Newbie investor, owner occupied

[Rebecca Carroll]

Hi everyone,

My name is Rebecca Carroll and my husband and I are new to the real estate investing thing. We've been learning and reading and listening to podcasts for the last 3-4 months, and I've finally found the property that I've been looking for. We are planning to sell our house and live in a duplex for the next few years, and buy more properties with the money we've saved. The only hitch is that we have a 6mo old, so part of our moving to a duplex is we have to make sure it is a safe neighborhood, a quiet street, and preferably a yard. So we know that we are not going to end up with the best deal, because we won't move to any area. Anyway, here are the details:

Suburb of worcester, ma. Duplex on a street that is all duplexes asking price $215K. 2200sqft total with 3bd, 1ba per side. Needs $70K renovation, including making each side a 2ba. Nice yard, 2 car garage, nice neighborhood, good school system. ARV is about $290-$295. Will rent for $1200 a side. We plan to buy and hold for the long run.

Two questions-

1) Is it crazy to buy this property?

2) Our realtor said that Fannie Mae (who owns this property) won't budge much on asking price, so if we really want the property, we should go in at asking price or higher. My opinion is that the property is overpriced given how much work it needs, but fannie mae has already set the price. Any one else have this experience with FM?

Any other thoughts are welcome - we are new!!!

Rebecca