How did you pay for your first few investment properties?

[Alex Hoang]

I've been reading for a while and am fascinated at how some people have the cash on hand to buy:

-Properties out right with cash

-Multiple properties with 20% down payment

Yes I understand there's many ways to finance but these seem to be the most common for starter investors.

Yes I also understand its sort of like a self perpetuating process that builds on itself but that takes so much time and I see so many young people in the game.

My question is how did you pay for your first few properties and what do you do for a living to support that? Did you get help from family or saved up?

Both my and my wife are doctors with little expenditurrs  and even for us it takes a good while to save for a down payment.

[Joey Palmer]

Hi Alex, 

The way I started was by utilizing an "first time buyer" FHA loan (very little down, I believe 10k on a 170k home) to purchase a (2) family house. It wasn't the prettiest and 1 unit was in better condition than the other. I immediately found a tenant for the nicer unit while I lived in and worked on the other unit. His monthly rent check almost completely paid for my monthly mortgage, insurance, and property taxes. This free'd up the money I typically paid for housing to save for my next investment property. I believe the BP creators refer to this as "house hacking".

I never asked family for money (that can get hairy). I simply found ways to cut costs, short term discomfort. It's now a mind set, I'm able to save almost 40% of what I make a year now. 

I hope this helps Alex. I've heard Austin is an exciting market. Best of luck!