All Forum Posts by: John Mendez
John Mendez has started 1 posts and replied 26 times.
Post: Introduction to Bigger Pockets!

- Stamford, CT
- Posts 26
- Votes 20
Welcome Cameron and congrats on starting your LLC! Foreclosures tend to be a very long and complicated process especially for beginners. I would say join as many local rei groups on Facebook. Once joined, put in the search bar of the group your specific city or area that you want to want to invest in. From there, scroll and look to see who's posting single family leads and reach out to be on their buyers list. That way you'll have leads coming in without much work. Also, agents with access to the MLS can usually see upcoming properties that haven't hit the market. Have them set you up on an auto email that shows you properties based on your criteria. Part of successfully competing in a hot market is speed. If you can get to deals and put strong offers in before others you'll have a better chance.
Post: advice for multifamily finacing with a rental income and w2

- Stamford, CT
- Posts 26
- Votes 20
Hey Nicholas, first I would like to say congrats to you for your success so far and being able to invest so much money and now diversifying into real estate. I am not a lender, I am a realtor so make sure you speak with whoever you decide to use as a lender.
There are a lot of factors that go into lending, but the main 3 are income (ability to pay), debt-to-income (how much you owe compared to how much you make) and credit score (how responsible you are with debt). You're making pretty decent income, you have no debts and a pretty good credit score. Keep in mind the scoring models that lenders use is different from the model that credit karma, experian, etc use.
I was informed that now due to the Pandemic, they are requiring that if you use the rental income to qualify for an FHA loan you have to have 6 months reserves.Which should be of no issue since you have your stock portfolio. FHA loans tend to be a lot more loose with their lending and typically allow you to take on larger loan amounts. In your situation a conventional loan may most likely give you a better interest rate which'll lower your monthly payments and lower how much you pay in the long run on interest.
The rental home income won't count towards your income since you haven't been claiming it for two years.Your stock portfolio would be considered an asset, you would have to double check to see if 10k in gains will count towards your income. It would depends, on if these gains are from trading or dividends, or growth and if you realized the gains or not.
Post: Hello and welcome to BiggerPockets!

- Stamford, CT
- Posts 26
- Votes 20
Hey BP Community!
My name is John and I am a realtor based in the Lower Fairfield County, CT area. I want to start investing in Bridgeport, CT.
My 2 main goals are to deep dive into small multi-family investing and become an expert in deal analysis.Which I will then use to purchase my 1st property in 2022. I also want to provide as much value to others so that they can jumpstart and advance in their pursuit of wealth.
One fun fact about me is that I am a proud cat-dad. My cat Dexter is an 1 1/2 year old, outdoor, American short-hair and loves to bring in live birds into my house because he knows how to open the door.
I look forward to networking and masterminding with everyone and hopefully meet at one of the future BP Cons or other events.
I took the Rookie bootcamp and it doesn't dive too deep into any particular topic. I feel like it's mainly geared towards people who are brand new and have no idea about real estate investing. I would probably say attend the multifamily camp. But for a fraction of the cost you can just purchase the books and watch the bigger pockets YouTube/listen to the podcast and get most of the same information.
Post: What Trends, News, and Data Do You Pay Attention To!

- Stamford, CT
- Posts 26
- Votes 20
I track the MLS in 2 week segments. I also use "keeping current matters" to help keep me updated with broader real estate trends and data.
Post: QOTW: What advice would you give your younger self?

- Stamford, CT
- Posts 26
- Votes 20
To take more personal finance finance/investing elective classes in high school. Start reading and listening to podcasts sooner.