Finance pros/cons - first investment -

[Christine Stefchak]

Allentown , PA

I currently own a home with about $25,000 in equity. The home will rent for $1,400-$1,500 a month and my mortgage/taxes are $800 a month.

I want to buy a multi unit - keep current home - live in one unit and rent out the other(s) so I can take advantage of FHA financing (my current home is conventional )

Would it even be worth looking into cash out or line of credit against my current home with how much equity I have ? I have a family member willing to invest in me but I’m not sure I want to involve someone else’s money/business in my first investment deal.

Also, I recently did a balance transfer from my high interest credit card to a credit card I already had opened with a zero balance (they offered me 0%balance transfer ) my credit went from 784-700 because of this!!! I’m so pissed. Do you think it will recover quickly? I’m wondering if it’s a glitch and it looks like I doubled my debt when in reality I just transferred it. It was a LOW amount of money moved too ($5k)

Thanks for reading and for any creative advice you may have. I can’t wait to close my first investment deal!!

[Jason Leavitt]

My guess is your credit score will come right back. The card you transferred the balance to probably reported to the credit agency before the card you paid off. It’s just a timing issue. 

Is the 25k equity you mentioned before hitting 80% LTV? If so, it might be worth it, otherwise probably not.