All Forum Posts by: Hunter Janes

I'm in Orlando as well. 250k for a 2b/2b seems to be high. Is it a SFH or apartment? Also, your can buy points to lower down the rate. I would say as long as you can make rent and expense (mortgage + maintainence) equal, go for it.

When you say you’ve found a few nice homes, my first thought is to find some not nice homes.  Find that up and coming area with a ran down house that you can bring up to the standard using the skills you have available.  For example, just closed this week on a 2/1 for 115,000 and with some minor repairs and some lipstick it will be up to par with the neighborhood and will cash flow.  Gonna turn the dining room into a 3rd bedroom.  ( I can do most repairs except major electrical and plumbing issues that would require permits so that’s what I mean by the skills you have). I don’t buy something that I can’t do the majority of repairs on but that’s just me.  
Hope that was at least a little bit of help. Good luck.

This is a really good question. I am glad you noticed that the numbers dont work. A lot of mistakes are made when you do not recognize that. You may need to adjust a few things. 1. market- your market may be too expensive. 2. home quality- you may be looking at A-B level which dont cashflow but C-D does. 3. location you are shopping- by this i mean the MLS vs a Wholesaler vs driving for dollars. You can make a deal with a homeowner directly that is much more favorable than if you are looking on the MLS through an agent. My best deal so far was through a wholesaler.

My advice is to keep looking. If the numbers work you move forward. Be patient, there are many,many properties to look at. 

 @Hunter Janes what lending company did you find that offers Interest Only or was it a bridge loan? Thanks in advance.

Have you tried looking into multi family property? Possibly starting out with a house hack first. This way you can put down 3.5%, offset your living expenses and get started that way.
Generally if the cost of your mortgage after rent from other units is less or the same as rent would be for your unit, it is worth it. 

In terms of am I buying...yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that I want to buy and no because I can't find anything worth buying at the moment.

I've only bought 1 property this year. 

I'm looking and putting in a few offers a week, both on and off market. Not getting traction though. 

You have to be careful in times like these where you have little going on, sitting on cash and wanting to do a deal. You might end up making bad decisions. I'm at the point of frustration right now because I feel unemployed at the moment with how little I'm doing BUT I'm going to stick to my numbers no matter what. 

With inventory the way it is, and the rising costs to build, you can't go looking at the lowest hanging fruit by buying simply distressed + rehabbing and thinking you'll be on top. You'll likely be more OTM doing that as you would buying straight from MLS and listing.

Right now, if you can do just $250k in investment you're better sticking to TBills or CDs unless it's a primary house. This is just a higher barrier of entry now.

@Hunter Janes- thanks ...good job  with getting pre approved ....keep the pre approval current  ..be patient with the  searach ...maybe broaden the search to some  realtively nearby areas that might have a lower entry  level point  is worth considering .....you might  consider 20% down in order to lower the payment and to eliminate the mortgage insurance for the loan

@Hunter Janes The entry point in my market of 6 towns in about a 30 mile radius that people are willing to commute from vacillates between $125K-$325K for a single family to a 2-4 unit depending on location and quality of the building and the amount of upgrades needed. If you waited it out and moved quickly you could probably find something that would cash flow here.

That being said for your first property I’d strongly suggest staying local so you can have that learning experience of getting first hand knowledge on how to manage your first property before going long distance and/or out of state.

If you do as the others have suggested and put your money in a 3 month CD you will have a little more time to work on building your team. Try to find a handyman, possibly a contractor, maybe a real estate lawyer, an accountant who knows something about real estate (this is very important for depreciation and other write offs as you grow your portfolio), and anyone else you think you might need.

Be patient, the right deal will come along!

There's many ways to go about acquiring something in that range. If you are in Orlando, I'd suggest looking outside in some other FL markets or even GA or SC. Like you said you need the purchase price to come way down to cash flow a long term rental. 

Option #2 which is what I would do, search for off-market deals like others have said, but focus on ones that need work and you can add value. Look for that dump in a neighborhood with mostly $400k houses, rehab it so now you have equity in the deal and in a better neighborhood that you can get higher rents. Florida is pretty big, I know there's one out there for you!