All Forum Posts by: Jon McCarron

Hi @Will Walker ,

Welcome to BP! 

I got started by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. then read a ton of other books for about a year and half before I felt ready. Took the plunge with a 3 family a few years back (closed the day after my 26th birthday). I think if I had talked to someone like minded during my education phase, I would have bought much sooner, than a year and a half.

Keep reading, keep saving, keep asking questions!

@Heriberto Velazquez Massachusetts is an attorney state.

With the FHA/lower down payment option, you have the ability to eliminate your housing expense, save more of your income, and still have the large reserve of over $100k. Like you stated, you can move out in a year and rent the other unit. You already have your potential next down payment in your $100k reserves for you next FHA/low down payment house hack. I would hands down go for the house hack option.

Side note: my first property was a 25% down payment investment. I regret not house hacking that. Would have been able to grow way quicker.

@Pratik Tembe I like and invest in the north shore towns of Salem and Beverly . I house hack a 2 family in Beverly and have 3 family as a straight investment in Salem.

Both have small colleges and are good commuter spots to Boston. Good rent and price appreciation as well.

Definitely agree with the golf camp!

Can be individual or team. You can do it by yourself, but it is much easier with a coach (mentor). You won't master "the game" after your first round. One bad shot won't ruin your game. It's one thing to go to the driving range, and another actually to go out and play. 

Hi @Nicole Grenier

If you haven't already, try face-book groups. Local town type of groups, or maybe there is a renter/landlord group for your area/county/region. I am currently doing some maintenance on one of my units, my girl friend in the meantime responded to a person who needed an apartment, and a lot of other would be renters jumped in and were asking about when the unit would be ready.

Hi @Adam Munekata

You could buy at minimum a 2 family with the price range. How far away from your school are you willing to be? If you are house hacking, you should be aiming to eliminate your housing payment, or drastically reduce your monthly expenses. This doesn't mean to throw out all of the rules of thumb, but you can be a little more relaxed (in my opinion). Another key thing, will the property you buy be a good rental if you move out of the property? As you stated earlier, SFR are expensive, they will not cash flow as a traditional rental in most areas in boston and surrounding cities.

Hope this perspective helps!

Hi @Michal Kasza

I live in Beverly on the North Shore. My strategy is multi-family buy and hold. I own a 3 family in Salem MA, and a 2 family house hack in Beverly. Hoping to get a 3rd in 6-12 months.

Good luck with your contractor's license! That should definitely help with value add projects in your future investing

@Mikael Winkler thank you for the response. I feel like I’m definitely leaning towards taking their offer. It wasn’t exactly what we wanted. But it is definitely a good amount and could be useful for our goals.

Thanks, have a great day!

Hi all,

I am in the middle of getting a HELOC for a house hack I am currently doing. My girlfriend and I have owned the house for 2+ years, did rehab, and have seen our surrounding market appreciate quite nicely.

We applied with a bank that only did a 75% LTV for a HELOC. They did a driveby appraisal which resulted in a good value, but the 75% ltv was too low for what we are looking for.

We opted to try a different bank that did higher LTV. The bank we chose did a drive by appraisal, and came in at a lower value. The bank asked if we wanted to do a walk through appraisal. We said yes (caveat was that if lower, then the bank had to use that number).

The walk through came in $2k lower than the drive by (which is totally fine), but the report used pretty bad comps in my opinion (I'm a realtor in the area). Sales over 6 months old, different neighborhoods were used, when closer proximity sales have happened more recently.

Question is : would you challenge the appraisal? Can you challenge for a HELOC? Does it make sense to do so , or should I be lucky to get a HELOC at all in this COVID world?

I am leaning toward taking the offer the bank gives (don't want to delay having the access to that cash) , but just wanted to see what the BP crowd thinks. Thanks!