All Forum Posts by: David Ray

 I am a homeowner now . I am past my first step to BECOMING an investor as I plan to use this property as collateral for a loan to buy a rental property. I have discussed my plan, short and long term goals with my PARTNER in regards with this property. We have also made written guidelines as to who does what and who gets what in our future investments. My new home is a liability at the moment but will be what gives my PARTNER and me access to assets in the future. Please don’t say anything unless it’s constructive. 

Finally it has begun. I am officially a homeowner. While it may be a juvenile liability at the moment I am already thinking of ways for it to make me money. I began my search for a primary residence in the beginning of June. My wife and I have been preparing for the moment for a while and we were finally ready. First I made a list of twenty lenders and researched the different type of loans available in my area. After a few hours I decided that the USDA Aggricultural loan would be our best bet. With the zero down and the only stipulations being move in ready and in a rural area we were set. After I placed all my calls to the lenders, only a seven called me back. I already had a packet put together with all the documentation needed for a pre-approval letter. I sent those in and asked for letters on USDA, FHA, and verious amounts down for a conventional loan, and moved forward with the first three to get me what's I needed. After this I chose a Local realtor from all the areas that I was looking in, and toured dozens of houses. After everything I was stuck between three houses that were up for auction. Of all the houses only one came back for a second to bed between me and an investor. At this point I was nervous that I would have to start the process over until I realized the investor would most likely rent it out. At this point or use the rental calculator on bigger pockets to help me run the numbers on this house to see where the investor would start making money if they bought it. As this is going to be my primary residence for a long time I am not worried too much about what my future profits on it will be. It only took a day to get a call back about winning my new property. The stipulations on it though was that it had to be bought with cash immediately with no breaks. to back out the contract. It wasn't until this point that I noticed that I wwould not be able to buy it with a loan, but I was still determined. I dug through every scenarios i could think of and remembered the parents of one of my friends just sold their old home in Vietnam. So I did some more research on ways to leverage a property and decided to show them the numbers if I used the property as leverage for a loan. They were impressed with how much research and consideration I put into everything and decided it would be a good idea if we partnered together. They financed the deal and I will be taking care of all the repairs. With none of my money up front I closed yesterday and now I'm past my first step to becoming an investor .

So.... At the moment I believe I have my list of lenders narrowed down to those that seem effective. I just recieved pre-approvals for the USDA Home Loan and I'm beginning to find local realtors for the areas I'm searching in. Everything seemed to be going well until I came to the realization that I'm not approved for as much as I was hoping for. The problem at the moment is that I'm having difficulty finding a home that matches the USDA guidelines and my pre-approved loan amount. And so the Hunt begins. Wish me luck all.

Yes, I recieved a letter of pre-approval yesterday and I just began calling more realtors tody. I'm afraid to say that only one realtor I spoke with is actually being pro-active. The main trouble I'm having now is just finding a home in my price range that matches the stipulations handed down by the USDA.

Thank you for the referral. I look forward to speaking with him later to see if he is a good fit for my family. Every effort made to help is definitely appreciated by me.

Thank you all for the for the advice. It’s a great boost hearing from everyone. Jack Baczek, you are so right. Networking is definitely the wrong word to use. Socializing has never been my strong point, but your words make a lot of sense to me. I heard of a gathering in Fort Worth coming up soon. Hopefully I don’t need to work and can make the time to go. I feel it would be a great experience for me.

I'm attempting to buy my first primary residence through the USDA home loan. I'm looking around Roanoke, Newark, and Azle for a SFH. My main concern is that I may not have enough time to get a home before my lease is up. I have about 2 months to move my family into our first home. As this is my first home buying experience I figure the process will take a little longer than it should. Does anyone have any tips and tricks on how I can ensure I meet my deadline.

I live in a rental near Fort Worth, but I’m looking to buy near Roanoke which according to the provided map on the USDA site should qualify as rural. Thanks for making sure I’m checking my area. I appreciate you looking out for my family and me.

Thank for the advice on caution. I’ll check out Kenneth and see if he’s a good fit for my family’s needs. Thank you.

Hello everyone, my name is David and I’m completely new to this. I’m still in my education phase, though I am already beginning to try and acquire my first single-family home using a USDA loan. I have already learned so much from this community. I believe what I need to work on most is my communication skills. I have never been very good with networking. Any help or advice would go a long way in helping me support my family.