Ideas to get second property

[Fortune Solomon]

To whom this may concern, 

I am an investor looking to buy my second property. I bought a condo in Norman Oklahoma 3 years ago and due to the rental market, I have struggled to get another. I am not able to take equity out of my condo because it is currently on the blacklist due to HOA fixing the roofing and a Fannie Mae rule stating, if more then 50% of the condos in that community are owned by investors, I may not be able to refi. I am looking to find another deal. I have been looking for years. I do not have much money and I am looking for a deal. I am open to any ways of obtaining a second property. I just need some guidance.

Best,

[Paul Novak]

One option that has worked for us is taking out a loan against your 401K.  I am not sure what your financial situation is or if you have a 401K as an option to borrow but this has worked for us.  My wife and I have become big fans of this strategy because we pay the interest back to ourselves.  Everyone's 401K rules are a little different but the way it works for most is you can borrow up to $50K or half the total balance, which ever number is smaller.  Then you pay it back over time with payroll deduction.  The max term for the loan for my wife and I is 5 years.  You are assessed interest but it gets paid back to the account and you get to keep it.  There are also fees but they are extremely minimal in my opinion.  For my wife's account we had to pay a $75 one time activation fee and that was it.  On my account I had to pay $10 per quarter I had the loan active.  I paid the money back in 8 months so I only paid $30 total to borrow from my account.  Now you will have to be able to absorb the paycheck hit but it's short term.  For context when we do this our biweekly payments have been around $485 per paycheck so around $1,000 per month of lost income per person when we both do it.  This isn't for everyone but this has really worked well for us.  The other watchout is if you lose your job you are required to pay the money back quickly, like 30-90 days with most 401K's or the loan gets converted to a withdrawal that comes with tax implications and penalties.  If you have more questions let me know but this could be an option.