Looking to FHA a fourplex for first home by the end of the year

[Joshua Rothchild]

Hi all!

I've been lurking the forums and listening to the podcasts and  different audio books about a year now. It's time to start taking action!

I wanted to get something towards the end of last year and started talking to a mortgage broker (203k expert) getting more information about how he runs the numbers and getting pre approved for around $250k using a $13k loan from my 401k for the down payment. Well after learning more about DTI and looking over my financials more carefully I decided to hold off until I could reduce my debt and get rid of my expensive sports car payment. Today my credit cards are almost paid off and my total vehicle cost is down from over $1000/mo to about $400/mo.

Now I am looking for a four plex in my county on the popular sites but obviously there are no good deals there. One property is even asking the same as the assessors  total replacement cost for a product from the 1950's! 

I suppose I should do a little more shopping for a loan and get approved first so I am ready to submit offers when I do find a deal. Maybe I am being too picky for the MLS, I'm trying to find something close to 2%, $200 per door with all 4 rented and break even after expenses with 3 units rented and 1 occupied. Should be doable here in the midwest, but prices are kind of high here in Lake county, IN being 30 minutes from Chicago.

I know my post is missing a lot of info, I am hastily typing on break to get the conversation going. I don't like having a deadline to get a property because I might rush into a bad deal at the top of the market but without one I may never take the action required. At this point in the cycle I'm not sure which is worse but I have heard "no deal is better than a bad deal."

Josh Rothschild

Highland, IN