All Forum Posts by: Anirudh Mohan

Hi @Brandon Goldsmith, thanks for your suggestions ! I was initially considering Cleveland as well. Infact I lived in Columbus, Cleveland as well as Tampa, for 2 years each and that is one of the motivations to look into these areas, along with the fact that they are either appreciating or cash flowing areas. Cleveland seems to be better cash flowing property compared to Columbus or Tampa and seems to work well with my current savings, but they don't seem to appreciate much.

What would your recommendation be with regards to also considering appreciation to build up equity especially considering my capacity for saving for down payment is not that great currently as Corby also pointed out ?

Thanks @Nicholas Misch for your encouragement and suggestions !

@Jeffrey Albaum Thanks for your advise. I agree on not going "only" for heavier cash flow markets. That was one of the reasons why I was considering Columbus or Tampa over other cheaper cash flow markets. Would you recommend waiting a bit longer to save up more so as to get a property on a better appreciating area over trying to get a property asap, with what I have targeting immediate cash flow ? As I mentioned, right now I have around 15K and I'm saving 1000$ per month towards downpayment. 

@Michael Dumler Thanks for your advise. Yes I won't be investing in multiple areas when starting. I shortlisted these areas and would ideally want to start off on one of these. I will take your advise in talking to real estate agents in each location to understand the current market rate, appreciation rate, rental average income, whether it is feasible to achieve with my downpayment etc. 

@Lauren Holmes Thanks ! Given that I am on H1B Visa, I can only generate passive income so Short Term Rentals like Airbnb may not be an option and I might have to focus more on Long Term Rental option by renting it out to a tenant. 

Thanks for giving insights into current property trends in Columbus, it definitely looks like I need to save a bit more for downpayment before I can invest in Columbus if the prices are going to be upwards of 200K . 

@Corby Goade Thanks for your response ! Really helps  :) With regards to investing more on areas that also appreciates and not purely on cash flow, I completely agree, and I believe Columbus, OH and Tampa,FL are such appreciation markets. Please let me know otherwise. 

Also I understand why there should be more focus on my end on saving up for downpayments to achieve my goals. Given the fact that downpayments are most likely going to be 15-25% , I may have to save up a bit more. My current savings potential is around 1000$ per month and I have started saving up only since a year ago which is why I have only 12-15K to start with. 

With respect to FHA loan to get a property in Seattle, WA , I am also currently on a H1B Visa so I'm not sure if non citizens are eligible for this type of loan. Hopefully I am I can do a bit more research on that.

Hi everyone,

I am new to Bigger Pockets and I just started my investment journey a month back and I'm very much still in the educational/explorational phase.

I apologize in advance for the lengthy post but I really hope I get some feedback on my goals to see if it is realistic and any changes that you would recommend here. 
I have watched a few bigger pockets podcasts and here are my current short and long term goals and abilities:

1) WHY

SHORT TERM GOAL:

I want to generate 600$ per month in cash flow by end of 2022 in order to :

    (i) Work towards longer term goal of achieving financial freedom   

    (ii)  Work towards medium term goal mentioned below

MEDIUM TERM GOAL:

I want to generate 3000$ per month in cash flow by end of 2025 in order to

   (i)  Work towards getting my rental properties generate the rent that I'm currently paying in Seattle Area 

(ii) Also work towards replacing being in a rental place and instead move to my own home in Seattle ( it is difficult to focus on this right away because of the rental market here as well as the monthly income I can save towards it right now). This amount generate will contribute towards significant down payment towards that property as well as pay a chunk of mortgage for that .

(iii) Work towards Financial Freedom

2)  WHAT

SHORT TERM GOAL

Given my current savings potential, I will achieve my short term goal of generating 600$ cash flow in rental income, by buying 2 100-150K properties in Columbus, Ohio and Tampa, Florida area by end of 2022. I will buy one house at mid year and another one end of the year. My anticipated downpayment for both these properties are $25K combined. Focus will be on targeting areas with higher cash flow but still a reasonable appreciation 

MEDIUM TERM GOAL

I will achieve my medium term goal of generating 3000$ cash flow by 2025, by being able to buy 10 rental properties in $100-200K range in Columbus, Tampa, Dallas, and any future potentially good areas to buy. Hoping for average property cash flow to be around 300$. 

3) HOW?

- Will get feedback from BiggerPockets community towards my goals and market areas

- Speak to real estate agents in Columbus and Tampa right away to identify good areas and properties in the given price range, by end of March 2022

- Watch more Bigger Pocket podcasts on analyzing deals

- Have lender, real estate agent and property manager contacts in Columbus/Tampa area by end of April 2022

- My goal is to start making offers around end of April to buy my first home around June and start making offers around November to buy my second property by end of the year

I need the community's help with the following:

1) Are these realistic goals ? Should I be refactoring any of these to have better focus?

2) Given my target of 100-150K homes, with focus on Cash Flow but a reasonable appreciation over the years, is Columbus and Tampa reasonable markets ( Tampa seems to be out of price range for single family homes, by the looks of it)

3) Do you have any good real estate agent contact in these areas who have worked with investors that I can get in touch with ?

4) Is 10% downpayment reasonable or will most standard loans expect 20% downpayment for investment properties? If it's 20% then I may need to adjust my goals accordingly. 

Any other advise would also be greatly appreciated !

Thanks,

Anirudh Mohan