New house hacker in Newport News, VA

[Mike W.]

Hello everybody,

after reading a lot in this forum, listening thorugh most of the BP podcasts and reading multiple books, it is about time to introduce myself.

My name is Michael, 30 years old and recently moved from Germany to Newport News, VA due to some job oppotunities. I've worked as a plumber/heating-/ gas-tech for many years overseas and I hope this will come in handy during my real estate journey.

I would consider myself quite frugal, but i always lived for rent, i still do. This needs to change, to me this is lost money. After i built up some credit, saved for a down payment and monitored the local marked for quite a while i want to take the next steps.

My plan is to find a 3 or 4 unit multi family property around the Newport News area which i can house hack and maybe add some equity to. Unfortunately, such bigger properties seem to be pretty rare around here.

I don't have a lot of connections yet, but found some local real estate groups. I intend to join some meetings in the furure if my job allows that. So if anybody knows a good lender around this area or just has some expereiences to share, i would appreciate that.

[William Sing]

Hey Mike,

Congrats on deciding on making the next steps in Real Estate!

I'm not around that area but thought these tips might be helpful. 
1) When searching for properties, you can look for on-market or off-market deals. I'd suggest finding a real estate agent who is well versed in investments if you go on-market. In my eyes, this gives you a lot more of an understanding of the process without as much liability for your first property. If you need someone to recommend let me know! If you are going for off-market deals, I'd look into driving for dollars or doing some mail campaign. When you look for off-market deals there is a lot more time involved. 
2) Using Redfin, make a broad search of multifamily properties that have sold in the past year or so. Multifamily homes sometimes are built in clusters. I had a builder in my area that sells of 1-2 multifamily units every year from their portfolio so it might be away. 
3) You can buy 3-4 units with FHA, but they have a 75% sustainability rule to be aware of (duplexes don't have this). The total rent needs to cover 75% of the PITI. This can sometimes limit your use of this loan if the values are appreciating quickly. 

When searching for a lender, make sure they understand investments. Here are some questions I would use when interviewing them. 

What does your team look like?
What systems do you have in place?
What are your expectations of a client?
How long is the seasoning period before you can borrow money against the property?
Tell me about your experience with investing?
How many deals have you done?
What are deals you have learned from?
Where would/do you invest in this market? Why?
How do you like to communicate? Frequency?