Taking The Next Step

[Kaiden Swainamer]

Hi all, 

I currently closed on my first multi-family rental in May of 2022 in New Bedford Mass, and have been doing a house hack ever since. I bought the property in decent condition, with two of the units updated. Since purchasing the property, I fenced in the backyard, installed washers and dryers, and completely renovated the third unit. I purchased the house with and FHA loan and am currently paying about $300 in mortgage insurance.

My goals for this year, is to purchase another property by the end of the year, I would love a 4 unit! I am hesitant to look any larger because that would require commercial funding and I have not navigated that option yet, nor have any connections in the commercial market. I'm really not afraid to get my hands dirty on a project, and enjoy self-managing the units (for now). In addition to getting another property, I also want figure out if there is a way to drop that $300 a month mortgage insurance bill on my current property, as this will help cashflow significantly. 

Would love to connect with anyone that can help me take that next step, whether it be zoom or an in-person meet, coffee or lunch on me! I have listened to literally hundreds of episodes of the podcasts, and have read a good number of books as well, but am struggling to apply that knowledge to real life.

[Kaiden Swainamer]

Quote from @Nicholas D.:

@Kaiden Swainamer as the above members have mentioned your best bet is looking at the disclosure. I know from speaking to my lender there have been different options in the past where you "pay down 20% of the loan etc" others have been so generous to go off the "appraisal" used for the original underwriting, although this seems to be much rarer. Did your appraisal come back with a lot of equity in your property?  I'm sure you were locked in at a better rate at closing than current conditions, but with cost analysis there is always the option to refi if the value/equity is there compared to your principal balance. I would start with speaking to your lender or mortgage broker that you worked with.

Good Luck!

Hi Nicholas and others above, with the FHA structure on my loan, the mortgage insurance payment is always on it and the only option to get it off is a refi. Obviously rates are much higher right now than when I locked in my rate almost this time last year, so at this moment in time it would not make sense. Refinancing is my only option if I want to get out of the payment and I understand that!

I guess what I am really stuck on is to how to go from the first one to the second one and how to start scaling. Using my FHA loan already, the investor style loans in my area would require over 100k to close on a deal. In my area, there is not any REA's that I could find online. I want to network and find partners to bring in to help me fund a deal, but am stuck on how to start the networking process. I have learned a ton from the books and podcasts, but am struggling on how to apply that. I don't have any family or friends that are into real estate, so am stuck on how to get the networking process going and starting to build out. I'm not afraid to put in the work, just don't know what steps to start with.