New Investor in Philadelphia, PA

[Mary Umoh]

Hi, I'm Mary. I recently moved to Philadelphia from NJ where I work as a software engineer. I'm a newbie to RE investing but I've spent a great deal of time listening to the BP podcast, reading books, forums and the like and I'm ready to finally stop talking about investing and actually do it.

My goal this year is to acquire my first property and house hack to start. I'm looking for 2-3 unit multifamily properties that fit in my $200k-$250k budget with minimal work to be completed. I'm not certain if I'll do conventional, FHA, or 203k but I'm doing my due diligence in finding and speaking with lenders and investor-friendly agents. My long-term strategy is to buy and hold.

My rental lease is up this August and I'll start applying for pre-approval in April. Until then, I'm going through the pre-qualification process to get an idea of where I may land. I have a good amount of savings and good credit.

I'm a bit nervous about it all but it'd eat me up inside to renew my lease and continue to help pay down someone else's mortgage.

[Chace Fraser]

@Mary Umoh welcome and congrats on reaching the point where you're ready to take action! House hacking is an incredible way to get into buy and hold real estate investing with a relatively low financial barrier to entry… plus the added benefit of reducing housing costs!

As far as lenders go, I work with a lender who is an investor herself, has worked with house hackers, and is licensed in all 50 states (DM me if you want her info). I’m also sure that @Nicky Lisewski can point you in the right direction (Realtors generally like to recommend lenders as we know which ones we work well with and which ones can close deals).