First Post From Troy Ohio

[Tom Moser]

Hi Everyone,

I am Tom Moser, a 24 year old engineer from the Dayton, Ohio area.  For those of you who may know the area I grew up in Troy, and now work in Sidney.  In 2014 I graduated with a double major in mechanical and manufacturing engineering from Miami University, and now have a full time job as a manufacturing engineer.  After getting my job I started talking to my old youth advisor from the church I went to in high school who happened to be a realtor about how I had been thinking about moving out of my parent's house potentially buying a duplex or a single family home that needed some minor repairs.  Having forgotten about the conversation I got a phone call from her about two months later saying she found something that she thought I might be interested in and this is where my real estate journey began. 

She had found a house in the country that was going up for owner occupant HUD auction with an asking price of 44k. The house had been appraised for escrow at 79k and some comparables in the area were going for about 120k but this house had been empty for a year and needed some work done to it. I decided that I would like to put in a bid and was going to put my bid in at just over asking price, $45,425. This was all well and good until I went to the bank to get financing and they told me that even though I had a good job as an engineer I did not have enough credit history to obtain a loan. Disappointed with the news I started working through potential other options to get funding for the house.

Eventually my parents offered to help me buy the house under multiple conditions basically boiling down to having a monthly fee and needing to repay them within one year.  We wrote up those terms and they provided the funds for me to put in a cash offer.  After having gone through quite the mess my offer was actually accepted!  At closing I was told there was another cash offer for under 200 dollars less than what I had offered so my $425 was a good decision. 

Shortly after getting the house I moved in and have started doing some repairs as I live there.  The major repairs I have done are replacing the well pump and pressure tank, and redoing the bathroom.  In the bathroom I replaced the sink, toilet, shower surround, flooring, subflooring, and did some drywalling, replacing the tile on the walls with wainscoting.  When I did the repairs on the bathroom I ran all new plumbing supply and drain lines to that room as well as to the kitchen.  I still have a lot to do including exterior paint, replacing the roof, and refinishing what is now the laundry room but will be a third bedroom after I put a closet in it. 

I have been building credit over the past year and am currently in the process of refinancing into a home equity line of credit which is how I ended up here on bigger pockets.  I began my search for advice on different styles of refinancing which brought me here a few months ago.  Since then I have picked up a large interest in what real estate is all about and how to use the equity I have created in my home to create more income.  I am very interested in creating passive income and gaining financial freedom.  Right now I am prepping all that I can for the appraisal with my refinance knowing that there will still be some outstanding issues when the appraiser comes and after I get back my appraisal and know how much extra equity I have to move around and potentially invest with I am going to make a plan for future endeavors.  In the meantime I am going to try to stop lurking so much and get a little more involved here on BiggerPockets as well as continue listening to the podcasts and reading about different methods of investing.  

-Tom Moser