All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Pliszka

Hi @Brandon Castillo - Greetings from Gratz Park in Downtown Lexington. Congrats on your first purchase! My first property was a house hack and that turned into a great investment. 

Without knowing much about the property, I think you could probably go a tad higher on rent, but more importantly, look for a tenant that you'll want to live next to. This will be MUCH more important than getting top dollar. 

Good luck!

Hi @Joshua S. - Greetings from Gratz Park in Downtown Lexington! Simply put, the one thing I wish I knew beforehand was that the most knowledge I would obtain was simply by doing. I spent a lot of time reading real estate books and message boards, over-analyzing spreadsheets, etc. The best education for me was simply taking action. Good luck out there! 

Hi @Blake Reitnauer - Greetings from Gratz Park in Downtown Lexington! The big thing here will be the HOAs as many have significant rental restrictions, etc. For example, financing can be difficult if a certain percentage of a building is tenant occupied versus owner occupied. As a result, many HOAs put a rental cap in place. 

Personally, I don't think a condo for a student rental is a good idea (unless you own the entire complex). You're likely going to have a HOA board fining you for tenant behavior (noise complaints, garbage, etc.) fairly regularly.

@Josh Franklin Excellent! Way to take action! 

Awesome! Congrats @Josh Franklin! Where in Lexington? We're focused in 40507 & 40508.

Hi Everyone! Checking in from Gratz Park in Downtown Lexington. Currently working on a number of projects in Downtown Lexington with a primary focus on the 40507 & 40508 area codes. Let me know if I can be helpful!

Hi @Matt Bailey - what types of properties are you purchasing? Residential (less than 5 units) or commercial (greater than 5 units and true commercial)? Assuming you want the notes held in a LLC? Feel free to shoot me a PM and I should be able to provide some names in both scenarios.

Hi @Josh Franklin - Welcome! Greetings from Gratz Park in Downtown Lexington. My wife and I are currently focused on deals in 40507 and 40508. I sent you a PM with my contact details. Feel free to reach out if I can be a resource. 

Hi @Austin Eschan - Greetings from Lexington, KY. Do you have a contractor lined up that is experienced with the 203K program? 203K's are great in theory, but there are a lot of steps that you need to line up to make it work. I got my start house hacking a multi-family home. I used a FHA mortgage and put 3.5% down while living in one unit and renting the top two. I used the rent money that I was collecting to make improvements and later did a cash out refinance to purchase my next property. Could be something to consider as well. Good luck to you and Go Cats!

Hi @Courtney Travis - Greetings from Gratz Park in Downtown Lexington! If I'm in your position, I do the following:

1) Enjoy your senior year and save your money from your internship this summer for a down-payment. You don't want to dealing with this and your focus should be on school. You're already leaps and bounds ahead of your peers in that property ownership is something that you're thinking about.

2) When you graduate, think about "house hacking" and purchase a multi-family property in a neighborhood with appreciation potential (i.e. Northside Lexington). You can live in one unit and rent the other(s) to help pay for the mortgage. I would even consider having a friend move into your unit to help pay additional bills.

Good luck and Go Cats!