All Forum Posts by: Bryan Witters

@Braden Taylor No worries. You will need time to save up enough cash anyways. Even with the FHA loan it could take a considerable amount of cash to make a down payment, and have an appropriate cash reserve, especially in some markets... I am inChicago and multifamily properties are quite expensive. check out some properties in the area you would like to invest in and figure out how much cash you are going to need to bring to the table. Then figure out how much money you need to save each week, month, year, to purchase a house on a certain date. MAKE SURE YOU DECIDE ON AN END DATE FOR THIS GOAL. It will put a little pressure on you to save and help you to accomplish your cash goal.

To answer your question, it depends on your strategy. With house hacking I have read three months worth of mortgage payments at a minimum. Get out that trusty financial calculator and calculate the payment.  The more cash you have the better for the first time. 

Braden, First of all, congrats on stumbling upon the advantageous realm of real estate. I'm a recent college grad (finance) as well. I found myself in a similar position during college. Definitely complete your degree. Having a steady job will allow you to save cash for down payments on properties. When you start off, you will not have nearly enough rental income to live off of. However, I would look into professional designations to supplement your degree. I know you've heard this but you need to separate yourself and show that you can work your tail off. For me the the CFA track made the most sense because equity/commodity markets interest me, but find your own, create a plan, and don't pick your head up until you find yourself where you saw yourself in the beginning. Then repeat. If I were you I would definitely look into house hacking. I'm sure you have rent that you are paying in college and it SUCKS. House hacking can relieve you of rent if your financial model makes sense. As far as getting started now, get a job and SAVE as much as you can. I waited until after college. While I'm saving a large amount of cash from each paycheck, it is frustrating to pass up on a good deal because you are not financially ready. Remember you will need your 3.5% FHA down payment and cash reserves for unexpected repairs/ vacancies. PS You may also want to look into the FHA 203k loan.

Peter, 

Funny you suggest this one as I already had it in the mail. Thank you very much. 

Thank you James. I have never used open library.org. What a great resource. I will be sure to try the real estate investors desk book... Why skip a great book because its dense

Hello. I am relatively new to the site and was wondering if anyone knew of any good books pertaining to the topics in the title. I would like to dive deep into both topic areas. I currently work in stock market analysis and have found a lot of similarities, but would like to know more about the subtle and sometimes not so subtle differences in methodology. Please let me know what your favorite books are. 

Hello Nishant,

I am also a newbie in the Chicago area. I thought the book on real estate investing was great as well. Another book I i found some valuable insight in was "Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes, & Quads" by Larry B. Loftis. The wouldn't say the whole book was great, but there are some great tis bits of information scattered throughout the book. Note: this book was written in 2007 and it is very obvious that the author was caught up in the euphoric state of the market at the time. Take caution infusing his optimistic number in your analyses. 

Bryan 

Ms Das, 

I would love to meet up sometime to speak. What area do you live in and which do you invest in? I have heard of the REI, but have never attended a meeting. I will check them out.

Mr Pham. It is definitely one of the strongest names out there haha. 

Hello all, 

This is my first post to the Bigger Pickets forum and i am happy to be writing it. I have been studying real estate for some time now. I work as an equity analyst and was introduced to real estate investments through a colleague. After learning about the many advantages, I was hooked. 

I've been doing what us equity analysts do best: modeling, but beyond the numbers i feel that I do not know the area well enough to position my investments properly. I am originally from the Metro Detroit area and have only recently moved here (4 months ago). 

More importantly, I am looking for like-minded individuals to meet up with and share knowledge, experiences, successes and failures with to increase my chances of strong wealth creation in this business. If that is you please feel free to contact me anytime. 

Best, 

Bryan Witters