feel free to message me anytime with questions or even if you just want to chat.

Awesome house hack deal, @Kelly Skeval! I am currently looking for a house hack as my first deal so this is very inspirational for me. Thank you so much for posting this and showing the true value of a house hack as someone that has clearly found so much success from that one deal.

Hey @Douglas Moore! First off, welcome to the BP community!

It sounds like you have not quite nailed down a solid plan. I would highly recommend setting a 5-year vision for yourself, then work backwards to get a one-year goal for this year. Then you can even break that into quarterly goals. Once you do this, a plan should start to develop and you will be able to better determine what strategy is right for you.

Wholesaling is not a bad way to start off with low capital. However, it is a full-time job and is widely thought of as the most difficult form of real estate "investing" (which myself and others do not really consider "investing"). That being said, if you can be successful in wholesaling, you will have no problem excelling at flipping and buy&hold investing. 

But why not just double down on the solid job you already have, which will allow you to build capital and knowledge until you are better prepared to start investing in the strategy that you determine will lead to your 5-year vision? 

I don't mean to scare you away or anything. I just want to get you thinking. So please feel free to message me anytime with questions or just to chat!