First rental in Appleton Wisconsin

[Carlye Marszalek]

Hello!

I am a current medical resident in Missouri, and I will be taking my first attending job as a physician in Neenah/Appleton Wisconsin this summer.

We are currently looking for a duplex in the Fox Valley area, so that we can house hack. We know it's not a buyers market, especially trying to do it from afar. But we plan to come up and visit in the next couple months. We found a realtor through my future work, but are interested in finding a lender to help us get a FHA loan to fund our house hack!

Does anyone have any info on real estate in that area of Wisconsin, lenders they recommend, or other advice? This will be our first investment property, and are super excited for this next step.

[Dustin B.]

Welcome to the area! 
We’ve house hacked two duplexes in appleton so far.

One huge piece of advise from our experiences - is talk to a local credit union and find a place that can do 5% down conventional (may be a 5 or 7 yr ARM) instead of 3.5% FHA. It may cost a tad more up front but will save you a lot in the long run. In our case, the extra $2500 up front saved us nearly $40k over life of loan (if held constant)

It's my one gripe about BP recommending FHA - doesn't make much sense unless in expensive area. Yes you have to pay 1.5% extra upfront and PMI (that goes away at 20% or two years of payments), but with FHA - you have PERMANENT PMI (until you refi), extra costs/fees that get lumped intI your mortgage and certain inspection criteria. Many sellers actually look at FHA offers as negative aspect to an offer as well.

It’s a very buyers market like you said - which is sucks when starting out. However, it is an excellent area for jobs, growth, appreciation, underserved rental market and not many “bad areas” so great for rentals.