Financing on a Duplex

[Isaac Rayne]

Hello, I’m 20 years old and I’m looking to invest around 200k into real estate. I want my first investment property to be a duplex so I can get some experience before I go into larger mutli-family deals. So over the last month I’ve been trying to get quotes for a pre-approval from my local banks and loan officers. I haven’t had much luck but my local Bank Of America quoted me a 4.75% (4.85APR) 30 year fixed conventional mortgage 25% down on a $300,000 loan for a duplex investment non-owner occupied.

I make around $70k/yr and have a 750-780 credit score and I do have a 2+ year credit history. My main goal is to cashflow with my investments so I'm not necessarily concerned with how much I'm required to put down. I actually don't want to leverage too much for my first investment. I have heard that I could qualify for a FHA loan and it would probably be smarter to move into it and have it owner occupied then refinance later; and I'm not opposed to this idea I just want to know if the interest rates would be low aswell?

Anyways, if anyone has any advice for me it is welcomed please haha. My agent who's also a REI has told me that 4.75% is too high and it should be in the high 3's and low 4's but from what I'm reading online and from what I'm being told by these loan officers 4.5-5% seems normal? I'm not sure what to believe..

[Tchaka Owen]

Originally posted by @Isaac Rayne:

Originally posted by @Tchaka Owen:

Thanks for the response Owen! Tomorrow when I call my loan officer I will ask them about an FHA loan and moving into the property to make it owner occupied. Also just to clear some things up I don't plan on investing all my capital into a downpayment on one property. I do want to have around 20-30% equity in my first property so my profit margins aren't too volatile due to the loan payment. In the future I'd love to leverage as much as possible but for my first one I know it's a smarter move to play it safe. So with this being considered 25% down on a $300k duplex is only 75k which isn't even half of what I have saved! :)

Just Tchaka, I'm very informal. Owen merely indicates my Welsh background. :-)

They say you make your money when you buy. What that means is find a property below market that needs a little love. So if you buy that same $300k condo at $260k (with 10% down) and spend $10k on a little TLC, you'll be out of pocket $36k and have nearly 20% equity. Many see "playing it safe" as having significant positive cash flow. If you have to put down a lot in order to make it flow positive, it might not be that good a deal.