Owner occupying my first Duplex in Las Vegas with a FHA loan

[Karla Relova]

At first, I wanted to buy a fourplex to live in 1 unit and rent out the rest. With hopes that my tenants would pay my mortgage while I lived for free. Then, do the same year after year until I have a couple of properties under my belt and start to invest in other types of real estate. Fourplexes in Vegas are going for around 500-700k depending on the condition and area. I took the step to apply for a loan to learn that I only qualify for 380k. This forced me to reset my search from a fourplex to a duplex. I'm working with a realtor and he found a property for 375k. The problem is that with todays interest rates even if I rented out both units I wouldn't be able to cash flow at that purchase price. I would need to convince the seller to lower the purchase price to around 330k to be able to cashflow. Any thoughts or recommendations on what to do in this situation? How can I convince the seller to lower the price 45k? There aren't any offers on that property yet. Thank you in advance for any advise.   

[Juan V Lopez]

Hey Karla, props to you for getting started. Sounds like you have a couple of options here:

1) Take time to work on your finances and increase your buying power to afford a larger property - larger property -> more units to rent -> higher income. If you give it maybe another year or so to improve your finances, perhaps interest rates will come down in that time too so you can afford to buy more.

2) Tell your agent to submit your $330K offer on that duplex you found. The worst they can say is no.

3) Vegas is a tough market to cash flow in with a small down payment. If you're looking at a FHA loan with 3.5% down, you'll have a higher mortgage + PMI, which will make it harder to cashflow. If you can save up for a higher down payment over the next 1-2 years, you may be in a better position to find a property that you can cash flow on.

Wish you the best and keep going. This is just the beginning for you. Good luck.