Newbie from Ascutney, Vermont

[Joshua Savage]

Hi everyone,

I am a new member here at BP, but have been scrolling over your forums and listening to some of the podcasts for quite a while now.  

A little information about me -  I have a full time job in IT Support, which I enjoy.  I am also an entrepreneur and have owned a couple of businesses in the past, which I absolutely loved. My latest business was owning a popular bakery/cafe which I ran with my mother. Anyone who has been in the food industry knows how hard it is to turn a dollar while providing a good product. Ultimately we decided to close due to rising costs and only 6k of net profit at the end of our last year.

At this time I am not in a position financially to purchase anything through a bank, not because of credit (I have a good score) but because I have no cash left after closing our business and paying off everything.  I want to start investing in real estate, with a primary focus of buy & hold - although I understand that's not easy to do in my situation.

I would like to connect with anyone in Vermont who is in real estate, whether new or seasoned.  Any advice on getting started would be very much appreciated.  I've been told that RE investing in Vermont is a little bit tricky - not the easiest place for a newbie to get started.  I believe that with the right mindset and tools, anything can be accomplished - so I don't plan to let that slow me down.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Josh Savage

[Samantha Hiscock]

Hi Josh! And Mike! Its always nice to see more Vermonters around here! I dont think its tricky to invest here, its just so different than anywhere else. We have lot of funky real estate practices and laws, but once you figure them out its much easier. Little things, like land records being held at the town level vs county level and weird tax things such as landlord certificates/renters rebate and property tax adjustments. It means that some of the info on these amazing forums needs to be tweaked to work here, but the basics and the math are the same. The expenses are often higher, heat and maintenance  can be expensive here and property taxes are very high, although there is a huge range from town to town. 

Personally, I think the easiest way to get started is with a 2-4 unit primary residence using an FHA loan. The rental income can be used to help qualify for the mortgage and its just a matter of scraping up a few thousand dollars for the down payment. VHFA has a down payment assistance loan you should look into if that is a barrier.