New Member Introduction from Savannah, GA

[Marshall Adams]

Hi BP community!

My name is Marshall and I live in Savannah, GA.  I am a mechanical engineer by degree and work experience, but left my most recent corporate job (had been there for 10 years) in April of this year (I took voluntary severance when they downsized due to CoVID).  I happily went looking for my next corporate engineering position and had a good offer and some promising leads.  But in August I decided to take this season of my life (no wife, no kids, no debt, and up to $60k cash to invest) to pursue entrepreneurship exclusively (I had toyed with the idea for years) via two ventures: starting a restomod business (a type of classic car restoration) and real estate investing.  

I want to do one or more of the following real estate niches and strategies:

single-family home flips; house-hacking (I envision buying and renovating a 4-unit multi-fam, living in one unit and renting the other three); STVRs; and/or some form of commercial (specifically industrial) property "hack" - buy a building with multiple garage bays or other areas, I use probably two bays for my restomod business and rent out the remaining portion (However I have not researched the in's and out's of this type of commerical property strategy). 

I currently rent an apartment and haven't done any real estate investing before.  However I've helped my parents and friends do different home demo and renovation work over the years.  Also, I will most likely be doing deals with my best friend in Savannah who HAS bought/renovated/sold three properties himself and is eager to do more.  That said, I still want to educate myself as much as I can so that I can do deals on my own.  My biggest hurdle at this point I believe would be getting finance since I don't have a W2 to present and am starting my restomod biz concurrent to starting in real estate.  

Thank you in advance for engaging with me and I look forward to connecting with you, learning a lot, and offering whatever heIp I can!

[Pat Wilver]

Marshall - congrats on making the decision to jump in!  I'm a civil engineer by degree, though I decided to pursue real estate full time when I left my last job as well.  I decided to get my license to pad my income while I get the investing side rolling.  I did already own two SFRs and a duplex before quitting the day job, but the income from working as an agent has helped me to buy one more rental and I just put my first flip under contract.  It sounds like you're off to a good start - your restomod business will ideally pad your income while you pursue good deals around town, and having a partner with experience is a big leg up.

In terms of financing - you'll have to go hard money or portfolio lending. Right now I finance my rentals with Workman's Circle Credit Union, they are giving me 75% loan to value, 20 year amortization,with a 5 year balloon at 4.75%. You can also use lending home at 80% LTV, 6.95% 30 year fixed. Those terms aren't too great, but when you don't have any W2 income you gotta take what you can get!

I'd be happy to connect sometime!