All Forum Posts by: Jacob Hornberger

As said above, talk to a lender and see what you can qualify for. FHA would be a good option to check out.

Hi Tyler,

I'm a local agent/investor just north of Dayton. If you have any interest in the Miami County area, feel free to reach out to me and I can help answer any questions you may have.

Don't over improve the property, just rehab it to a nice, clean, and safe place to live. Look at other rentals in your area and see what features are standard in your area (stainless appliances, tile showers etc.). 

The next thing you'll need is a solid lease. You can find some forms here on BP or you can have a real estate attorney draw one up for you. I would suggest at minimum have an attorney review what you come up with.

Once you have the property clean and ready, take good pictures and advertise it. Facebook marketplace will get a ton of eyes on it. You will want to come up with a list of qualifications, such as minimum accepted credit score, income, and so on. Relay that info to those interested. That way they can prescreen themselves and not waste money on an application (never deny someone from filling out an application). For just staring out, I recommend using apartments.com to handle your applications and screening. It will do a background and credit check on perspective tenants. You can also do your lease and collect payments through their system. It's also free for the landlord to use. 

You will be able to get a good idea of how much you can afford by talking to a lender. After that, then you can decide how much of a loan you're willing to take out. Without knowing anything about your situation... I would suggest renting the condo you have currently and buying a 2-4 unit property and house-hacking it. That will help offset your new loan payment. 

As far as paying off a mortgage early, everyone is different. As long as my interest rate isn't crazy high and my property is cash flowing, I see no reason to pay it off early. You can scale your portfolio a lot faster by using leverage, you just have to manage the added risk.

Where I'm from, some things have to be permitted with the City and some go through the County. I would start by calling your cities Planning and Zoning Department and they should be able to direct you from there. Also, a lot of cities will have some information on their website.

As others have said Airbnb will not be as passive as a long term rental. Run the numbers both ways and if you think its worth it to do Airbnb I would go for it but, make sure there is plenty of demand in your area. Also, check local laws to make sure its aloud. If you do go forward with the Airbnb idea, tell the current tenants with plenty of notice that you will not be renewing the lease.

There's a huge demand for venues right now, I've thought about doing this myself. I really like the rustic barn style but, at least in my area, they are everywhere. I would like to see something more unique that people are willing to travel for to use. Then again, the barns are always booked out for at least a year ahead of time in my area. I just worry about competition getting to strong in the barn venue market.

Also, keep in mind, a wedding venue isn't going to be near as passive as a standard single-family rental. But I would say the rental rates on venues make up for it!

Your property manager should be able to answer any questions you have. Since you are asking in this forum, I'm assuming your property manager hasn't given you the answers you're looking for. I think you should look into finding a better PM.

I have had good luck marketing rentals with FaceBook Marketplace, I typically have hundreds of messages within a week.

Welcome!

I think you've got a good start. David's book does a great job of outlining the principles of the BRRRR strategy. Also, if you go to "Forums" and then go to the "BRRRR" tab here on BiggerPockets, you will be able to find more information that is BRRRR related. The most important thing is to stay focused. Learn the basics and then you can start to dive deeper into the nuisances of the BRRRR strategy. I always say read/learn as much as you can but, you'll learn the most from actually getting out there and doing deals.

Best of luck!
 

I think you're doing it the right way! That engineering W-2 income will be a great kickstarter to your real estate investing journey. The Dayton area can be a great place to invest to help your reach your goal of replacing your W-2 income with rental income. You can still find good cash flowing deals in this area! I'm a real estate agent/investor just north of you (Miami County).