All Forum Posts by: Danielle Wolter

I'll be interested in this as well. I recently looked at a property that was section 8 and decided against it just because I didn't feel I knew enough about it yet. 

Hi @Lorena Oliveira! I live in a high cost area as well, and just recently decided to invest out of state. I was very nervous at the prospect of not physically seeing the property before buying, but have gotten over that. I took a trip out to my market and met a lot of people and got a real good feel for the area. I spent 4 days there just driving neighborhoods. Now, I haven't gotten my first deal yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt LOL! If you do plan to invest OOS, make sure to curb your expectations as well. Many things can go wrong, but that can happen investing locally as well.

For me, it just didn't make sense to purchase a buy and hold in my area (CA). I can't cash flow and I would be betting on appreciation, which is always a risk. That said, if I could find a good cash flowing property in my local area, I would definitely do it! Sp it just depends on what you can get locally and does it make sense. Thats my two cents!

@Gerald Donaire Congrats! It's great that you have your Dad and uncle on your side! Good luck in your future ventures :-)

@Juan Alvarez I don't know if this will be helpful or not, and others may have differing opinions. Personally, I like to keep at least 6 months of living expenses in cash reserves, so I made sure I had that first. Things come up that you don't expect, you know? If you plan on house hacking, 3.5-5% should be plenty for a down payment if you qualify for an FHA loan. If you're worried about your ability to pay, you don't have enough saved yet. As far as rehab costs go, you can get zero interest credit cards, but that is a slippery slope, especially if you're already concerned about your ability to pay for the mortgage.

I was comfortable when I knew that if a property went vacant, I could continue to pay on it for at least 6 months, as well as continue to pay my every day living expense. And I always enures I have a way to recover rehab costs, whether it be through rents, flipping, refi, etc. And always be conservative. My estimates are always very conservative so I've accounted for everything (I hope) that could happen.

@Michael Vu Just note that if you decide to fully rent it out and not house hack you won't be able to get an FHA loan. You'd likely have to put 20%+ down. That will also give you more cash flow, but you;d also have more cash stuck in the deal.

@Ali Boone Definitely agree with that. I've found a couple turnkey providers that do sell at market and those are the ones I will stick with if I decide to buy turnkey.

Congrats! It looks great!

I'll be interested to see what people have to say about this. I'm pretty new too, and have shied away from turnkeys because I can't see purchasing a property above market value in a market that sees very little appreciation (Memphis). I have trouble seeing what the exit strategy would be for these. I guess it depends on your goals. 

@Timothy Martin Find a local investor friendly real estate agent and have them send you both off market deals and MLS deals. You'll need to know your criteria - i.e. single family, multi family, bed, baths, etc. You can also connect with wholesalers in your area to find off market deals. There are tons of ways to find deals - I recommend searching through the forums and reading all that you can. People have some very good ideas.