All Forum Posts by: Roberta James

David Dewey

Hi @Roberta James

The first step should be figure out your real estate goals. Do you want to be a wholesaler, flipper, landlord? Do you want you want to build a passive income stream or equity? Basically, what exactly would you like to have achieved in 1, 2 and 3 years?

Once you do that (and make sure you write them down on paper) then the next step is to work backwards from those goals and figure out what budget, property types, locations and purchase/resale/rental strategies will enable you to achieve them. 

Then you need to figure out how to target potential sellers that match this criteria and structure your marketing plan around that. Direct mail does work, but only when it is supported by well defined goals and target lists.  

Attending local REIA meetings would be a great place to ask experienced investors about how to find buyers, sellers and structure deals. Keep listening to podcasts, reading forums and reading recommended real estate books.

Good luck!

It's kind of hard to answer your questions because they are so broad. I think you should use the search box and read up on what you want to know. That way you will have a better understanding. There's plenty of posts on the forum about subject to, direct mail and finding buyers and sellers. Then if you have specific questions, post them.

Hi Roberta,

It all depends on your situation- conventional loans are working great for us so far!

For an investment loan, you will need to put 20% down on a single family property and 25% down on a 2-4 unit multifamily, unless you live in a unit. Interest rates are typically about .5% higher than the rate for your primary residence. You will need to have decent credit and income as well to qualify. The banks will want your debt to income (DTI) ratio to be less than 43%- the debt includes any mortgage payments, car payments, student loans and other loan payments along with property insurance and taxes- so basically less than 43% of your gross income goes towards paying off debts each year. After a certain amount of time (depends on who is underwriting the loan- Fannie or Freddie) the income from your property will count as income in the DTI calculation and the mortgage payment will no longer be on the debt side. Most banks will allow you to have 4 mortgages including your primary home, others allow up to 10- depends on the underwriting again. If you are married, put each loan in one name or the other, then you can get up to 20 loans before you have to start looking for other sources.

Hope that helps,

Kelly

Welcome to BP.

If you go to a local bank, you should be able to obtain great terms and conditions. Try at least 5-10 banks to get the best out of them.

Private / Hard money lenders are pricy.

it all depends on what your goals are- interest rate, low down, speed, flexibility, etc. 

I'm just starting out too and am thinking traditional lending is probably the way I'll go too.  I've got the credit score and income to handle it.  It's a process I'm already familiar with with the purchase of my primary residence.  Being a newbie, I find it comfortable to do so.

Great Private Lender book

http://www.amazon.com/IRA-Wealth-Revolutionary-Str...

Why you need private money to be successful

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3/blog_posts/43..

I will most definitely look into this. I appreciate your support Brian!!