All Forum Posts by: Brett Nissen

@Matthew Rosenthal I currently plan to buy my next 2-4 unit house hack in 12-18 months! I am primarily looking at Avondale, RIverside, San Marco, and the beaches.

Hey BP!

I am a fairly new investor from Jacksonville, Florida and recently closed on my first multi-unit property! It is a concrete block duplex in the Avondale/Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville, with each side being a 2/1. Here are the details:

Purchase Price: $330000

Downpayment: 10% (savings, family assistance, and small 401k loan)

PIMI: $1950/mo

Rental Income: $1150/mo from one side of duplex, $700/mo from room mate in my unit

Monthly "living costs" = approx. $200 before utilities

I ended up using a portfolio lender for this property, as I could not get approved for a conventional loan, due to a 12 month sabbatical I took to travel the world. Luckily, I had an existing relationship with a local portfolio lender, and they were able to get me approved with a LOE about my travels.

I have been a long-time follower of BP and the @Scott Trench model of building wealth, and feel this first property fits the mold for a perfect house hack. It has drastically reduced my housing costs, allowing me to quickly save for my next house hack in 12-18 months. I understand I am not hitting the 1% rule on this property, but I am gaining experience as a landlord and so far have had a smooth transition with my inherited tenant. I even increased their rent by $50/mo and they were more than pleased to stay in the property!! Market rents are about $1200/$1250 per unit, and eventually I will get the property up to these levels, which should give me about $300-$500 of CF a month when I move out.

I am very excited about this first deal, and wanted to share with the BP community! If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me as I LOVE this strategy for starting out in real estate investing.

PS - the same seller has a very similar property for sale down the street from me. If you want to do a house hack and be my neighbor I will be happy to give you some details!!

I just closed on an owner occupied duplex at 10% down using a portfolio loan from Ameris Bank (not sure if they have a presence in SoFlo). The reason I went portfolio loan over conventional is because I took a year off to travel the world, and conventional lenders did not like this. With a portfolio lender I simply wrote a LOE and was good to go. I would recommend calling around to local credit unions, or asking around at your local REIA groups to find a portfolio lender.

Hi BP,

I am a PT agent and newbie investor in Jacksonville, Florida trying to purchase my first duplex to house hack. I took a 10 month sabbatical to travel the world and recently returned back to FT/W-2 work in April 2018 (same industry). I am trying to purchase an owner occupied duplex to house hack, but am having some financing issues to make this deal happen. I personally have about 20k cash (7%) to put into the deal.

Here is the situation:

- FHA - would only require 3.5% down and could use rental income to qualify for purchase, but FHA requires 6 months of continuous employment AT THE SAME EMPLOYER and I am only at about 2 months.

- Conventional - requires 15% down (aka I am $25k short) and "may" be able to use rental income to qualify

Looking for some creative options on this one. Some ideas I have thought of, but have limited experience/knowledge with are: delay closing until I have 6 months employment, option contract, seller financing, rent from owner until 6 months requirement, loan from family (trying to avoid).

Thanks BP family!

Brett N

I am looking into buying a 3-4 bedroom property and having friends / co-workers rent the additional rooms. I would be living in the property as well. I would have them each sign a lease to ensure terms are laid out. My long term goal is to own multiple rental properties. Would the situation described above be considered "landlord experience" when I go to finance additional properties?

I am trying to buy a multi-family rental property in the area of Jacksonville Beach or Neptune Beach in Florida. It would be an owner-occupied purchase (for FHA financing), but I am unsure how to handle a property that is already filled with existing tenants. What rights do I have as the buyer for removing tenants? Looking for insight on how to accomplish this sort of deal.

It is not the spherical property, but I have noticed the recurring listing of that particular property. I went to NB city hall yesterday, and due to the zoning of my property of interest they cannot give me a variance or change the zoning. It appears I am SOL on this property due to the financing I want to do, but I will continue to look around. Thank you both for the insight!

Thanks Jeff I appreciate the insight! I hope the zoning will be easy to adjust.

I am looking to purchase my first multi-unit property. I am trying to do owner-occupied FHA financing for a duplex purchase in Neptune Beach, FL near Jacksonville. However, the duplex is currently listed as single family residential, when it needs to be listed as multi-family residential. I was told I need to contact the city, yet was looking for any tips/tricks for this zoning change or even a variance. Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I am a new REI looking at buying my first rental property. I plan to purchase 8-15 rental properties over the next 10 years, and most likely will use a parent-sub LLC structure with each property being its own sub. Should I just buy the first property individually and transfer into LLC later or set up the parent/sub right away?