All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Sulka

Grant, 

I don't have any further insight than the people who already commented but I wanted to say you're definitely in the right place. 

BiggerPockets is the place to go if you want to learn and hit your real estate investing goals. 

All the best to you. Hoping the Colts make the playoffs. But Go Browns! 

-Ben 

 You got this! 

 James, that's great to hear! Hoping that everything goes as on-time and on-budget as possible. 

Merry Christmas! 

No way, lol. What's up Ty?!?!? 

I'm looking to buy a duplex near Cleveland and house hack this upcoming year! 

Use Meetup.com to find local REIA events or set up keyword alerts on BiggerPockets for "Meetup" + "Ft. Lauderdale" or "REIA" + "Ft. Lauderdale" so you know when local investors are getting together. This will be a great source of local knowledge for you.

To each their own, but my plan is to buy in a B-A area especially since its a house hack. I'll be living there and my girl will be living there. High crime/low income areas are off the table. 

Neighborhood statistics are definitely important. Particularly crime rate and average salary. It's a standard BiggerPockets rule of thumb to require a tenant's income to be 3 times monthly rent to mitigate any rent paying issues. Areas with low income are far less likely to meet this requirement unless you did section 8. 

If you do plan on house hacking, I wouldn't worry about what the returns look like while you're occupying the property. You really want to consider how things look after you move out. Especially if you're putting low money down, you can't expect to cash flow when you're occupying one of the rentable units. 

Hope everything has been well!!

 No problem!! I hope you're able to find something that makes sense for your circumstances. 

Merry Christmas! 

Matthew, 

I'm glad that you joined BiggerPockets! 

This is definitely the place to be if you want to achieve your real estate goals. 

Some things that I've learned and heard from other investors about 203(k) to consider:

-It can take a while for the funds to be distributed

-You have to get a certain number of quotes from different contractors for the rehab. Reno has to be performed by a licensed contractor. 

-Work needs to be started within 30 days of closing and finished by 6 months 

-You also have to hire a consultant from HUD if your repairs are going to exceed $35k.

Merry Christmas!!

Check out this article from Rocket Mortgage: https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/fha-203(k)-loan

Al, 

You got some fantastic responses above. 

Especially since you're living in the property, your wife's comfortability is the #1 priority. 

Based on what I've learned, in most cases it seems to make more sense to buy multifamily. Obviously this is subject to change based on the micro market that you live in which I have no education on whatsoever. Like Vitality said, doing a renovation can involve set backs where with multifamily the units are already built. 

If you're house hacking, you can take out a 5% down conventional Fannie Mae loan. I have no idea how properties are priced in your area, but 5% down on a $500,000 multifamily is $25k. After considering closing costs (let's use 5% of your loan amount as an example) and initial repairs, you'd probably have $60k of total out of pocket costs. 

That would leave you with $60k in reserves. 

All the best to you! 

David, 

Welcome to BiggerPockets! You're definitely in the right place to learn and hit your goals. 

Have you considered getting started with a house hack? 

It isn't necessarily a way to jump in and start printing money but it will give you hands-on real estate education and landlording experience. It will also allow you to pay less than you would renting, build up some equity and turn the property into a full time rental once you move out. 

All the best! 

Kevin, 

Most of the "conventional" strategies for low money down are owner occupant only. 

How much did you put down on your primary home? If you didn't get an owner occupied loan on your primary you could consider turning the primary into a rental and getting a 5% down conventional loan to owner occupy a 2-4 unit property. 

I'd check with a lender to see if your current debt-to-income ratio would even allow for you to take out another loan. 

Sounds like Edward might be above to help you above ^ 

James, 

Are you targeting Cincinnati only or are you expanding your horizons to other nearby markets? If you can't find deal flow in Cinci you may have to consider expanding outward. 

I'd like to recommend house hacking but this really doesn't make sense since you said your income depends on flipping. Have you considered partnering with any local investors in your area? 50% of a deal is better than 100% of no deal as they say. 

Best of luck!