real estate networking MA

[Patrick Hagerty]

Beginner investor, looking for a good meetup, Boston area, looking to buy first multi family through FHA. Cant afford anything within an hour of home in the price range (200k loan) but also any tips at all help! Close good markets ? Looking into Springfield Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Maine, Providence RI and Hartford ct. Hartford and Springfield seem to be the two areas in New England that fit my budget in regards to 3 or 4 multi, pretty decent properties and what rent we'd be trying to charge. MESSAGE ME WITH ANY HELP literally any help at all, even basic investing or real estate knowledge/tips would be amazing !

[Howard Herrington]

Hello Patrick, there may not be many places in that price point close to Boston for an FHA. You may get lucky with towns like Attleboro, Fall River, New Bedford, Brockton, Taunton on the south shore/south coast area or Lowell, Lawrence, or Billerica on the north shore. You could always check out towns in Rhode island as well or New Hampshire, depending on how far north or south you would like to be from Boston. Ideas that I would suggest you think about are:

1. See if you qualify for down payment assistance and look at two family properties where you do not need a cash reserve to qualify

2. Try to partner with someone else who may be able to bring more funds to the table and maybe work out a deal where you both house hack together. (suggest this only if you trust the person).

3. If you are truly looking to become an investor, maybe use hard or private money to get into a multifamily that you can fix up and live in one of the units and then refinance with a traditional bank or lender after 6 months or so.

These are just a few ideas outside the box that I could think of.  The best option may be to just wait and add more to your cash reserve to see if you can qualify for a bigger loan down the road.