All Forum Posts by: Lawrence Gentry Thompson

Hi everyone. I've been trying to decide how to go about real estate investing and I finally seem to have something coming together: moving into a multi-family and renting out the other units, then later buy other multi-units and cash flow from them. However, there are almost no multi-family homes in my area. Therefore, I thought about buying foreclosures. However, since I'm a novice and have almost no money, I can't buy a foreclosure since you have to have the cash (and it must be cash) the day you buy the home in an auction. What about buying properties in pre-foreclosure? Also, there are many more single-family rentals in my area so should I switch to that niche just so I can get started? I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage if there's no tenant, though. 

Hi, my name is Gentry Thompson and I'm trying to decide if my first property should be a single-family rental or a multi-family rental. I've read elsewhere and agree that one's circumstances are the deciding factor so here are mine: I'm starting with basically nothing (I have a little under $37,000 in student loan debt that I'm going to pay back with the income I generate from the rental), I have huge goals, such as being a millionaire, retiring at around age forty, being able to live life on my own terms and having plenty to give away to worthy causes. I've been advised elsewhere to househack, so multi-family rentals are really conducive to doing so. I signed a lease last month to stay in my apartment until January 2021 so I won't be able to live in the multi-family rental until then. If all units in the multi-family are occupied, I can't just kick a tenant out when I want to move in. Should this steer me toward a SFR? I believe also that SFR's are less expensive to acquire.

Do I househack with a multi-family, say anything from a duplex to a quadplex, even though I won't be able to live in it for nearly a year? Or do I start with a SFR? Thank you for all input.

Brad, 

Thank you for your reply. I forgot to mention the interest rate on my debt is 4.8%, I'm on an income-based repayment plan which has the monthly payments at $0. Does this change anything?

Hi, my name is Gentry Thompson and I'm just getting started in the world of real estate investing. I aim to use real estate investing to build generational wealth, enable me to work a traditional job only if I want to, pay off my student loans, travel on demand, pursue dreams and to give money away to worthy causes. 

I'm thirty years old, work two part-time jobs that are just ways to make ends meet and have a little under thirty-seven thousand dollars in student loan debt which I very much want to get out of. I am in the process of becoming a real estate agent at this moment but I want to get started investing as soon as possible. I've read and heard a lot of great information that I'm trying to synthesize. I'm not exactly sure what to do next. 

So, my question is: based on my circumstances, what are your recommendations as to what I should do at this moment to begin investing in real estate?