All Forum Posts by: Carlos Valencia

Hello Daniel,

Congratulations on your graduation. Now time to enter the workforce right? 

This is a good strategy to buy a home every two years and rented it out. If your jobs are in Bakersfield and not remote I would suggest to begin investing locally to gain the experience. One thing you can do is house hack which means you buy a single family home or 2-4 units and live in one unit and rent the other units. If you end up just buying a single family home then you rent out the other rooms. 

The great thing about renting out your other units or rooms is that you also get to have a place to live at a lower cost that is actually yours and you will also gain experience on how to manage tenants and what to look for when they apply. 

If your current market allows you to actually qualify for something with only using one of your incomes even better because if you and your wife can each buy a property every two years you will speed up your process. Not only that but you each can qualify for a max of 10 conventional loans under your name. If you both go into one property then both of you will now only have available 9 conventional loans. What this means is that you can essentially buy 20 properties using conventional loans and not investment loans in the future. 

Last thing I would suggest is when looking for your first investment that you dont  max out on your borrowing power. What does this mean? it means that if you max out your debt to ratio income on your first property then when planning for your next property will be more challenging as you will basically need to make sure when you leave your current property that your rental income will cover all of that properties monthly mortgage, tax and insurance. 

Once you are ready to begin on this journey its best to speak with a mortgage lender to start the mortgage planning and talk about all the different ways you can begin your investing approach and reach your goals.  

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Rohit, 

Congratulations on finding this deal. I am not super familiar with this type of transaction but maybe one of my collogues can assist as they have more experience on 5+ units.

@Albert Bui

Hi Pedro, 

House Hacking is the best way to begin as long your flexible on where you sleep. You can even just sleep in the living room to get as much rental income as possible. the great thing is that you can get in with as little money as possible anywhere from 3.5% -5% down payment. The next thing is to make sure you can qualify for the full mortgage taxes and insurance. Even tho you plan on house hacking you will not be able to use the rental income from the other bedrooms in the house to qualify assuming your buying a single family. Now if you buy a 2-4 units then yes you can use the other units rents as qualifying income. Lastly just make sure your credit is in the 740 or above to save a little more on the rate. Figure out how much income you will need first to buy something in San Diego area. Then start planning. While your looking you can also see if you can get a single family with a big enough lot to add an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) to add value as well to your property. Also check your county to see if you can even add and ADU.

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

I recommend to attend local real estate meetups and continue to connect with people on this forum as well. I'm sure you will find many people to connect with at local real estate meetups. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hi Jerryian, 

Yes thats a great strategy to get into flipping. Is this duplex your primary or is it an investment? Reason I ask is because Helocs have different terms depending on the property occupancy. Usually lenders allow you to go up to 70% LTV on investment Helocs but for primary owned properties you can go up to 90% LTV.

First thing is to figure out which category best fits your scenario. Then you have to see if you have enough room to use either or. One way to know your value is by using a virtual appraisal and if it comes in too low then you order a full appraisal to see if you can get a higher value. It will depend on the comps in your area. 

Do you have a deal ready to go? you will also need to time it correctly to know when you will need the money by. Theres many different terms for Helocs so its important to choose the best one for your needs. Theres 3 year, 5 year and 10 year draws. These are just a few things to keep in mind when using a Heloc. 

Hope this helps a little but more on how Helocs works. Everyone scenario is different. Happy to connect if you wish to discuss further. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hello Michelle, 

Recently one of our members in our community from this forum suggested Columbus Ohio as theres many tech companies moving into that area. Definitely an area to look into as it has many tech giants moving in and help create new jobs.  

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan 

 Thank you Min for the insight I'll keep that in mind.

 Usually when you pull property profile it shows on there what type of property it is as well as the history. These property profiles you get from title companies. 

Hello Luke, 

I would recommend to focus on building your capital as fast as possible as thats probably the biggest obstacle for most people. Find a high income gig and live way below your means so you can save as much as possible and help speed up the process. Once you reach your goal then begin looking on how to use that money so it can continue to grow for you. Create a road map for yourself to make sure you reach your goal. You can also partner with people as well. In the meantime continue studying the markets and the industry. Attend local real estate meet ups and ask questions. 

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan

Hello Nick, 

If its not showing as a legal duplex then your stuck. Is it just showing as single family with like an attached in law suite? Unless they can somehow prove the in law suite is an actual separate unit then they can use it as additional income. Only other option would be co-borrower or more money down but then why use FHA right. Also removing more liabilities if possible to help qualify.

@Albert Bui @Matthew Kwan