All Forum Posts by: Chris Lahman

Hi, Patrick. If you're waiting until next year, there's another option available to you, and that is to turn your current primary residence into a rental, and then move into something else, i.e. "house-hacking." You'd need to stay in your current residence for at least a year due to the owner-occupied loan, but after that you could put your house up for rent and move into another primary residence, using a low down payment owner-occupied loan. This might be a more digestible route for your wife as well, and this would give you another 10 months to boost your savings and solidify your plan. 

The overlap of getting your place rented and moving into something new in 10 months might be dicey, so you could also consider temporarily renting something cheap for a few months after you move out and before buying your second property. Ideally you'd be saving money on living expenses, but you'd also allow yourself to take things one step at a time. 

This is the method I'm currently using, and the reason I used it was because it is simple and it made sense to me based on my situation. It's a baby step in the grand scheme of REI, but it it can and should have an immediate impact on your situation, and this will get the hardest step out of the way; the first one. Scott Trench's explanation of this throughout various podcasts is what really stuck with me, so I'd look those up if this is of interest. Brandon Turner's book also discusses this.

Good luck with things!

-Chris

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $218,000
Cash invested: $7,000

2/2.5 single-family home, built in 2009. Solar panels, detached garage, central air, 1,194 sq. ft.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted a straightforward start to real estate investing, and this aligned with that goal. I turned this primary residence into a rental, and I'm going to look to repeat the process over the next few months.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This house belonged to a friend, and as fortunate would have it, he was looking to sell when I was looking to buy.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a low down payment first-time homebuyer conventional loan from a local credit union.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I learned to learn as much about how my house works as soon as possible. I was lucky that nothing went wrong, but I will waste no time with my next house. The challenges I faced with making this first step in my investing career was getting past paralysis by analysis. I dove deep into everything BP had to offer, and I was overwhelmed by all of the options. Once I learned of the house-hacking method after listening to Scott Trench's explanation, that was a route with which I was confident.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I used OnPoint Community Credit Union to finance this purchase. I've been happy with them, and my agent, Elizabeth Jansen, has been VERY patient with me and all of my questions over the years!