All Forum Posts by: Billy Joseph

This was the first book I read on RE investing and I must say it was very good. A lot of ideas are conveyed in this book that are echoed through out the forums on BP. Also a good read is his "106 Mortgage Secrets All Borrowers Must Learn - But Lenders Don't Tell."

Were you able to increase your qualifying income based on the rental income? If so, was it discounted and did you have tenants already occupying the apartments or where they vacant at the time of the loan origination.?

I need to start talking to a lender but I believe I might be looking in this area. I would like to househack my first property but how would I go about determining the best competitive rates that would provide me with positive cash flow. How would I know what are reasonable rental rates for the area and how to project vacancy rates to properly forecast out cashflows.

Many thanks @George Hermann. I'm actually looking for an owner-occupied multi unit property for my first investment. Right now I'm interested in Brooklyn but eventually the Bronx will be something I would like to get into as a purely investor property. The first thing I would like to know about is budgeting for various operating expenses, potential NOI, and vacancy rates. Currently live in Hamilton Heights area but if I could live in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn that would be ideal. Any tips or pointers on that would be very much appreciated.

Hi all,

I'm new to Bigger Pockets and just as new to investing. I'm looking to buy my first 4 unit property in the next 8 months. In the meantime I'm trying to get myself educated as much as possible in all the various aspect their is to real estate from picking a property, analyzing the profitability of the building, obtaining financing, renovating, general property management. I'm a CPA by trade, so I'm very conformable with numbers and modeling. 

I started off by reading Gary W. Eldred's "Investing in Real Estate" and couldn't put it down. There were a lot gems in there but I know I can't stop there. There are so many questions I want to get answered. I hope this place will be very helpful.

Thanks,

Billy