All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Sulka

I'd recommend Adam Zimmerman or Josh Janus. What kind of property is it? 

The way I have found mentors is by going to local real estate meetups. Investors love seeing young people get after it. Just be genuine and see how you can add value for them. 

Will, 

I'd recommend Wealthfront. I'm getting paid 5.5% right now and it has unlimited withdrawals/transfers. It's also FDIC insured up to $250k so no worries there.

I have a portion of my paychecks deposited directly into the HYSA and just keep enough in my normal checking account to pay for my rent, student loans, credit card payments (for CC's always pay on time and in full). 

Going to explore a Roth IRA next.

Nothing to add from me! They just want to check their boxes and actually make sure that your intent is to owner-occupy. 

Sabrina, 

Start with a house hack! You will retain much of your capital and learn how to manage rentals on-site. You'll have tenants covering most of your expenses and the rest will be "payment" for your hands on education. 

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. 

Spot on. Especially regarding the cons of small multifamily. 

Most multifamilies are bought and sold by investors and they have to make it a viable investment if they plan to add it to their portfolio. If the market or rents haven't appreciated significantly, it would be hard to sell a multifamily at a price much greater than what you originally bought it for. 

Assuming current tenants is a game changer because you literally cannot live in the property until the tenant's leases are up which I would assume means you can't qualify for owner occupant financing. You couldn't put 3.5% down FHA to buy a property that has leases that don't expire for several months. I'd love some clarification here.

A potential con that I would add for house hacking a single family would be having to deal with more individual lease agreements because you're renting rooms to many different people. I'd imagine turnover would also be a bit higher because most people don't want to have roommates for several years. Since you've done this strategy, I'd love to hear your take Jake! 

All the best! 

Sam,

I'm not from your area but go on Meetup.com and search real estate events in your area. Also, set up keyword alerts for "Wichita" and "Meetup" or "Wichita" and "REIA" to see if people are advertising any events on BP!

All the best! 

 Yes, let's connect! 

One more thing: 

Weigh the benefits of going the FHA route with taking out a conventional loan. On November 18th, Fannie Mae rolled out a 5% down program for 2-4 units.

-Conventional can have less hoops for the seller to jump through compared to FHA.

-Conventional has PMI until 80% loan-to-value when you can request to have it dropped. If you don't request, it will drop off automatically at 78% LTV. FHA has PMI for the life of the loan unless you refi out of it.

-For 3-4 unit properties, FHA needs to pass the self sufficiency test (research this more on BP). It basically just gives the lender more security in knowing that your rental income can cover your mortgage liability and other expenses. This conventional program does not need to pass that test for 3-4 unit properties.

Both FHA and 5% down conventional are both great programs and it depends on your personal situation as to which one you go with.

 Dakota, 

Don't worry about what your family or friends say. Do they own investment property currently? Have they ever owned investment property? Most of the people who make comments like this have never actually owned an investment property and have never talked to anyone who has owned investment property. That's been my experience. 

I've heard many people in my circle saying that buying real estate is a bad idea without considering the actual numbers and the benefits of owning real estate beyond cash flow. You also need to consider equity buildup and loan paydown, tax benefits, rent appreciation, and potential property appreciation (don't bet on this or anticipate it. Should just be icing on the cake if it happens). 

Like Nicholas said above, run the numbers for what things will look like AFTER you move out of the property. This will give you a better idea of the viability of the investment. 

Your ultimate goal is to own multiple investment properties and accumulate a lot of units. House hacking will not only allow you to pay less than you would renting, it will give you on-the-job landlord training. You will learn everything that goes into buying and managing a piece of residential real estate. This education will be invaluable to your future investing endeavors. 

I'm in the same boat as you. Looking to buy a house hack mid-2024 as my first investment property. I have asked all of these same questions and talked to dozens of investors about this very topic. That is why I state everything above with such conviction. 

Best of luck, Dakota!