Seeking Guidence/Advice For An Early Starting Point

[Jacob LePretre]

Hey guys, hope I’m in the right place here or that this kind of stuff is allowed. New to the forums.

So good morning. I’m new here and new to the real estate game, actually I haven't even scratched the surface yet. I’ve looked up info in the past few weeks and read until thankfully I discovered BP, which i will say is a great help. The Beginners Guide I’d strongly recommend but if you’re here you probably already know that.

I am looking for a little help here, some guidance as I have roughly 4-5 months before I start anything besides learning and saving.

Here’s the background.

I am 22, 23 in June. Born and raised in Chicago.

I am in debt, about 70K from college, otherwise no car, no credit card or any other debt. I have a good credit score, don’t know exactly what it’s at but I’ve never missed a payment when I used cards.

I currently am at an insurance company working for the marketing team as a content writer.

But I go and work for underprivileged kids in the summer, pay isn't much but I don’t do it for the pay. I should be able to save about 2K because my cost of living is essentially zero there. And the same goes for while I am at home, I plan to live with my parents for however long after camp.

So now I was looking into the FHA loans and the 3.5% down payment is something I could be able to do. I would like to do it in the Chicago area (more-so the Southside where I'm from) or else the surrounding suburbs.

I am in the process of currently refinancing my student loans to lower the interest rate.

I spent two summers painting houses and apartments and gutting houses so I am experienced and confident in that aspect, I believe that myself (maybe along with some friends) can do everything that a rehab would need but some in depth electric work.

I like to write (which is why I took this job as a content writer), I suppose my end game would be writing my stories and owning property to rent, starting with the FHA loan, living there for the year and moving on from there. Looking more for a duplex to start.

My cost of living is essential zero because I have two loving parents who let me live at home and eat for free.. I help where I can though, not just a freeloader lol.

I guess my question for everyone or anyone willing to offer it is just where to start? Or what advice anyone can offer me with five months to prepare? Like I said, new to BP but I’ve been reading and taking notes.

I plan on getting some books on real estate for the summer as well.

How can I work with 70K in student loan debt to make anything work? How can I go about successfully getting the FHA loan and making a profit on the apartment?

Any article links or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Brie Schmidt]

@Jacob LePretre - First, you need to understand how to get a loan.  How much your approved for is calculated by your debt to income ratios.  Understanding DTI is easy. Take your annual income before taxes and divide that by 12. For example let's say it is $120k - or $10k a month. Take that times 45% and that is your max payment including debts. So in this scenario it is $4,500

A good ballpark P&I payment per month for every $100k you finance is:

FHA - $575

5% Down - $550

20% Down - $500

So Assume $4,500 is your max DTI and your student loans are $800 a month, that means your max mortgage payment can be $3700.  Assume Taxes and Insurance are $1,000 / mo so your max loan payment can be $2,800 a month. With a FHA loan your payment is $575 for every $100k you finance so you can have a loan of $469k ($4,500 - $1,800 = $2,700 / $575 = 4.69 * $100k)