Financing for a first multi unit property

[Amanda Johnson]

Hi everyone, my name’s Amanda and this is my first post as part of the community. I am 27 and am a realtor. I worked for a new home builder for 2.5 years and about 6 months ago, I transitioned over to the resale world. I was able to purchase my first home through the builder I worked for at a discount and now I want to start building my portfolio with multi it properties. I am looking in areas outside of where I live- Texas, Arizona, etc. I don’t financially have the funds yet for a down payment since I am working on rebuilding my business so my next strategy is to take the equity out of my home to use for a down payment but that will roughly be $40k so not nearly enough for the normal 20% down. I need thoughts, ideas, advice on who to talk to or options I have! 

[Andrew Kerr]

@Amanda Johnson welcome to BP! Starting off in buy & hold is tough and slow as you need cash for down payments.

$40k will let you buy about $200k, there are some decent multi-family properties out there for that price range. But this would also tap you out. 

Could you look at pulling cash out of your home, then renting it. Then use the cash you pulled out for a house hack? Buy a 2-4 unit and live in one unit and rent the others. This would free up money that would have gone to housing costs, and it would get you your next rental. 

You could also look at partnering with someone. Find someone that could put in $30-35k, and now you two have $70k for a deal. 

There are a lot of options out there. Don't get discouraged as things move slowly on your first few bu & hold deals. Again, welcome to the forums!