All Forum Posts by: Mark Roberts

@Brad Ter Beek, have you dug into the BP podcasts at all? There was one a while back (don't remember the show #) with a female investor who seemed to buy and hold SFR's in every deployment location. I see that you're rotating out of the Navy soon, but thought you might enjoy a relatable conversation.

I also see that you're right down the road from me. Although I'm relatively new to exploring real estate as an investment, feel free - like @Carlos Velasquez mentioned - to reach out. I'm the kind of person who seeks out answers to the questions to which I don't have an answer, so ask away and I'll do what I can.

Best of luck,

- Mark

Congrats, @Oz Pariser! Well done and thanks for sharing the good news and valuable tips.

Hi Lesley,

Like @Paul Brodeur, I just wanted to reach out, say hi, and offer assistance in the Southeast part of our State. Best of luck in your area!

Thanks for the reply, Jeff. It's reassuring to hear that you agree with option A, and provided some great reasoning why you landed on that option. Curious to see if anyone else weighs in!

Okay BP Community, this is my first post (call it my intro - Hi!) and I need your help to figure out a course of action. Here's what I've got:

Currently, I own a 1962-built, 2 bed, 1 bath, 786 sq ft ranch with attached 1 car (space of a 2-car) garage on professionally-landscaped .33-acre in Southeastern Connecticut. The place underwent a full flip in 2008, just prior to my purchase - as the Northeast market was crashing, but unfortunately not bottomed-out. I've finally hit 20% LTV, and owe $170k on the mortgage.

This little gem comes with a $1,400-month mortgage - mostly due to FEMA's assessment that my home requires $3,000/year in mandatory flood insurance. Thank you, Hurricane Katrina. Anyhow, the house is small. Really small. And cute, from what I'm told. As it's small and cute, like a bunny, I'll call it the Bunny Ranch. Also, it's been home to the family (my wife and our female rescue pit/lab) since 2008. It's important to mention that I'm stuck in CT for at least another 9.5 years - at which point I plan to relocate to a less-taxed, smaller-government state.

We have agreed that we are out of space at the Bunny Ranch (if my wife reads this, I'm dead), and have begun casually browsing for the next castle. Thankfully, I found BiggerPockets several months ago and have been plowing through the podcasts on my 2-hour daily commute. Now I want to house hack the next place (as in buy a house with an in-law and/or studio over a detached garage to rent), and possibly hang onto the Bunny Ranch as a rental (our neighborhood has several rental properties).

My problem is that I will likely be unable to rent out the Bunny Ranch for $1,500/mo in our area. If FEMA wasn't holding onto my wallet, the mortgage would look more like $1,200 right now, leaving rent to look like and more-reasonable $1,300/mo.

I've considered:

A) Selling the Bunny Ranch altogether (probably at a loss), finding our next place in CT, and hoping that we can house hack (this one is edging out the others at the moment).

B) Trying to rent the BR and temporarily rent another place ourselves until we find our next permanent spot.

C) Staying put, living with the size (and FEMA...), and paying down the mortgage as fast as possible (to say goodbye to FEMA).

D) Staying put and investing our savings into a buy-and-hold property / properties outside CT.

So, BP Community (if you've read this far), please throw your ideas at me...

Thanks!

- Mark

Welcome, Ryan! I'm in the same boat, and currently in the "gather as much information as possible" stage. I find the podcasts extremely useful for this purpose, and would highly recommend them. A fringe benefit to listening is keeping track of the books that different REIs recommend. Make a list of the recommended literature and check out Amazon, your local bookstore, or the library for the titles - you'll gain even more insight into the 'mind of the investor' this way. At least I hope so... Good luck!