All Forum Posts by: Thomas O'Donnell

I am planning to move to the Austin or San Antonio area this year and house-hack my first property. If there are any agents in these cities who have some advice or general knowledge about investing there, it would be greatly appreciated! Looking to do a FHA loan on a duplex/triplex.

Additional Question: If I find a property I want to buy, how would I qualify/go through the process of obtaining it if I currently live in CA and would be moving to TX to work and to live in the property?

Quote from @Travis Timmons:

Don't sell a generally appreciating asset until you have a better option to replace it with. If you find a deal that works, you can show your stocks as proof of funds - it doesn't have to be cash. Find a deal first and then decide. And in the period between going under contract and closing, sell the stocks and use that money. As for timing, be patient. It sucks, but you're building a house brick by brick. You're making good decisions - moving to a cheaper market, asking good questions, working overtime/saving up money. Slow and steady still wins the race and you are on the right track.

Thank you for this! I did not know I could use my stock portfolio as proof of funds. So for instance a lender would see $2k in cash and $9k in stocks and say I have $11k to invest? Even though I didn't sell my stocks? Or I would have to sell them before closing? 

Quote from @Steven Foster Wilson:

Quote from @Thomas O'Donnell:

Hello all, I currently plan on house-hacking my first property within the next year or as soon as I can. I will be moving to either Austin or San Antonio, depending on which is a better fit. I am currently working overtime to try and save up capital needed to move and get started on a FHA loan. I have pretty good credit for my age (740+), and can transfer with my job if needed. The current problem I am facing is having the required capital. At the moment I have a stock portfolio worth $9k, and I have $2k in cash.

Question: Should I sell my stock portfolio when the time comes so I can use that money to put towards a down payment on FHA loan? Or should I keep my portfolio separate and just keep saving up cash?

My fear is I do not want to wait too long to get started, as rates keep rising as well as prices. I've spent the last year educating myself on real estate investing and how to use it to obtain financial freedom. I want more than anything to begin this journey and live the life we all deserve! Any advice or input is greatly appreciated! Thank you all!

 It sounds like you are working very hard. When I was first starting out I had to sell my stocks. I was so sad though because it was Apple stocks and it divided and I could’ve made so much more. Have you asked any family or people in your network like friends that would be willing to invest with you? Have you wrote out a game plan of what you’re going to do? I always think it’s wise to start doing numbers on properties in the area that you want to buy. That allows you to have a better idea for what you will be getting into as well as you can tell potential investors what they might be looking at investing/getting at the end. 

Thanks for the comment! I will most likely be partnering and moving with my girlfriend who will be putting $ on the downpayment as well. Of course we would do some terms in case anything were to happen between us but other than that It will be us two. I am looking to get into a duplex/triplex with maybe a light rehab needed for some value add (cosmetics).And yeah I really do not want to sell my Apple LOL. I have about $7k worth of my portfolio I really want to keep but I'm fine with offloading some of it. 

Hello all, I currently plan on house-hacking my first property within the next year or as soon as I can. I will be moving to either Austin or San Antonio, depending on which is a better fit. I am currently working overtime to try and save up capital needed to move and get started on a FHA loan. I have pretty good credit for my age (740+), and can transfer with my job if needed. The current problem I am facing is having the required capital. At the moment I have a stock portfolio worth $9k, and I have $2k in cash.

Question: Should I sell my stock portfolio when the time comes so I can use that money to put towards a down payment on FHA loan? Or should I keep my portfolio separate and just keep saving up cash?

My fear is I do not want to wait too long to get started, as rates keep rising as well as prices. I've spent the last year educating myself on real estate investing and how to use it to obtain financial freedom. I want more than anything to begin this journey and live the life we all deserve! Any advice or input is greatly appreciated! Thank you all!

Hello all, I currently plan on house-hacking my first property within the next year or as soon as I can. I will be moving to either Austin or San Antonio, depending on which is a better fit. I am currently working overtime to try and save up capital needed to move and get started on a FHA loan. I have pretty good credit for my age (740+), and can transfer with my job if needed. The current problem I am facing is having the required capital. At the moment I have a stock portfolio worth $9k, and I have $2k in cash.

Question: Should I sell my stock portfolio when the time comes so I can use that money to put towards a down payment on FHA loan? Or should I keep my portfolio separate and just keep saving up cash?

My fear is I do not want to wait too long to get started, as rates keep rising as well as prices. I've spent the last year educating myself on real estate investing and how to use it to obtain financial freedom. I want more than anything to begin this journey and live the life we all deserve! Any advice or input is greatly appreciated! Thank you all!

Quote from @Jordan Moorhead:

@Thomas O'Donnell Austin has appreciated 70% these last two years. While I think SA will still grow a lot I also know Austin has a lot more growth ahead of it. We're crushing it with STR and Monthly rentals here in Austin and getting really good cashflow.

I still think the most important thing is where you want to live. Make sure to come to both when you're in Texas, they're only 1.5 hours apart. One househack won't make your investing career, but being able to do 5 because you don't hate where you live will certainly help you get started!

 Thanks for the input! I definitely agree I need to hit both and see which fits best. I've heard Austin is pretty short on multifamily properties and they are very competitive.

Quote from @Adam Sieg:

Hi @Anthony Taylor! Welcome to the world of real estate investing!  It can be overwhelming as I'm sure you are learning.  We were excited about our journey but with all of the information we weren't actually making any moves.  Given our limited time being healthcare professionals and a newborn on the way, we looked into turnkey properties.  They ended up being a great option for us as we could get into real estate but didn't have to go through all of the potential headaches you may find with other strategies.  Also, we could learn along the way so we could venture out to other opportunities when they presented themselves.  Not something a lot of people talk about but I personally think it is a great step for first-time investors.  We worked with rent-to-retirement and have been very happy with how we've grown our portfolio. Happy to share more!

 This is a great take! We definitely do not hear enough about turn key properties! Would love to learn  more!

I'm in the same boat! Glad to see another newbie getting ready to take on their first property! I am planning to move to San Antonio, TX in the near future and get a FHA for a small multifamily as well. Good luck with this! My inbox is open if you ever want to chat it up and bounce ideas around.

Quote from @Andrew Freed:

@Thomas O'Donnell - I don't disagree with you that San Antonio's numbers look far better than Austin, but Austin is a lot more fun to live in. They just have so much development happening there. Have you considered properties north of Austin. There are some very good towns and cities in that direction such as Round Rock, Georgetown, Leander. However I know multi's in the Austin area are a rarity. You may be able to find a duplex but three or four units are extremely hard to find. 

I have not looked north of Austin yet. And yeah I really want to do MF homes as opposed to SF. I can tell Austin definitely is more fun to live in but I just worry it will be super expensive already by the time I'm able to buy. Also, yeah they are pretty limited when it comes to MF.

Quote from @Jordan Moorhead:

@Thomas O'Donnell both are great markets. Figure out where you want to live, who cares which market has better numbers. Your happiness is worth more than a few bucks. The reason I've been successfully househacking since 2016 is that I've always lived in the general area that I want to be in. This makes me want to do it over and over. I may flex a little bit on the neighborhood, but I never flex on the broader area.

 Love this mindset! I'm supposed to visit San Antonio later this year and I might visit Austin in the same trip just to get a real feel of both. I currently just feel like San Antonio has cheaper prices and more area to expand  but I could be wrong. Definitely agree too though that my overall happiness should play a part in the decision too, not just the numbers.