All Forum Posts by: Jerrid Burke

That's an interesting way to find a contractor. I like it!

Makes sense from that perspective. Thank you Hattie

Hi @Cal C. My wife is on board as long as I can show her it makes sense for our future. I only plan on us living in a multifamily for a year or so to satisfy the terms of the VA loan. Then I plan on looking for a single family home. I understand it could be tough being a landlord to a neighbor. I'm going to look into it more and try to talk to people that have house hacked to gain some insight of do's and don'ts. Thank you for the advice!

Thank you for putting that together @Account Closed for responses. Great to meet you both!

Thanks @Brian Krause that's exactly the kind of insight and advice I was looking for! I appreciate you taking the time to type that out. It definitely helps clear things up. My floor plans will certainly be horribly drawn. As firefighter rookie I had to draw floor plans for preincident planning...it was bad

Hi Hattie,

Thank you for your response! I actually just ordered that book and it is on the way! I would certainly love for the renter to pay the full mortgage but I realize I will really have to find a great deal. I don't plan on living there much longer than a year. Just long enough to satisfy the requirements of a VA loan. On one of the BP podcast I believe Brandon said just because the numbers make sense when you live in one unit of the multifamily doesn't mean they will make sense if you move out. I didn't really understand exactly what he meant. Seems to me that if the mortgage was $800 and the tenants were paying $600 where you were only paying $200 it would work out fine if you moved out and moved a tenant in. The tenants would be paying $1200 so you would have positive cash flow. Maybe after accounting for other expenses it wouldn't be worth it? Would it only be worth it if one tenant is covering the whole mortgage? I hope I'm making sense. Thanks!

Hi Blake,

I currently do not own any investment property. I'm looking to invest in properties in Atlanta. I'm leaning towards multifamily possibly "house hacking". My wife and I own a condo. I'm looking to use my VA benefit to purchase a multifamily property, live there, rent out the other units and rent out our condo as well. I feel I still have much work to do before I think about pulling the trigger.

Hi everyone,

I'm so glad I found my way to bigger pockets. I enjoy listening to the bigger pockets podcast hearing success stories regular joe's like myself. It motivates me and makes me believe I too can be successful in REI. I look forward to connecting with some awesome people here on BP. A little about myself, my name is Jerrid Burke. I am 34 years old. I'm a veteran of the United States Navy, a former Professional MMA fighter and new firefighter. My life path has brought me here to bigger pockets seeking to enter the REI world. With a 24hr on 48hr off schedule I was looking to be productive with my time off so I started reading self improvement books which led my to business books and finally to real estate books, podcast and whatever source of information about real estate I can get my hands on. I'm very motivated to figure out a path to purchase my own investment properties to enable me and my family to have a better financial future. I look forward interacting in the forums and learning all I can from people who have been there!

Hi everyone,

I'm very excited to to start my journey in REI! I think maybe I'm having paralysis through analysis. I'm looking to get into buy and hold investing. My wife and I own a condo under her name. My plan is to use my VA benefit to buy a duplex, live on one side and rent the other side as well as rent out our condo. Is it almost a must to buy a property that needs thousands of dollars in repair in order to get a good deal and have ample cash flow? If so where would I start if I have no experience in estimating renovation cost and no connections with contractors? I'm reading books and doing as much research as I can but I don't feel confident enough to try it on my own. Should I wait until I can network enough to build some relationships? Thanks for any advice!!