New Real Estate Investor In The Massachusetts Area

[Mark Horn]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Mark Horn, I am committed to achieving financial freedom in the next decade, through rental income and real estate investment.  I am currently reducing all my expenses and downsizing what I own in order to save up some capital.  I will be moving home to my parents house for a few months to eliminate rent, and have begun to read about and study everything I can regarding real estate.  My goal is to have $20k cash in hand by April, and I am currently on track to meet that goal.  I am an Electro-mechanical engineer by education, and I currently work as a software/controls engineer in the HVAC space with a stable job and good income.  I plan to focus on multi-family house hacking for at least the first 2-3 years, hopefully leveraging 203k Streamlined loans to let me do minor rehab work on semi - turn key properties.  I am still formulating specific goals,  but 10 units by 2021 is something I have in mind.  

Region of interest:

I intend to explore markets and identify a specific target market somewhere between Boston and Cape Cod.  Some areas that come to mind are Plymouth, Falmouth, and Yarmouth.

My next steps:

-Start networking and build a team who has experience in both rental property investing overall, and the specifics of the Massachusetts region. 

-Determine a financing strategy

-Set my budget

-Determine 3 key target markets to focus on

Specific questions I need to get solid answers for:

- What is an optimal financing strategy to get me to 10 units in the shortest period of time?  I currently have a working thesis of using a Mass Housing Loan on a duplex -> Refi -> 203k on a 4 unit -> Refi - 203k on a 4 unit.   

- Given a set financing strategy, what are the hard parameters regarding the financing available to me? This will help me understand my budget, what markets to be targeting, and how to go about analyzing potential deals accurately.  

- What can/should I do over the next 6 months to optimize my financial profile in preparation of buying my first property. 

- What legal steps should I be taking to reduce future liability and be prepared on the tax front?

- What legal steps are prudent regarding a financial partnership with my girlfriend (We are planning to undertake this whole effort together)

Who I feel I need to meet with: (This is not a solicitation, this is what I have taken away from "The ABC's of real estate Investment")

- Lenders, I need to establish a lending partner who can advise me on my short term options and my long term strategic goals.

- Real estate agents, I need to start getting in touch with the current state of the market, and start translating the theoretical book learning into practice.  Analyzing deals and surveying the market. More importantly, I need to start building good relationships.  

- Attorney, I suspect I will want to leverage an LLC entity at some point, as well as possible contractual guidelines for any partnerships.

- When I have enough demonstrated commitment and effort and find a way to bring value to the table, I would really like to find someone who is willing to mentor me, in return for whatever assistance I can be in whatever way possible.  

What I bring to the table:

- Stable income/employment history

- Handy and technically minded

- Great with excel and programming, should translate well to custom analysis tools and automation

- Commitment and discipline to spend the next decade grinding and doing whatever (legally and ethically) it takes to be successful.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you to everyone involved with bigger pockets for facilitating this community.  

I look forward to learning and growing as an investor and a landlord.