All Forum Posts by: Blake Williams

Thank you everyone for the feedback!

@Wayne Brooks: What I'm getting from that is that the heloc part of what I was considering is not viable, I'll have to find another way to finance the second property then thank you for your insight!

@Josh Caldwell: Wow thank you so much for those tips!  I do think I'm still going to go the more traditional bank route for my first property, but I'm definitely making note of, and setting aside all of those strategies for my second!

@Jeremy Pace: I should have given a bit more detail in my initial post, I am looking for either a three or four unit property as per the rules of fha.  Thank you for the input!

Hello everyone!  For those who don't know I am a new investor working on acquiring my first property before the year is out.  I don't have much capital to work with, although I'm saving as much as I can while working full time.

Initially, my plan was to use an fha loan to buy my first rental property and owner occupy.  Unfortunately most of the houses I have seen in my price range so far while inexpensive, have enough issues to make them un-rentable.  This got me thinking however...

I'm curious, how viable of a strategy would it be to buy a house that needs work and fix it up with the fha 203k loan instead, then take out a heloc for the value you've built up by doing the necessary work on the property and potentially using the money from the heloc for a down payment for a second rental property?

Thanks for the thoughts everyone!  I think I'll get a viewing of the property scheduled so I can get a better feel for it myself!

Hey everyone, I had a quick question that actually just came up a few minutes ago while I was searching for properties for my first investment.

One house that I was recently looking at is a 3 family in Hartford, CT and from what I've seen it looks pretty nice.  The one thing that I don't like about the place however is that there don't appear to be any appliances hooked up in the building.  No refrigerators, no stoves, no nothing. 

My question is this: Is there a cheap and easy way to get these things?  I'd also prefer they be of decent quality as well.  My biggest concern with this is that while I'm saving as much as I can, I simply don't have much money to work with at the moment.

Would financing the appliances be a viable solution, or is that not recommended?

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!  I definitely won't let one setback deter me!  I'm planning on setting up more visits soon!  

Alright I'm hearing a lot of "get the parents to cosign" which sounds like a fantastic idea to me!  Also, @James Miller your input about off campus students being less likely to be the party type is very comforting to me, thank you!  I'm going to keep all of this in mind in case I do end up investing in this area!

Hello everyone!  I just thought I'd post a little update on my progress so far in attempting to find my first deal.  

Like other new investors, I'm planning on using the fha program to owner occupy a multi family home.

Today I went to go see a three unit building in Naugatuck, CT and was I in for a big surprise!  Nothing seemed to be like the descriptions and pictures of the place that I had seen prior to actually visiting the property.

From the pictures I had seen, there was some work that needed to be done sure, but it seems like they were strategically taken to make it seem like there was much less work to be done than the reality!

There were holes in most of the walls and in the ceiling, the basement was unfinished and there was literally just dirt down there.  I could see footprints from people who had walked through previously!

The entire building was extremely cramped (though it seemed more spacious in the pictures too), and some of the windows were broken!  I know that for people on bp these might not be the biggest problems, but all the work and repairs that need to be done to the place were a bit too much for me on my first time doing this.  

Also, I'd like to be able to go into a place and have rentable units right away.  I'm not kidding myself into thinking that I'm going to get the best place in the world in my current situation, but I'm also not going to bite off more than I can chew just yet.

Either way, that's my little status update, thank you for reading.  I'll be sure to post about any other significant occurrences on my journey.

Thank you everyone, I recently graduated so I think I can still spot the party students from the serious ones.  I think it will be a good idea to spend some time learning more about the screening process. 

Hello everyone, as some of you may know at this point I'm in the process of seeking out my first deal.  Like other newcomers I plan to owner occupy a multi using the fha program.

I've recently decided that I'm willing to move a lot farther than I was initially so long as I get a deal that works, and that has me looking at an area that I was not initially considering: New Haven, CT.  

I like the idea of investing there because I recently learned that it has one of the highest occupancy rates in the state.  Also, I already have a good grasp of the area because I went to school there (SCSU)

That however, is one of my biggest concerns about the area.  It is very likely that I would end up renting to college students as there are four schools in the area: SCSU, Quinnipiac, UNH, and Yale.

While I wouldn't be too concerned about Yale students wrecking things, I'm not too sure about the other three.  Also, even if I do my screening properly and get good tenants, I'm still concerned there would be at least some vacancy due to they cycles of school.

Anyone weighing in on this concern would be greatly appreciated.  Am I just over thinking things?  Can anyone share any experiences of renting to college students?

Thank you for the advice everyone!