All Forum Posts by: Yader Gomez

@Garison Clemens I hope to be there! Which meeting specifically are you going to? Their calendar seems to have a lot of meetings and a bunch scratched out.

To add to my last post, if you really do seem set on MFH to make income right away you can also consider looking for homes with detached apartments or in-law suites. Not all of these will show up when  you do a MFH search on Zillow, Trulia, etc. So I've looked for keywords like in-law, apartment, detached, or looked for homes zoned R-2. You have to be careful with these though. I found a home I fell in love with in a good area, decent price, really nice 1/1 in-law suite BUT it was built 30 years ago without proper zoning so it can probably be used as an actual in-law suite without a problem but would need to be rezoned in order to be rented out legally to a tenant. 

@Garison Clemens Did you ever get any clarity on what the way to go about this is? I am literally in your same situation and I'm not sure everyone exactly understands the question I'm asking. Or maybe I'm asking for too much of a detailed plan.

I'm in the Orlando area and was really trying to find a MFH while it's just myself, my girlfriend, and our cat. But everything that would be in my price range of around $300k or less is just not great. They're usually too small or not in the best area. I've only been searching for around a month but it still doesn't look great unless you're ready to pay closer to $500k. And even those homes are rare.

So I've began to consider just doing my SFH home first and then my first rental later. The suggestion I got from my agent and will likely take is to purchase one of these just under my name and my girlfriend purchases the other. I make a little more so I'll likely get our SFH. This is to help a little bit creditwise but I'm also considering our SFH first because of certain programs that I would miss out on otherwise. One in particular for Orange County basically gives you a ridiculously good loan on $15k to use as a down payment. I forget all the fine details but it has a low interest rate and is forgiven after 5 years.

But where I'm stuck is where to go from there. After I get our SFH, then we can save up a little so we have 20% for the rental, but then I don't know what to do. I know we would then have to save up 20% again for rental #2 but what I don't quite understand is how much time, credit, or equity we would have to build in our respective first purchases before we are able to each get our second.

@Chris Grenier I'm not basing everything off reviews, that's just more of my curiosity as to why these units are so cheap. But it certainly doesn't help that reviews are bad and crime seems to be high in the 2 condo communities I've found with lots of units on the market for really cheap prices.

@Rachel N. I've noticed that, too. It does seem like a potential red flag. There are two other areas in different parts of town offering lots of condos at good prices which seems bad to me. Looking up reviews for each area showed not so glowing reviews for those condo communities.

@Chris Grenier I haven't heard the best about the area but looking on Trulia's crime map, it doesn't look any worse than the average parts of town. What have been your experiences renting out or helping clients buy/rent out in the area?

I know I won't live in my rentals but I generally want them to be in an area that would be safe and desirable for my tenants. I was really intrigued by a few condos not too far from RDV sportsplex because they were priced so cheaply and done up nicely inside but the crime map showed the area surrounding this complex was just plain bad and reviews on this complex and the management office there were bad as well.  

Thanks for the tips @Chris Grenier ! Going on your previous advice I'm keeping my eyes open for more than just MFH. I took a look in the zip codes you recommended and found a few properties I'm going to analyze. I'm probably going to stay away from Pine Hills but will look at the Metrowest and Millenia area. What are your thoughts on purchasing a rental before my own residence? I'm looking for something cheap enough that I can cover the 20% with what I have and have a few candidate properties. I'm going to chat with my potential lender later today to figure out how that will affect my ability to buy my own residence later on. My agent has suggested that between my girlfriend and I, one can apply for the loan for the rental now and the other for the residence later (specifically whoever makes less income apply for the rental so we have more borrowing power for our own home).

@Erin Wysocki I'd like to stick under $300k but should probably aim a little lower. I'm open to most of Orlando but mainly hoping for the NE quadrant if you divide it into 4 using I4 and 408. as far north as Altamonte and as far east as Avalon. Definitely open to Oviedo as well but one of the properties I went to see there was a 45 min drive from my job in Apopka.

@Andrew Ashby That would be great! I'm starting out so I'm mostly made up of questions at this point.

@Chris Grenier The 2 year max time frame is a little bit of analysis paralysis. It's a little hoping to wait out for another dip (bad idea, I know), and a bit of trying to save more for down and cash reserves. But I'm chasing moving goalposts at this point because as I save, the prices are also climbing. You're right on the negatives of waiting for the right property in this market. I guess what I really need is the right strategy given the situation. If I were to close on a $115k SFH, would the plan be to have a low mortgage and build up the next down payment so I can move on and use that first SFH as a rental?

@Stewart Vargas-Sosa Thank you for the recommendations! I wasted no time and I'm already working my way through the second chapter of The Book on Rental Property Investing.

@Erin Legler House hacking really seems to be drawing me in. Even if I can't get rent from one half of a duplex to be greater than or equal to the mortgage payments, it still feels like the fast track to getting it paid down and building up my reserves for the next investment. I know there are a lot of factors in play but how long do you estimate your clients looked MFHs until they found the one for them?

Thanks so much @Jim Blackburn The explanation was helpful. This is exactly what I was looking for in trying to understand the difference between purchasing a MFH first and then a SFH or the other way around.