All Forum Posts by: Lien Vuong

Welcome to BP - this is a well explored topic here and understandable in a HCOL area as Boston. If you've identified some friends that you feel would be good partners in this venture its fine to do but I would ask myself if apart from their financial contribution in this investment are they able to add any other values or skills into the deal? Contracting experience for example or real estate leasing, etc. It would also be important be able to understand what the collective goals are and if they are going to be aligned in future investments. Going from investment to investment with different partners is going to be a challenge both in achieving all expectations and dealing with multiple people. 

Thank you for your service! 

This is quite a common scenario but not knowing some more intricate details of your situation, I would recommend for you to proceed with a sale as the your monthly rent would not be sustainable to cover your mortgage and repairs/maintenance as well as management fees. Perhaps you can explore a STR strategy to get more $ but I'm not sure if you'd want to manage it remotely like that. Now doing math on a sale of $500k sale - $6-8% transaction fees would net you $460 on the lower side with a total of $175k in your pocket when you walk away. Thats a very hefty return for 5 years of growth and it is TAX FREE. You can now deploy that cash into a 4-6 plex in another lower cost state and get much higher income out of it and rinse and repeat after a few years. You would have a purchasing power of roughly $650-700k with 25% down with extra reserves.

Congrats on your growth and I'm sure you'll make the right decision for you. 

If youve had 2 years of W2 income you can househack with limited funds and given that your state's properties values are reasonable I think you could find a duplex and get your journey started. 

Congrats on your job offer and savings, thats a major win already right there! 

For selecting the city to live in, I would suggest you do a COL analysis on the cities. Already I think SF is going to the highest with a close second/third of Seattle and Boston and then Dallas and I am assuming Atlanta for Georgia. What you want to focus on is rental rate, taxes (income & property), as well as purchasing power in those communities. 

Whatever city you select does not have to pigeon hold you to the state you're going to make your first investment in but it would be fairly likely as it is going to be a househack of sorts. You can always do OOS investing with the $ you have saved. 

Hope this helps!

I dont think it would be wise to execute both at once as it conflicts with the use so I would pick the option that makes the most sense for you. 

Welcome! There's a few of us here. Have you started your investing yet? Whats' the motivation to target Dorchester specifically? 

Welcome to BP and thank you to the both of you for your service! 

I think you should definitely take advantage of the VA loan that's an amazing perk for you. There's a few VA specific agents here that would be able to give you insight on their process and perhaps you can execute that plan when you land in WA this year.

Best of luck with your investing!

Is this in City of Boston? Is so the density and FAR (floor area ratio) figures are changing in the coming months so its worth maybe a wait until the new laws set in. It will set yo increase density in Boston so you'll be able to add more units. 

To answer your original question - typically in a subdivide you can KEEP your existing (now conforming 2F) property. No need to take the existing property through zoning. 

Happy to intro you to a Boston Zoning Attorney if you'd like to get specific legal opinion on it. 

Honestly this is within the scope of many CPA to reconcile for you. As long as you keep clean accounting it shouldnt be too much trouble. Happy to recommend you someone I know if you DM. 

Welcome to BP! Thanks for your intro and best of luck with your venture! Theres a community of Bostonians here, look for events in the Meet Ups so you can meet people in person.