All Forum Posts by: Steve Kenney

Hey Nicholas,

Like you mentioned, I'd pay the high interest loans off as quickly as possible. If your student loans are only 3-5% interest, that's pretty good so I think it's okay to pay those off over time.

It sounds like you're making good income with your current employer and there is room to grow, so I'd plan to stay with that job until you can pay your high interest loans off and save enough for a down payment for your first property. A lot of new investors use FHA loans, which are 3.5% down. If you live below your means you should be able to save enough for this.

I think getting your real estate license is not required for investing in real estate, but is very helpful. If you want to learn more about real estate and make some additional income, becoming an agent can be a great way to do that.  

You mentioned a career change, I think going into the trades like plumbing and electrical are great and you can make good money doing those, but I think you may be taking on too much by trying to do that right now. Maybe get your debt paid down, get your first deal, get some savings built up, then reconsider the potential change. 

Reading how-to investing books, listening to investing podcasts and going to local investor meetups are great ways to learn the ropes. 

Hey Alex,

Congrats on getting started! There are a lot of different avenues in real estate and it can be overwhelming when you first start out, but my advice is to just get the first deal under your belt. You are going to learn a ton from it and also learn about things you do and don't like. Maybe you are really handy and enjoy putting in the sweat equity. That could lead to future fix and flips or BRRRRs. Maybe you hate doing the handy work but have a knack for analyzing deals and end up getting your real estate license to help other investors. There's just so many options out there but the first step is getting that first deal. 

The steps for getting your first deal are:

1. Identify the market you want to invest in (it sounds like you've already done this)

2. Identify your buy box (how many units, purchase price, etc.)

3. Talk to a few local banks and get preapproved - the best financing will be for properties you choose to occupy, so I'd recommend getting something with at least two units. One to live in and the others to rent out

4. Find an investor friendly realtor in your market that can email you listings that match your buy box. 

5. Start analyzing deals regularly. You have to analyze a bunch, so when the right one does pop up you'll be confident in making an offer. 

6. When you find a deal that interest you setup a showing. If the property is a good fit make an offer. 

Those are the basic steps to get your first deal. What also helped me was going to local meetups to meet other investors. That's how I met the realtor that mentored me and got me my first deal. You have to put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone. 

If you could visualize a realistic first deal, what would that look like? Write those details down, then start looking for properties that match it. Try not to get too distracted on flipping, STR, MTR, etc. Just stick to one strategy for now.

Hey Shane,

I'm also an investor in Maine, focusing on the Lewiston-area market. I host a monthly investor meetup here, so feel free to stop by sometime and meet other investors. I try to post the meetup date/times on here, but I can add you to the email list as well if you shoot me your email.

For a hard money lender I'd recommend Matt Rodrigue. He's someone that I met through the meetups and has a lending business called mr qualified https://mrqualified.com/.

Hey Rich,

I'm only at 21 units (closing on another 4 next month), but I work a full-time job and also got my real estate license this year, so my plate's pretty full. 

I've been thought about hiring a PM company for a while now but I've decided to keep the management in-house.

I think it's important to start delegating out the low dollar per hour tasks. If you don't have a virtual assistant yet, I'd recommend getting one to help with things like tenant communications and coordinating contractors. They can take care of a lot of the monotonous tasks, and even do things like send leases, screen tenants, add rent charges, pay utility bills, the list goes on. 

Another thing I've done is hired my fiancée to help with things. She works for me several hours a week and it's been a good way for her to learn the business, make some extra money, and help me with my to do list. 

It seems like gripes with PM companies have been a common theme lately. I think the business has pretty thin profit margins and they tend to take on too many units, which results in the quality going down. Even with that being the case though, if you hire someone to do a job that's only 80% as good as you can do it, you are still freeing up your time to focus on other things. 

I think whatever you decide, you should look to delegate some tasks out to free yourself up.

 Hey David,

That's great and the fact that your father is handy is a huge plus! If it were me I would put the multifamily in my name. You wouldn't be able to use a first time buyer loan in the future but there are other owner occupy loans you can use that require little money down. There are conventional loans that only require 5% down now. There are also other loans that your local banks likely offer that only require 5-10% down when you occupy the property. I would reach out to several local banks to get more details on that but I wouldn't get too hung up on it. 

In my experience having mutli-family properties have not been a factor in getting a loan for a single family. I bought a single family house last year using a VA loan and at the time I had 12 units. They used a percentage of the cashflow from those to put towards my income.

As I mentioned before talk to a lender but I don't think you'll have a problem buying a single family down the line if you own a mutil first. I think starting with a mutil family, adding value to it (making improvements if needed and raising rents), is a great way to get started.

The conventional loan with 5% down program is for properties that you intend to make your primary residence. If you don't plan to live there then I would look to use another loan option. The best thing to do is call a few local lenders in your area and explain what you are looking to do and ask what options are available for that scenario. 

If you intended to live in one of the units for at least a year, then this loan could be used.

Hey David,

I like this idea, but a couple things to consider:

1. Do you have a good relationship with your parents and are you comfortable collecting rent from them, addressing maintenance requests for them and things like that? If they can be difficult to work with, then I'd be careful renting to them as it's not worth ruining a relationship.

2. Why do you want to put the property in their name? Why not just purchase it yourself?

3. If you live in the property there are some great owner-occupy loans available, like FHA or low money down conventional loans. You'll want to talk to a few local lenders to get a better idea what you'll qualify for and what the terms of the loans are.

4. You can live in the property for a year and then move out, buy another multifamily to live in, and use another low money down owner occupy loan. You need to live in the property for at least a year but you can repeat this year after year if you don't mind moving. 

5. If you live in the property for two years and want to sell, you won't pay capital gains tax, so that is just another thing to keep in mind. 

6. Buying a multifamily shouldn't impact your ability to get a home loan for a single family in the future, so I wouldn't let that deter you. I'd just make sure the multifamily is cashflow positive when it's fully rented out (as in after you've moved out and rented the unit).

As others have said, start attending local real estate investing meetups every month. That's the best way to find a mentor and that's how I found mine when I first started out. He was an investor and a real estate agent and showed me how to analyze deals and helped me get my first deal as an investor. The easiest way to start out is to "house hack" or in other words by a multifamily between 2-4 units, live in one unit and rent the other units out. 

Are there any meetups in your area coming up? If so, are you going to attend?

@Nathan Hann

Hey all, we'll be having an investor meetup for the Lewiston/Auburn area on July 17th at Fairlawn Golf Course in Poland. Will have a private space in the Sim room and our guest speaker will be Justin Freeman, who is an established investor myself and CPA! As always, these meetups are free to attend and all are welcome. Hope to see you there!