All Forum Posts by: Connor Ong

@Stephen Brown I'll definitely be doing that the best that I can! 

@Bob Okenwa, 

Thanks for the knowledge and wisdom! I definitely needed to hear all of the points you made, but especially the third point that you stated. Keeping my credit score in check and unaffected is huge, and something that I need to remember when moving forward. I agree that I'm very lucky to have been able to get in when I did, especially with how hot the market is right now, and with the new build lotteries that are going on now in the Valley. 

I am using the builder's lender because they gave me $6k back for using their lender. I definitely will stay in touch with them through it all. Appreciate you sharing your wisdom and knowledge! 

@Matthew Brill
Thanks for the information! That's extremely useful and good to know -- regarding the DTI with paying down loans. I'll definitely hold off on paying down those student loans right now. I like the idea of putting it into an interest bearing account and then paying it all off in a lump sum once I can cover it all.

My original monthly payment was near $1200/month, but I registered for the PAYE (pay as you earn) repayment plan, which brought it down to $430. Theoretically it should have brought my DTI numbers down, but because my monthly payment year to year is variable based off of what I earn in salary each year, the lenders said that they cannot use $430 when calculating my DTI, and instead have to use the $1200. Up to this point, I just assumed that what my lender explained to me was the truth, but I guess I haven't really fact checked her on that. As far as you know, is what she's telling me how it works?

Again, thanks for the reply and for your wisdom and knowledge!

Hey BP,

I'm out in Chandler, AZ (a city just outside of Phoenix, AZ) and I'm under contract for a new build townhome. I paid my deposit and locked in my price back in February of this year. The estimated completion date is January-February 2022 for my home, which means that my down payment won't be due until around November 2021. And I plan on house hacking once it is completed!

I've got a few questions about what y'all think would be the best ways of investing in the time until my house is completed, and/or what strategies you think I could/should pursue while I'm waiting for my home to be completed. I currently have 5% saved and will be going with a conventional loan for my home.

1. Save more money for a larger down payment? Realistically, after my normal monthly expenses, I'd have around another $22k saved up by the time my down payment is due.

2. Pay off student loans? I recently graduated grad school and have a good amount of student loans (~$100k). My monthly payments are only around $450/month, but they're not being collected or earning interest right now because of COVID. I could pay off some of them with the amount saved up from above, which would help my debt/income ratio.

3. Stocks/other investments/savings? I've thought about putting my extra earnings into a high yield savings account, but the rates are all around 0.5% instead of their normal 1-2% because of COVID. I've also thought about maybe saving the money for another down payment if another deal appears in the time before my down payment is due.

I know there's not any ONE answer, but any ideas/suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated! Thanks BP! :)

Hey BP, 

I'm out in Chandler, AZ (a city just outside of Phoenix, AZ) and I'm under contract for a new build townhome. I paid my deposit and locked in my price back in February of this year. The estimated completion date is January-February 2022 for my home, which means that my down payment won't be due until around November 2021. And I plan on house hacking once it is completed!

I've got a few questions about what y'all think would be the best ways of investing in the time until my house is completed, and/or what strategies you think I could/should pursue while I'm waiting for my home to be completed. I currently have 5% saved and will be going with a conventional loan for my home. 

1. Save more money for a larger down payment? Realistically, after my normal monthly expenses, I'd have around another $22k saved up by the time my down payment is due. 

2. Pay off student loans? I recently graduated grad school and have a good amount of student loans (~$100k). My monthly payments are only around $450/month, but they're not being collected or earning interest right now because of COVID. I could pay off some of them with the amount saved up from above, which would help my debt/income ratio. 

3. Stocks/other investments/savings? I've thought about putting my extra earnings into a high yield savings account, but the rates are all around 0.5% instead of their normal 1-2% because of COVID. I've also thought about maybe saving the money for another down payment if another deal appears in the time before my down payment is due. 

I know there's not any ONE answer, but any ideas/suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated! Thanks BP! :)

@Antonio Cucciniello thanks for the feedback! I'm glad to hear that it definitely can be done and that you've done it multiple times with family members! We definitely plan on getting it in writing and having defined roles/tasks once we get to that stage! 

@Doug Pintarch that is 100% true. We will definitely be sitting down and going over each other's finances to make sure that we're comfortable going in with the other based off of how each other's finances look. And your quote there couldn't ring more true-- "True good friends and partners are hard as hell to find. Houses are everywhere." 

Hi @Forrest Faulconer! Thanks for the reply!

Sorry for not explaining more in the original post about both of our financial outlooks. Right now we both have a considerable amount of student debt (I have more than him), and we are both finishing up our first year working out of grad school. So because of that we don't have a ton of money saved up to go in on a property--him because he bought a place with his girlfriend this year, and me because I just recently paid off my car. 

@Jason Hirko I have differing rates from college and grad school from a range of 3.76% - 7.6% (but a majority of them are around 6% or higher). Both him and I work full time W2 jobs that are stable as well. 

Hi BP! I'm a newbie to the RE world, but have been listening to Real Estate Rookie and the BP Real Estate Podcasts religiously over the past 4 months. My best friend from grad school has been listening to both podcasts as well, and brought up the idea of partnering on a house-hack that I would live in (as him and his GF bought a townhome earlier this year). We are both located in the Phoenix area. Right now we're starting to build our "team," as he has a RE lawyer, I have a banker, and we both know multiple RE agents who do RE Investments.

Our goals:

We both agree on looking for a turn-key 3bed/2bath (minimum) single family home or townhome/condo at least 1500sqft. Gameplan would be to do a conventional loan with 5% down (2.5% each) for the house. Our target price for a house is We both want to build up equity, but I've been more keen about getting some cashflow that I can put towards my student loans. Long term plan would be to continue to rent the house, and eventually take out a HELOC to get another property either individually or together again depending on how this first one goes.

We've been spit-balling ideas and just getting the ball rolling, but we're not too sure on how to work out the logistics of the partnership. Some ideas we've had include: A) Splitting the equity and cashflow evenly; B) He gets more equity, and I take the cashflow.

Do you all have experience in doing deals with friends? How have they gone?
What other types of ways would you split our partnership?
Any other suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Hi BP! 

My name is Connor! I'm 26 years old, working full time as a Physical Therapist, with a good amount of student loans from undergrad/grad school that I'm trying to pay off (~$115k). 

Part of being a PT is being very hands-on while working with patients as they recover from various injuries and surgeries. I know that in the long run (20-30 years from now), my hands and joints may not be the best. So my goal is to start investing and building up another way of earning passive income so that I can slowly make my way out of the PT profession as I get older. 

I've been put on to BP by a friend and have been eating up all of the podcasts and listen to them on my daily commute! Lots of good info on here and on the podcast, so I'm excited to keep learning and making new connections with people! 

I have a rough gameplan of how I'm going to move forward, pay down some of my loans, but then also keep options open and hopefully my first investment within the next year or two! If anybody has experience with paying down student loans while also looking for properties and just starting out, I'd love to connect with ya!