New Investor, Low Income, Multi-Family Investing

[David Drew]

I am new to BP and I've been trying to absorb as much information as possible. My family and I moved to a bigger house and rented the old one, about two years ago. We've been extremely fortunate with our existing tenants and I'd like to buy another property. My existing rental is in a really good community, has 10 yrs left on a 15 yr mortgage where I owe $87k on $130k and rent for $1400. PITI is ~$1100 with around $550 going to principal, $300 to me in cash. It seems to be working out though if I apply a 2% rule, the rent actually looks a low. Thoughts?

I'm really interested in understanding the best ways to finance my next investment. I have a little cash (maybe $10k) to spend on a down payment and a large, untapped HELOC with a local credit union that I'm not sure how to leverage.

I'm in Vestal NY in Broome County and there are a lot of multifamily units for sale. I started looking at the 40-50k homes but now I'm wondering, since I've had good luck with a 'higher earning' tenants thus far, if I should I focus there. At this point, I think my decision is going to hinge on whether I buy a $50K multi-family and use $10K of the HELOC for the down payment / $10k Cash OR do I finance with a little more debt and buy a more valuable property closer in price (~$80-$100k) to the one I have now...which makes me less comfy.

Thanks!

Dave