All Forum Posts by: Conner Olsen

Lenders can only take LTR income into account on an owner occupied loan. If you're only approved for $750k after accounting for the other unit's income then you can't afford the home.

Keep putting in offers! Every no is just one closer to a yes. Talk to your agent/other investors about strategies to put in better offers.

You have to intend to live there for a year. You can rent out the other units in the meantime.

Major metros are typically great MTR markets. I like cities with 1 million+ population and growing economy.

New construction is a great way to get a lower interest rate and minimize your capex and maintenance cost in the first years of owning a property. Lennar and DR Horton are offering the best interest rates for investors so you're on the right track. I would see how much of your closing costs they are willing to cover and if they are able to offer any additional rate buydowns.

Hutto is growing rapidly and doesn't show signs of slowing down. The rental market is solid there with decent rent to price ratios. The downside of new construction rentals is there is no differentiation in product because all the homes look exactly the same. Underwrite a slightly lower market rate just in case.

Rent your property out on Airbnb as a STR or MTR to make extra income.

@Steve Steve Like others have said, you should pay off other debts before purchasing a home. For every $100 in debt, you can afford around $10,000 less on a home. So if I did my math correctly, you have at least $1,600 in monthly debt. 

Right now, you can afford a $134,000 mortgage. If you paid those debts off you could afford a $346,000 mortgage.

Pay off the debt, get in a better financial position, and buy a house hack you will make you money. 'Don't buy your dream car to live in your budget house. Buy your budget car to live in your dream house.'

Do you need the extra 13k? How will this HELOC impact your DTI? How will the different interest rates affect your DTI?

Here's some questions I would ask myself about the house hack: Is the cash flow going to cover the interest payments on the HELOC? When are you planning on refinancing? Will you be going into another owner occupied loan? How will you gain the increased equity to get a refinance? What is your new LTV going to be on the house hack? What's the cash flow pre and post refinance?

I would look at what your electricity bills are and increase or decrease based on number of adults living in the property. From there I'd charge a flat rate for utilities and give it a few months to see if you're accurate. From there you can adjust prices and keep in mind costs go up in summer.

Not sure if it can work with FHA loan, but it's an option with the new 5% duplex financing.