1st Time Investor Financing

[Janetta C.]

Hello!

I'm ready to buy my first investment property (before the end of the year) in Virginia but I'm not sure the best option for financing or the type of property to purchase. I purchased a new home in 2016 and was wondering if I should take out a home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC) to get started in investing and have access to capital, any advice?

[Tom Hacku]

@Janetta C. I'm also trying to get my first single family rental toward the end of the year. I'm in Richmond and trying to network and learn as much as I can. I reached out to some lenders today to get some information on what type of loan will be best for me and my strategy/goals. What I'm finding is that there are a lot of lending components that will come secondary to nailing down your investment strategy and goals. For example, my longer term goals will be to grow and and eventually get a larger portfolio of investment/rental properties. With a larger portfolio it's probably a wise idea for me to look into an LLC (talk to a lawyer/cpa, I'm not one) which from what I understand may affect the type of loan I get. But I think right now the most important step is to get crystal clear on your goals and strategy so that way when you build a team, they'll know how to help you in your pursuit of these goals. I'm right with ya on trying to get that first property and all the information coming in can definitely be overwhelming, but it appears the narrower your focus, the clearer things get. Hope to hear about your success towards the end of the year!