All Forum Posts by: Kenneth McKeown

@Ian Jaeger I would highly recommend looking at potentially either a SFH or a MFH and you can map out (as long as you know your days in town/out of town) opportunities to AirBnB your side or rooms. Obviously this can be done while you're at home too - but it would be pretty sweet to be getting rent on one side while you're traveling and then also have a management company taking care of individuals that may be renting a room on your side (or in your SFH). I personally will likely be testing our AirBnBing a room in my next purchase. Just food for thought. Or you can just strictly find a small MFH and have the other side rented. Plenty of options!

@Haley Powell welcome to BP! I was in your shoes just about 3-4 years ago. I had just finished graduate school at Texas A&M and had picked up the book Rich Dad Poor Dad after teaching for my first few months. I'll comment on a few of the items you mentioned - first off, condos. I'm personally not a fan. Condos will have HOA's - which is essentially renting (or paying someone else and never building any equity of your own) and they tend to be the least appreciating type of household. Most people will start with a duplex, quad or single family & rent out the rooms depending on each persons desires.

Now the income situation - I was a teacher and made a pretty similar salary and did have some student loan debt and car debt. I was able to qualify for at a $300k duplex - but the issue here is if you want to be near downtown.. duplexes are not anywhere near that price. Most areas of downtown you're talking low to mid 400k starting for duplexes. The duplexes downtown &/or surrounding areas aren't really cash flowing properties. I could go into more detail about this - but you've got to accept the negatives of purchasing near downtown.

You'll love Dallas though I'm sure - not sure if you've ever visited, but I've traveled all over and settled down here. It's great!

@Tyler Moore I may be biased - being local in Dallas... but there is a reason so many people are investing here. I've lived in CA myself as well - and there was no opportunity for investments there at my entry level. I personally invest locally myself and would advise most others to do the same UNLESS they are in an area without the potential to invest (such as my clients in CA). 

@Ben Volkman that's not true at all. I would reach out to a lender that's much more knowledgeable on 2-4 unit FHA house hacks - I personally use @Tyler Hodgson. I'd give him a buzz.

@Kiel Johnson Welcome! There's a ton of us on here that spent time in the military (USMC here) and utilized our VA loan. I've used mine personally twice - and I hope you have too on your personal residence. It really gives us a leg up on cash flow with no PMI and premiere interest rates.

With that being said - what's your plan after you move out of downtown? Not a lot of stuff downtown is making a lot of sense investment wise.

@Will Fraser I'd be careful with 'We'd pay a cheap real estate agent 4%' - this is what is ruining our profession. You get what you pay for and sorry - I take offense when, an agent especially, wants to discount their service. If you're so quick to discount your service - what type of negotiation skills are you going to have to net your seller the most?  But hey - I'm not an agent that takes listings at 4%.. and I offer so much to my clients that they don't even bother asking for a discount on my listing fees. 

Now @Neil Rafol - the biggest thing here - is make sure you know the TRUE value of your home. Yes you can save on realtor fees if you don't use one, but make sure you're also not leaving money on the table without truly knowing what your house may sell for. Sellers can often believe their house is also worth more than it really is - so make sure you're squared away here. Curious though - did you live in the house at any point within the last 5 years for over a year? Over two years? You could avoid some capital gains and it may make sense NOT to pay for a 1031.. it all depends. But if not - definitely 1031 into a larger deal IMO, unless you're in need of the cash. 

@Michael Blank have you ever considered investing in the DFW market (likely 15-20% down) and then buying a primary in San Diego with little down (ex. 3% down)? Yes the mortgage would be much higher on your SD property but you would be obtaining two houses or potentially multiple units if you go MFH in the DFW market. I'm not sure of your financial position but it could be something to consider. You could definitely AirBnB a room in SD too - kinda the sweet spot of renting out a room and airbnb'ing a condo. 

@Monica Juarez-Gonzales I'd reach out to @Tyler Hodgson. He owns a CPA firm and is a great mortgage broker as well. 

@Prasanna K. "The main value the realtor is bringing is opening the lockbox for the properties."

You need to find a new realtor, as John mentioned. Period.

@Roberto Lugo you should talk to @Jorge Gonzalez ! He's doing #1.

With that being said I believe that getting into a property and building equity, tax incentives, debt pay down, etc for the next year years will far exceed sitting around for 3-4 years saving up and then purchasing something. There's a multitude of ways to start investing but I myself would lean more towards option #1. Joshua did mention finding a MFH but they are very difficult to obtain & you would be fighting tremendously and potentially even overpaying in our market (maybe). 

Now regarding owner finance... that's something I would do MYSElf as an owner, but I wouldn't purchase something owner finance. That's my own opinion there though and I could ramble on about why. But ultimately I'd say jump in sooner rather than later and make sure the purchase is a good one.