Good to be back... South of Boston.

[Steven Tierney]

Hi Everybody - It's been a while since I've been on the Bigger Pockets forums actively, so I thought I'd say hi.  Since I was last active on the forums, about 2 years ago, my wife and I relocated closer to the ocean into a fixer upper single family property, had baby #2, and I started working part time, and from home, to provide more family flexibility (2 young daughters).  So a few big changes in the past couple of years... I've been wonderfully distracted, but have started to refocus:  I've registered for real estate sales classes next month, and look forward to connecting with new people on here.

I feel like I'm all over the place because now that we've settled into our little house, made a number of improvements to it, we're in a position where we have over $150k in equity in the house, and real estate investing is slowly coming back into focus for me.  2 years ago, primarily out of frustration for not being able to find a primary residence, I stumbled onto Bigger Pockets and found myself looking at distressed properties and making offers on houses to flip... until I found a residence suitable for my family.  That was then...  Now I find myself wanting to get into the multifamily scene.  The south shore of Massachusetts (Scituate) is a tough area to break in, the pricepoint is high, and the market is hot.  I've looked into a number of cities south and west of Boston, but find myself averse to the idea of being a slumlord.  Does anybody else think about that, care about that, or is the only thing that matters the numbers?  Property managers will deal with the issues, right? :)

Besides that, I find myself struggling with the idea of using our primary residence as leverage to get into real estate investing. A HELOC or cash-out refinance could work if we wanted it to, but again, I'm pretty risk averse and don't like that idea. So here's my primary dilemma right now - we have good credit, and solid incomes (above average for the area) - is there a traditional financing option for me that requires a minimal down payment for multifamily investment properties? I believe the Fannie Mae Homestyle loan could work for me if I found a house to flip, but I don't think it applies to multi-unit investment properties.

Anyways, just thought I'd pop in, say hi, and see what you all think.  It's good to be back!