All Forum Posts by: Chris Duzan

Hey @Jonathan Perez 

Welcome to BiggerPockets! I'm also in the Columbia area. Any ideas on what kind of investing you want to get into? If not, all the links that are referred to in the earlier posts are a great place to start. Specifically the Beginner's Guide. 

Have fun and I'd like to hear about your progress as you go along.

Hey @Matt McCourry 

Welcome to BP! I'm from Columbia so not too far off. I'm just getting started myself, but this is definitely the place to have any of your questions or concerns answered. And check out the podcasts if you haven't already. Really informative!

Hey @Myles Wisdom,

Thanks. I'll definitely have to look into those things around my area. I'm getting to the point where I'm comfortable enough to buy a house but I have quite figured out my criteria for houses and areas. So I'm just going to start analyzing the areas around me and get a feeling for good areas and prices in my range(slash figure out what my range is).

Thanks again, this was really helpful and I'll definitely keep that last tidbit in mind.

Thanks @Jordan T.  I've never really thought about what makes a good area. I grew up in the same house my whole life and then lived on campus at my college the past 4 years. So both times there wasn't a whole lot of thought put into it on my part. What would be the typical things to look for? (Crime, neighborhood appearance?)

I've been looking around BiggerPockets for a little while and haven't found much on the subject of area analysis. I'm reading a book right now(Buy it, Rent it, Profit! by Bryan Chavis) that discusses analyzing an area or neighborhood before you even start looking at actual properties and I happened to be listening to one of the podcasts today with Ben Leybovich(Show 61, I think) where Ben was arguing that you buy for location, not specifically the property.
I guess my question is, what is the best way to go about analyzing an area and at what level do you do this at(state, county, city, neighborhood)? Bryan Chavis goes over this but it didn't seem quite clear to me and I wanted to hear what everyone else does for this.

Thanks ahead of time for the replies.

Thanks everyone for the replies. 

@Lynn McGeein   I'm pretty much in the same boat as your son. I worked in the Summer and part time during the school year as an intern at the company I'm at now.

@Joseph Zanazan   Is there a good way to find out all these "hoops" I have to jump through before I actually apply for the loan. Or do you just keep applying for the loan and fixing your situation until you're accepted?

@Shaun Weekes I'll definitely have to look into that. That will probably be the way I go about getting my first property.

Keep your head up and keep working at. From everything I've read and heard from other investors the thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful is the ability to persevere through tough times. Don't look at it as a failure, but a learning experience. And in your case it doesn't sound like you really did anything wrong and you didn't lose money in it. And this is what BiggerPockets is here for. To be here for everyone in the good times and bad. Keep pushing and you will reach your goals!

I'm still in the learning process of REI and have been reading a lot of books and blogs lately. While reading about qualifying for loans recently I read that you must be able to show at least 2 years of employment. I'm assuming this is for conventional loans but that was my plan for my first investment. I just graduated college and and started working full time so does that mean I have to wait 2 years before I can get a loan? I know there are alternatives like creative financing and partnering with someone that has the money, but is there any way to still get and FHA loan or conventional mortgage? I've heard it's harder to get these kind of loans as you get more properties so I wanted to get one now while it's still kind of easy. Thanks ahead of time for any replies. And sorry for the longwinded question, I swear it started out as a simple question in my head and then it just grew.

Definitely interested. However, I work about 30 minutes away so I'm going to try to make my way out there but I can't make any promises.

Hey Aaron. I live in Columbia just outside the USC campus. I would definitely be interested in a REI Club. However, I am just starting out and still in the learning process, reading a lot of books and forums. I don't know what I could bring to the table except maybe some like-minded friends. Let me know if there's anything I could do to help you with this.