All Forum Posts by: James Buchanan

Hey Josh! You're right up the road from me, I work near UCF which is basically Oviedo. My wife and I are in the same boat as you, trying to learn as much as we can before taking the plunge!

Hey Ryan,

It's always great to hear that someone was recently in the same place we are in and beginning to see some success, congrats! I haven't really considered a home equity loan. Since we have only been making payments towards our mortgage for about 2 years now, I assumed that we wouldn't have much luck but maybe I misunderstand how they work (still a big rookie at all this!).

As for a partnership, I would love to work with someone that has some experience, learning and earning along the way. Have you considered partnerships yourself? If so, do you have any tips for a newbie on the lookout (things to consider or red flags to avoid)?

Thanks Suzanne! I'll let you know if we do end up looking in those areas andfind out our best strategy!

I had been searching in neighborhoods with great walk scores in the Orlando Metro area but maybe somewhere just outside of Orlando, such as Deltona for example, would be worthwhile since there is more "bang for your buck". Has anyone had experience doing something similar to that? Just not sure if that would end up making it more difficult to find tenants in smaller towns.

@Chris Mason

I think we are in a place where we could theoretically do this but afraid that our margins might be too tight. If we were able to actually get $1.7k for our place then it would work to rent out but what's to say it won't sit vacant until I come down to $1.4k? I'm still learning and not certain how to totally dial in what we would actually be able to charge for rent. If it ended up being $1.4k then we would be in worse shape than we are currently.

These are the types of thoughts that start making me feel lost..

Hey Russell,

We really don't have many expenses; no cable, $40 for internet, one car payment of $240, a low interest student loan. In the past year we've managed to save about $10k even with our wedding and honeymoon (all paid off). I suppose we could continue to save longer but had hoped that we were finally at a point that it made sense to begin investing in real estate, especially before we have any children to factor in.

 Michelle,

We know the exact location you're taking about and would love to attend. Feel free to send me the details and I'll try to stop in so long as its in the evening!

Hey everyone, just joined BP a few weeks ago and am getting a feel for real estate investing. There is so much information here that it begins to feel a bit overwhelming.

My wife and I are hoping to invest in properties in Orlando, FL (we also live here) while maintaining our 9 to 5 job but are a bit lost on our best course of action. We have about $40k in savings (literally just sitting in bank accounts) however would only like to wrap up $15k total in our first property to make sure we don't make any mistakes. Here are a few issues we are having:

1. We went to the same lender that we used for our first home (just 2 years ago) to get a pre-approval and have been working with a realtor. Between the listings we are getting from the realtor ($70-100K) and the 20% down our lender is requiring for an investment property we are landing beyond that $15k. Not only are we beyond the budget we set for ourselves but this is for properties are either in OK neighborhoods but will require further rehabbing or in areas that I feel would be hard to find good tenants.
2. Our realtor only provides use listing from MLS, would we be better suited to find a different realtor, do directly to wholesalers, or just start cruising neighborhood on our own?
3. Another option we have considered to possibly get over the 20% down hurdle is to start looking for a new primary residence for ourselves and then using our current house as our first rental property. Has anyone had success with this? Our mortgage now is $1460 and comps in the area have a rental price of $1.4-1.7k monthly.

Any insight would be great! We are very ambitious but know very few people that have experience with this. I'd be more than happy to spend some time chatting with someone in person over coffee or lunch some time!