I pondering what to do next; want to make a good investment

[Justin Williams]

Hi All!

I'm needing a little help deciding what to do next. It looks like this site can give me some guidance. I am currently living in West Valley City. I own a single family home that I purchased with my brother a few years ago. To this point it has been a great success as a buy and hold. I want to continue making smart real estate moves as sort of a part time investment craving on the side; I am also working full-time. I am a social worker and I can't expect to be making a six figure salary any time soon. With that being said I don't have a ton of cash to put down on a new properties. As we all know the market in this area is very hot. I am open to a lot, I just want to make a good investment. I would like a multifamily property but don't know that I would have enough to put down for a duplex, or if I could even find a decent property that didn't fly off the market before I got to it. I'm also open to doing what I did previously, which was buying a house, live in and flip it a little bit, and then hold and rent. The strength that my brother and I have is that we are willing to put in the work ourselves to build equity in the property. What do you all think about finding something in the Salt Lake Valley area? I also find Provo to be very attractive since prices are so low, the population is increasing, and development seems to be on the up. Would love to hear what you all have to say. 

Thanks, 

Justin 

[Andrew Dean]

@Justin Williams

Sounds like house hacking is the way to go, if I were in your shoes. I would look for an attractive property in the SLC/Utah County area where you could put a low down payment (FHA if you haven't used it already) live in it, slowly rehab it as you live there while subsidizing your mortgage, then either selling it or holding it longer term. I like Provo/Orem because there are 2 huge universities and a very low vacancy rate (1-2%).

[Justin Hammond]

I agree with @Andrew Dean.

You could also offer to partner with someone who has experience flipping if you want to learn more about creative financing. For instance, offer your remodel skills for very cheap in exchange for some education on the business side? 

I currently own a few rental properties and I have yet to use my own cash to acquire them. If that's something you're interested in I'd be happy to chat (and it has nothing to do with signing up for a program - just working w/ partners). 

[Sam Levin]

From Provo to Herriman there are some fantastic opportunities in multi-family if you know where to look off-market. Once these properties hit the MLS there tends to be a bit of a feeding frenzy.

Either way can work but if you make the right contacts in these areas they can let you know when something good turns up before it's revealed to the general public.

[Sam Newell]

Justin Williams it sounds like we should look into a house-hack for you. I'm currently house hacking a distressed home in Lehi, and in June I'll be house hacking a new townhome that Edge Homes is building for me. There are some great deals from West Valley to Provo that we can look at. Duplexes are crazy hot so I'd look at them but also look at townhomes and sfh' as well.