All Forum Posts by: Jon Lafferty

@Javier Castillo welcome from another Jersey boy. I'm sure you've already noticed what a wealth of information we have at this site. I look forward to my commute to catch up on podcast's.

Enjoy and welcome.

I'm a big motorcycle guy and have owned many in the past but my current is a 76 shovelhead fx

My daily driver is a 96 f150 w/ 196k miles on it and running strong

The wife drives a 2010 toyota sienna, cant be too safe with the family

All paid for with cash, I hope to never need a car payment again.

@Shawn Mcenteer yes I am planning on doing some serious networking in the local and BP community. I really am hoping some of my business experience can be helpful to others as well.

In sourcing deals I have been following alot of what Lisa Phillips does with WCN and simply scouring the web. I think the key is eventually we have to jump on a property and get some skin in the game.

@Chris Mills forgive my lack of experience but are you saying it may be better to leverage existing equity in a fully paid property or in your experience is it better than 25% equity on 2 or 3 properties

So I have a bit of a dilemma without even begining my great REI career. Just a bit about me:

I earn an above avg income

Owe 245k on my personal residence (married 3 kids). No other debt.

My long term REI goals are to build enough passive income through buy and hold rentals to quit the day job. I really want to build a business that my wife and children will have the ability to join me in long term.

the dillema: I have around 40k in cash and am not sure where to begin. I'd like to stay within an hour of my primary residence while staying within the 30-40k cash deal. I am thinking SFR or duplex. Does it make more sense for me to pay cash for a property and pay in full or should I be looking to buy as many properties as I can for the 40k and leverage loans to pay the excess amounts.

example

SFR @ $40k - put 10-15k down and finance the rest through HML or personal loan - cash flow @ 200 / month

multifam @ 120k - put 20-30 down and finance the rest through HML or commercial loans- cash flow @ 100-200 / month

That would be three doors of cash flow and I would be out 40k in my cash. The plan was at this point level out, learn to landlord and a year later do a heloc or refi on these homes to leverage equity into new homes. Wash rinse repeat. Maybe this puts me at 6 rentals in 2 years and a decent cash flow.

Thoughts? Is this a newbie way of thinking this through? Should I wait and save more cash?

Thanks all

WOW, just wanted to say how motivational it is to go through this thread. As a beginner with no experience I am hoping to follow some of the great ideas I have seen in this thread. Some of my personal bullet points are

- Personal touches to make a 'home'

- travel an hour from your home to find the right deals

- keep looking for the right one :)

Thanks @Lisa Phillips @Sharad M. and others to make this post fun

@Account Closed says about Salem. With my lack of experience I would call it a C neighborhood. I would also guess it is a great place to buy for cash flow, what do you think Charlie?

@Peter V. welcome to the board from another newbie in your neck of the woods. From the short amount of time Ive been here this community is chocked full of resources.

Good Luck

@Charlie Hampton Thanks for the welcome from right up the street. I know that area well as I live in Salem County and work in Bridgeton. Good luck on your squatter situation

@Dmitriy Fomichenko Thanks for all the great foundational advice. I really enjoyed the beginners guide and have been spending more time than I should listening to podcasts. Tons of great information here.

@Brandon thanks for the welcome

@ Paul Timmins thanks for all the great foundational advice. I'll be sure to look into the two books your recomended.

@J Martin Sounds like you are already well into your path as an investor. Thanks for the welcome.

I will probably be posting soon to the forum to look for some advice on where to begin. I have 40-50k left in cash but want to think of more than my first deal. I have two properties I am looking into at the moment. The first is a SFR and the other is a duplex. I was thinking of putting 25% down on the SFR ($15k) and using the rest as a down payment for the duplex (25-30k). The SFR needs cosmetic rehab @ 1-2k and the duplex is in a 2 year lease. Total gross rent on both properties is estimated at $2200 monthly.

The only problem with all this is it leaves me with a debt of 135k on both properties and will mean I'm locked in until I build up some equity. Does this sound like a viable starting point?

hello all, my background is in IT and I have been working in the insurance industry for 12 years now. This field has been great for me but I am ready to expand into other areas. I recently did the unthinkable and cashed out my 401k, paid off all debt and am ready to get some hands on experience. I am looking into sfr and multi family buy and hold situations. I'd love to have two properties by the end if the year.