All Forum Posts by: Chandler Smith

Thank you everyone for the great advice and inspiration. 

@Linda S. That's a great quote from your mentor. 

@Redgy Saint-Germain

I have an agent, should I let her loose and find a broker instead or keep her by?

What exactly do I need the lawyer for? To represent me if I get sued by tenants?

Sorry I know these questions are probably  dumb.

@Ian Walsh So pretty much I have to wait several more years?

@Ian Walsh How can you tell when you're at the bottom of the cycle?

@Chris Purcell

Yes first time buyer. I currently live in 3/2 Single Family home that was given to me for my wedding present it needs some work to it. I've rented 2 of the rooms out to my wife's friends when we first moved in. I'm sure everyone knows how that panned out. One was a great tenant and the other not so much. They have both moved out to live with their spouse. 

I thought the low downpayment house hack was very appealing but I know you have to live in it as a primary residence for atleast a year.

Are you allowed to rent out rooms in a a SFR under an FHA? I know you can rent out a unit in a Duplex and live in the other.

@Michael Plante I didn't realize how close you were to lakeland. My problem right now is not having access to the MLS so my exposure to deals are very limited. Also I've been so focused on looking at multi-family properties and being a landlord that I forgot to look at possible flip options.

@Will G. I agree that I need to jump in. The longer your not in the game the less time you have to make progress.

@Michael Plante

Yes I have thought about that option. My father has been in the remodeling industry for over 10 years so we can do the rehab. In that option I was looking at doing an FHA and using the house as a primary residence for a year or so while we do the rehab and then flip it. If all works out we might do a few. My dad is looking at getting into real estate investing also so there is a possible partnership that may come in the mix. A little scared to mix family with business though.

@Nicolas Conca Yes it can lower your score if you max it out. Especially if you don't make atleast the minimum payment. Also you lose some points for going over the 30% credit usage threshold. The credit bureau doesn't like to see you using too much credit so you get docked some points for over using credit. Also when it comes to the balance transfer on credit cards that you took a cash advance out for most cards only let you take an advance on 40% of the credit line. So if you transfer your debt to another card make sure the credit line is large enough to carry over your whole debt. Regardless your credit will go up when you pay off your debt and will continue to go up as you stick to a budget and don't use over 3% of your credit line.

@Alexander Felice

I'm working on it buddy just have to find a good deal.

Now may I ask what strategy do you use? Buy and hold? Flip?

@Nicolas Conca My mentors bought their first house off of credit cards and they told me as soon as the introductory period was about to end on the 0% interest credit card they would do another balance transfer to another 0%interest card.

But if your credit is too low then yeah your only option is to track your spending and make a budget. Maybe try using the app mint to help you track your spending. 

Personally when I got my credit score up to an 800 shredded all of my cards except one. I only use it for certain bills and gas. Then I give myself a weekly allowance out of the ATM. I shoot for 50% monthly income to save.