All Forum Posts by: Dan Garrigus

@Thomas O'Donnell I am in full support of what some others have said here already. Know who you want to be surrounded by and be friends with and then put a plan together to meet those types of people. Best ways to do this is to go to meetups and networking for real estate professionals to start. You'll meet like-minded people and from there you'll find that your people have diverse professional/skill set backgrounds which will expand your network/friends. Start small and then branch outward. Moving to a new city is not easy and give you a ton of credit in doing so.

Hi @Rochelle Agitan, I would highly suggest looking in to getting a DSCR Loan as it will not take into consideration of your income. The qualifying income will be based on current rents if tenants are in place or market rents if the units are vacant. To get the best rates you will want to have a 1:1 ratio, meaning the rents will cover the mortgage. Some lenders can even go lower than the 1:1 ratio. You will also want to have an LTV of 75% or less. The DSCR Loan would most likely be the best way forward to meet your goals.

Hi @Taylor Gardner I would suggest house-hacking with an ADU that you can STR. You can get a Primary Conventional or FHA loan for very little down and have your closing costs covered by the seller in this market. If you buy in a good location, you should be able to cash flow and the worst-case scenario your mortgage payment should be lower than your current rent payment. In addition to having the seller pay for your closing costs, it is possible to have the sellers pay for a 2/1 buy down, saving you a lot of money up front. This is only possible with low buyer competition like we are seeing now. When rates come down you can see if the numbers work to cash out refinance into a fixed rate and start the process over again. This is how our clients start building their real estate portfolios.

Good morning @Amber Gazzolo! The multifamily house hacking space is a great way to leverage your assets. Orange County is most likely similar to San Diego County where an FHA loan for 3-4 units is going to be difficult to qualify with. The reason being is that the property has to pass a Self Sustainability test meaning all rents must be able to cover the mortgage. We live in a high priced area and at 3.5% down just doesn't allow for a borrower to pass this test very often if at all. Depending on how much money you have to use as a down payment it potentially can be possible but then you tread closer to qualifying with a Conventional loan with a much greater down payment. 2 Unit properties have no problem qualifying with an FHA loan. Hope this helps.

Hi @Erin Wilks from what it sounds like you are describing, this is completely the norm. Your first year you will pay way more interest than paying down the principal. Each year that goes by, more of your monthly mortgage payment will go towards paying down the principal. If you think the company who bought your mortgage isn't upholding your signed contract the best thing you can do is get a hold of your loan docs if you have them filed away or contact the servicing lender for your amortization schedule to make sure the numbers match up correctly.  Hope this helps.

@Serge Kukin I wouldn't worry about the loan type so much as making sure the location of your home is allowed by city/county/state laws to rent your property short term. There are many locations across the country like here in San Diego where they are trying to put into place a lottery to be able to rent your property short term meaning 30 days or less.

If the area allows short term rent, I wouldn't worry about it.

@Michael Aguirre congrats on making the move here to San Diego. Depending on where you're moving from you couldn't have picked a better time.

Welcome to BP @Lj Bognot I too am in San Diego and would love the opportunity to meet up.

@Tim Carabine there has been some solid advice for you here following your post. I like the idea of a HELOC, C/O Refi, find a local bank or broker to potentially find you a lender who is willing to help you get the deal done. There are 2 other options possibly for you:

Option 1, that I don't remember seeing discussed would be to, if possible, rent out your current property and purchase your new multifamily 2-4 unit property with either an FHA or Conventional product. This way you can come in with as little as 3.5% down. You would have to occupy 1 unit of the 2-4 with the intention of living there for a year.

OR

Option 2, sell your primary and use the equity to purchase your new 2-4 or maybe even a 5+ unit property. Once again if its 2-4 units with as little as 3.5% down the intent needs to be living there for a year. This option would be a good idea if you are looking to potentially buy a bigger/better quality building to charge more in rent. 

Either way you're going to have to look at the numbers to make sure they work correctly and that's where its crucial to get an investment friendly lender and realtor in your area to be a part of your team to make sure this purchase goes smoothly. Both of these options will have many moving parts that someone with experience will need to help out with.

 Welcome to the BiggerPockets Family Parker! Happy to have another member join from San Diego. Congrats on graduating from UCSB and diving in deep into Real Estate!