All Forum Posts by: Justin Schaefer

@Marcus Auerbach and the other investors on here: I may have a need to house hack in West Allis for my first property or two due to work.  I've noticed it kind of seems to go to street by street there.  I'm going to go talk to a cop or two and a PM from the area, but if you were looking to invest in a 2-4 unit there, what are the specific areas/streets you'd look at to buy in?

It seems to me like all of this is highly artificial though, don't you think?  The Government has pumped so much money in to the economy lately, and that money is about to slow down, and once it does don't you think a lot of the "hotness" we see now is going to go away very quickly?  

And don't you think that the banks are probably irresponsibly lending again, and that there's going to be a whole lot of people with new, probably overpriced homes that they just purchased, can't afford the payments on because they might have just lost their jobs or their companies folded, and are suddenly finding themselves underwater just like 08 again?  That wouldn't be an entirely bad thing for us investors, we might be able to get lots of nice properties for very little money.

Following some of the indicators of economic health that J. Scott talks about, the US GDP for Q1 absolutely shot down through the floor, and all it takes is 2 quarters of negative GDP before we have a full blown recession according to J.  Do you think it's going to go back in to the black that quickly?  I mean, I suppose it's possible for a little while longer, but...?  

I must admit, to a certain extent I kinda want you see the economy go down for a while simply because I'm a newbie, and prices are so freaking high on everything right now, I'd have to get really really lucky otherwise I'd never be able to make any money.  I've seen duplexes in mediocre communities going for over 280,300K+ the past few weeks.  That's like 2008 prices from what I remember.  I do realize that that's a double edges sword though. Anyway.... just some thoughts.

Thanks for the insights.  Very thorough, and very interesting data and trends.

congratulations!

@Jeremy Davis I recently heard in an Audiobook that if you are a "tipped" employee, you can count that as income on most loans if you have been doing it for at least two years, and can show that.  I think they will take an average for you.  Plus most loan programs will allow you to add in the rent income on the other units up to about 75%, so that should help you.

Has anyone been using that new BP Insights to determine new distant markets to invest in?

@Patrick Pierre that was a great question!  I'm a newbie too, and as I was running numbers a bunch of times on multifamilies when it occurred to me that maybe I had ought to run the numbers twice, just so I could know what I would be potentially facing.  Run them once with the revenue from both units factored in, and then run them again with only one unit.  That way I could more easily see the impact of me living in one, versus just buying it as an investment and not living there.  Plus, then when I move out in a year, I would have a better idea as to what the property will produce once fully rented out.  

Welcome David!  I too am a newbie in the Mukwonago/Waukesha area.  I'm almost ready to move forward with my first acquisition and have a short term goal to be house hacking by the end of this year.  Best of luck to you, and perhaps we can network in the near future.  It's wonderful that you have such clear goals, and it will also be interesting to see who else responds to your post.  I'll keep an eye on it too.  Take care!

@Tony Robinson awesome story! Congratulations!

I suppose that's probably the best win-win option that the bank is offering, from a list of kinda crappy options, where the customer gets temporary relief and they don't end up losing too much money.  Still not great options.  Especially if it's a bank that has received stimulus money.