All Forum Posts by: Emily Howlett

@Jessica Roadman congrats and welcome to the investing journey!

@Doug W. is a great person to talk to about rehabs!

I'm a little late to commenting on this, but just an additional thought based on your statement of investing where it makes sense...it may be worth it to find a super cheap place to rent and just amass funds to either buy in the DMV or in another market where you could cashflow right away. The appreciation in this area makes for better rents down the line, but usually getting a good margin so soon after buying can be difficult unless you find the right deal. 

Hey all! I'm looking to buy an investment property with three other partners (so four people total), and we're trying to figure out just how many people you can put on a loan and what conventional loan options (if any are available). 

With that said, my two questions are 1) does anyone have experience putting four people on a loan? and 2) what kind of conventional loan options are available for this sort of venture? 

Sorry....extra restrictions may not have been the best way to word it. A better way to phrase it would be that you have extra requirements as an agent. Specifically I'm thinking of all the disclosures such as that you're an agent licensed in that state (some people really just don't like agents) and being held to a higher standard in protecting the interest of other parties (which should be standard for everyone, but for some people that would be an issue). Brandon Turner did a good blog post that you might find interesting and give extra perspective. 

You might also check with @Sean McDonnell. He’s another investor-agent down there, and he’s on top of his stuff! 

Do it! As long as it's not compromising quality, and you don't get the vibe that the person is going to take advantage - extend the quotes (as Ryan referenced), rush through, etc - it's a great way to add incentive. 

In terms of the timing of getting your license, it may be worth it to wait until you have a property or two, just to make sure you really are set on this being your path forward. Not to say it won't be, but as with a lot of things, the day-to-day can be a lot different than what you see from the outside. You'll also want to consider the cost of maintaining your license (can vary, but as a data point, I spent about $4k last year just on broker fees, MLS dues, etc) vs what the savings would be. If you're buying/selling a property every year, it probably would be worth it. Maybe even one every 2-3 years would break even. Other than that, you may be losing money. One last thought (then I promise I'm done!), is that as an agent, you have extra restrictions that you don't as just an investor that might not make it worth it.

I guess what it really comes down to is....what benefits would you be looking for from becoming an agent? 

Hey Vanessa! Welcome to the investing adventure and to the forums - and yay for a fellow NoVA person being an investor! 

As Joaquin said, you likely will want to consider house hacking as your first option for getting started. It's a great way to get a feel for dealing with tenants as well as handling maintenance issues. In addition, if done right, it will help you set aside even more funds for future investments. While you're working on that, you could get in contact with local flippers and see if you can't learn from them, whether that's shadowing or helping out in any way they might need to see what it's really like - as has been pointed out HGTV is a bit of a liar in terms of what it really involves :) You could also consider a live-in flipping strategy, but that would depend on your comfort level and what you deem necessary for wherever you're living. 

As for BRRRs, I'll again echo what's already been mentioned, in that the upfront investment might limit you in what you can do. 

If you're interested in setting up a time to chat, let me know. Happy to do a Facetime or a phone call, since talking things over tends to be better than posting/emailing back and forth. 

Awesome news! Thanks for the update, and welcome to your investing adventure!