Wisconsin Fox Valley Area First Time Investor

[Jennifer L.]

Hi Everyone!

I recently joined and received some good insight on my first point! My husband and I bought our first home in WI January 2020 and looking to start investing in our first property this year nearby in the Fox Valley (hopefully finding a deal before summer). We want to start small to get our feet wet. Initially we were planning on partnering with a friend, but after looking at the numbers and interested in only SFH or Duplexes to start, it makes more sense for us to do it on our own. I think an umbrella policy makes more sense than an LLC at this time.

Is finding a lendor for investment property pretty similar to purchasing a primary residence like we did previously? I'm unsure of what type of loan we should be looking at for lowest interest rates and is it normal to be able to get a pre qualification just to look at numbers before doing pre approvals and getting a hard credit check with each lendor?

Some things about us - we both work full time, great credit, when we bought our home January 2020 we put 20% down with a fixed 3.125% - 10 year loan. We are open to doing a heloc if that makes sense. We are able to put 20% down for an investment property, but prefer to use less of our cash if possible. 

Also if anyone in WI has lendors they recommend they've personally used, please let me know.

Thanks!