All Forum Posts by: Kyle Spearin

@Brian Martin good luck and welcome to the community!

Hi @BJ Min it all comes down to your inherent risk tolerance, accessibility to cash, and long term desires. As you said, these things are subjective, so I can only speak for myself.

I prefer live-in flips and house hacks. For a live in flip, I look for a poorly maintained home that needs cosmetic (nothing structural) repairs. If I see that I can get it below market value and force appreciation, I will buy it, live in it (low money down because you are the primary resident), and fix it up. I would hold 2 years (tax reasons) and repeat with this process.

Another great newbie approach is house hacking. You live in 1 unit of a multi-family or rent out by the room while occupying a single family (less than 4 units) residence. Again, you receive all the benefits of being the primary residence and you might be able to get pre-approved for a more expensive property because the rent from other units can be counted as income (up to 75%) when evaluating your monthly payments.

Hope this helps a little!

@Kevin Hildebrandt thank you for sharing!

@Zach Larimore congrats on knowing what you want to do after college, not many people your age do! Something to consider is funding for your investments. If you plan on having a traditional mortgage and thus lender, you will need proof of income and probably a cosigner. I'm probably more on the conservative side in terms of this recommendation, but if you find a 9-5 and invest on the side at first or find a way to get a job related to real estate, you can use that income to qualify for loans while getting industry experience. Keep in mind, this is just one opinion, but I hope it helps!

Good luck!

Hi @Adam Cade, thank you for your service! I think that for what you're looking for, your best bet is to have great boots on the ground such as property manager and realtor connections. These people will know about deals off market, before they hit the MLS, Zillow, etc. In these types of situations, you will probably have a wider margin because you will be able to pay below market price as opposed to at market rate, drastically changing your numbers. Your network is your net worth. Good luck!

@Faraz Rashid welcome to the community. I recommend networking on BP and finding a specific niche. Are you going to flip the SFH or MFH? Buy and hold? BRRRR? Once you know this, it will be easier to create a team conducive to your goals. Good luck!

@Yashank Choksi am I the one living in it, or do I own it and I'm trying to rent it out in this scenario? I think that in general people would prefer a house, but living in a city these are harder to come by and apartments might have amenities that make them more alluring.

@Firas Faraj this is a great question. People have varying opinions about this, some will say that it gives you great insight, others will say it is not worth your time if you don't plan on selling houses and making it a business.

I have my real estate license and only do a few deals a year, but it was worth it for me. When buying through the MLS, you can be your own agent so that saves on commission. It really depends on how you view yourself using your time--I think it's worth a couple months of studying.

Good luck!

@Lloyd Silver Perhaps sorting by price range? Anything that seems undervalued in a particular area might worth further investigating. Good luck!

@Account Closed congrats on closing! I would look into different policies to see which offers a more all encompassing insurance plan to protect you. Another thing that you can do is require those renting to have insurance as well so that their personal property is protected under that plan. Good luck!