All Forum Posts by: Nik Lavoie

I am currently the owner of a duplex in Worcester, just wondering if anyone else investing here is worried about rent decreasing in the near future? Seems as though there are a ton of new developments coming online now/and in the future. Thinking this may be deflationary for current rents, but that is just my hunch with no data to back it up. 

Hoping some other local investors can weigh in with their thoughts. 

 Thanks for the feedback Chris, I appreciate the honesty. Trying to figure out some way forward with rentals, while also insulating my family from too much risk.

My wife and i are currently living in one side of a House Hack in Worcester, MA (about an hour west of Boston) and have access to 125k HELOC. We recently had our first child and are planning on moving into a single family home in the next year or so, but I am dead set on growing our rental portfolio on the side once we move out of the Duplex.

Considering our life plans and current situation, what is the best way to utilize this HELOC to grow our rental portfolio? one method i have heard is the HELOC+Hard Money combo, then refinancing out and repeating. is this something anyone has experience with? what other methods are out there that people have had success with? all ideas welcome!!

one note is that we would like to stay within MA for our investing for now, at least until we gain more experience. 

Thank you!!!

New investor here closing on my first duplex this week... hoping to find an investor friendly CPA and Attorney in the Worcester area. Any suggestions would be huge!! 

Thanks in advance

@Erin Zamarro Thanks for the response! Will connect with you on the CPA

As for the lawyer, mostly landlord/tenant stuff. On my first house hack, looking for some good people to help get my feet under me

Looking for a Real Estate Investory focused CPA and Lawyer in the Worcester, MA area. If anyone could throw a couple names out of people that they know do a great job that would be awesome. Thanks!

@Laryssa Stecyk good catch Laryssa... just checked, the program is being updated in a couple days. Still exists, but the loan amount restriction that currently exists in higher end locations will now also extend to all locations.

Thanks for the heads up!

@Brian J Allen thanks for the feedback Brian!

Couple follow up questions... as far as using other low down payment options after 12 months, would I just be reusing the same mortgage programs over and over again? I thought you could only use FHA once?

As far as finding deals before they hit the market, how attractive would a low down payment offer like mine be in that situation? I feel like I’d have to swoop in with a cash offer to keep it off the market. Market is so hot right now, what is keeping people from listing?

@Tom Rolph thanks for the response Tom. Completely agree, BP is a great resource and I'm trying to absorb as much as possible before jumping in to REI.

Spoke more extensively with my lender today, FHA is one of my options but he says my best route would be 5% down thru the Home Possible program (http://www.freddiemac.com/homepossible/)

There are some restrictions, some of the nicer areas my max mortgage would be around 2700, but otherwise it seems like a much better option that FHA. Avoids the high MI and big FHA fee

New investor here looking to figure out how to start investing and scale up to 5-10 small multi families in 10 years (ish?)… hoping the BP community can help!

I am in the Worcester, MA area, and looking to invest either in Worcester or the surrounding towns. I have about 20k to invest (about 15k in backup money I would rather not use not including 401k)

Duplex in a decent area in the city will go for around 320k-375k, triple goes for 390k-470k. East towards boston, similar or higher, west will be cheaper. 

obviously anything i buy would be low money down... after speaking to my mortgage lender, there are programs available where i could put down betweer 3-5%. 

So my question is, is there a way for me to scale up semi-quickly after a house hack considering where I stand now? unless I am missing something, buying anything in this range would mean my only way to get to the next deal would be to save for another down payment, and would need to be 20% because I couldn't use a beginner loan again.

Is this right? or is there a different method that i am not considering? 

A couple notes:

Don't want to borrow from a private lender or family or anything like that... since I am just starting out, that's not a responsibility im looking to shoulder

Girlfriend is on board, but doesn't want to house hack in a bad area. This rules out cheaper properties in tougher areas. 

I know its possible to get cheaper properties further south/out of the region, but again since I am just starting, don't think I would want to go this route yet