All Forum Posts by: Alex Schafler III

@Mark Kelley

@Ralph R.

Thank you both for the great information and encouragement!

Welcome @Brendon Killian! 

While I agree with @Natalia Collini that people will always need a place to live, especially if your property is desirable, I think you should use caution when investing in a less desirable area. There are just a lot more things that you would have to consider when doing so, like figuring out whether the tenants in your particular area are used to paying for their own utilities or having the landlord foot the bill. 

I know it's not much information to provide (I'm probably greener than you), but I hope it helps!

@Ricardo Rosales I am not interested in wholesaling, but thank you for your response!

@Ralph R. I understand that the concept of using debt to pay off debt is a crazy one, but I am in that stage where I am hungry and eager to learn all that I can about house hacking! I have a 681 credit score, and have been told that I should have no problem securing a home owner's loan with my current score. I, too, have wanted to secure better employment, but have been experiencing difficulty in securing a position in what I went to school for. Basically, I keep getting to the interview stage, only to be told by the company that I have been passed on for someone with more experience. I mean, I get it, it just seems like experience in what I went to school for (Physics) is difficult to come by unless you already have your foot in the door. 

I am currently living below my means, and have almost 9k in savings, but I am trying to think of clever ways to expand my means. I have not read Rich Dad Poor Dad, but I have read Rich Dad's Conspiracy of the Rich. That book flipped a switch and got me into the mindset that I think you are referring to. What he said about investing for cash flow and not capital gains really resonated for me. Thank you so much for your response!

Hi Claudia! Thank you so much for responding! I look forward to chatting with you!

Hello everyone!

I'm Alex, and I am interested in the concept of house hacking. I feel like purchasing a duplex, living in one unite, renting the other out, and purchasing a deal where the numbers work correctly to where my living expenses would be paid for by my tenant, would be an excellent way to not only help me achieve my goal of paying off my student loan debt, but also help me get a taste of what land lording is like to see if it is a route I would enjoy taking. 

With this goal in mind, I have been trying to seek out people who have similar interests to meet and chat with. So, who in the Jacksonville/Orange Park, FL area is interested in house hacking? I'd love to connect with you!

After a chat with a friend of mine about how I am not satisfied with where my Real Estate knowledge currently is, I did some thinking and came up with a crazy (I feel) idea. I have nearly 40k in government student loan debt, debt that I would love to get rid of. So, in thinking about what my interests in Real Estate are - I am primarily interested in house hacking - and my dreams of being debt free, I landed on purchasing some of the BP recommended Real Estate books, reading through them by the end of this year, and attempting to purchase a duplex somewhere around May/June of 2017. Then, I would use the money I am throwing away on living expenses every month to help me pay down my debt over the course of about 4-5 years. This is all assuming I am able to find a property that cash flows sufficiently to where my living expenses would be paid for by the tenant I rent the second unit of the duplex out to.

Sound insane? It kind of does to me, considering my current financial situation. It also sounded crazy to a lady I spoke with at a local REIA meeting I attended last night. She was the only one in the room who said she had done something similar to what I want to do, except she lived in a house and rented the extra rooms out. That's why I sought her out, to see if I could potentially make a quality connection with someone with actual experience. She seemed excited to talk to me, until I started giving details about my situation. You see, I currently wash dishes for a local restaurant chain during the day, bring in barely 1k per month in income (after taxes), a little over half of which goes toward living expenses, and use a bicycle and the local transit system to commute around town since I don't own a car. She advised me to try and focus on getting my life together, which she defined as securing better employment in science; the degree that earned me my student loan debt.

I don't know if I will be attending said REIA again next month because of the "speaker" they had that night. He sounded very guru-y, claimed that flipping houses is "easy", and used the entire presentation as a pitch for a "class" he is holding two Saturdays from now. But I digress.

I thought I would present this situation to the BP community and ask their advice and opinion on the whole concept of paying off debt versus using Real Estate as a vehicle to help you reach your goals. So, what do you guys think? Where do you fall on the spectrum of this concept? 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. 

P.S. Apologies if I posted this in the incorrect sub-forum.

@Paul Timmins

Thank you for the advice, Paul. That's a great tip that I will definitely try when I find a local REIA to attend!

Hello fellow Investors and Agents! My name is Alex, and as I said in my introduction post in the newbie forum, I am currently trying to learn more about getting my Real Estate license in Florida so that I can learn the business through hands on experience if my current income source ceases. To that end, I am looking for a good, Investor Friendly Brokerage in the Jacksonville Florida area to hang my license under once I become licensed, and I was wondering if any of you wonderful people could suggest ones that are reputable or that you've worked with in the past?

Thank you all for being such a wonderfully supportive community!

-Alex

Hello!

My name is Alex, and I just recently moved to Jacksonville from Texas after being gone for about two years. While I was in Texas, I flirted with the idea of possibly looking into Real Estate Investing and that led me to Bigger Pockets. I perused the site, read a few articles that were sent to my email, downloaded the Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide (which I still haven't read), and ended up deactivating my account. Things were just so hectic with my move to Florida and other big life changes that I made the mistake of thinking BP would just bog me down. 

But now I've reactivated my account and am back and ready to learn more about Real Estate! 

I am still in the infancy stages of my Real Estate education. Like I said earlier, I haven't read the Ultimate Beginner's guide or any other books on Real Estate just yet, but I have been listening to the BP Podcast in order from episode 1 (I think I just listened to episode 40) while also listening to the show they put out weekly.

The area of Real Estate that most interests me is the idea of using House Hacking to learn how to buy, hold, and manage small multifamily properties (starting with Duplexes) to generate passive streams of cash flow, with the goal being to eventually stop having to work a W2 job and live comfortably off of the cash flow my rental properties produce. Recent events at my current job have led me to trying to learn more about getting my Real Estate license so that, if my income disappears, I could potentially gain income by being a Real Estate Agent (working with an investor-friendly Brokerage, of course) and learn more about the ins and outs of Real Estate through hands on experience. 

Well, that's who I am, what I'm up to and what I'm interested in. I just wanted to jump in, stop being shy, and say "Hello"!

Happy Investing!

-Alex