All Forum Posts by: Daniel Lehman

Hello, I will be going to view a potential property for my first investment in a few days. To make this post short and sweet it's a duplex with one unit rented out and I plan to live in one room in the other unit and rent out the other 3 rooms in the unit I stay in. 

I am wondering what the best questions I should ask the seller and real estate agent to make sure I'm not getting myself into trouble. Thanks in advance!

I definitely plan on financing in the beginning stages of my investing career. In no way, shape or form do I have that kind of cash haha. When I started this post I was hoping to have a clearer vision on my future strategy for acquiring rentals but so far I've seen great opinions from both sides of the fence. 

I think it's a tough call and will really come down to how the market is and how far and fast I want to grow my portfolio. 

But keep it going guys!! So many great points of view. 

Tbh I haven't discussed that with my cousin (partner investor) yet. Not sure what a better route is to go as far as LLC, TIC and JTs are concerned.

@Account Closed

I appreciate your reply. I agree with you in that it really depends on the market and that I think it comes down to the individual investor's strategies and goals. I can see the pros and cons of both sides and I don't think it needs to come down to only one or the other.

I see no reason why you cant finance some properties and pay all cash for others. Definitely at first I'll be financing and using leverage to expand my portfolio at a much faster rate than if I tried to pay all cash but at some point I'm sure I'll be asking myself when I need to slow down and get some properties paid off.

I think that when I get older and want to slow down immensely maybe to the point of completely retiring and sitting pretty on my investments that I'll be more concerned with having properties paid off - but then again, by the time I get to that age, properties will probably be close to paying themselves off anyways.

@Bogdan Kirilchuk

Who are you getting your license thru?

@Mike F.

Sound strategy. So if someone were to take that approach and lets say, finance 10 properties and then buckle down on paying off those properties before buying another property, what's their next step? After those properties are fully paid off do you then refi/heloc some of those properties to put towards your next 10 properties, or do you leave them alone and just use money from your cash flow as deposits or even to fully pay off your next 10?

If you refi or heloc some of the first 10 to use for your next 10 then isn't that kind of going against 'staying out of debt'? I would think you would want those first 10 properties to stay free and clear while you get your next 10. And eventually you'll have 20 or 30 fully paid off properties that you can use cash flow to continue buying rental properties all cash.

I know I'm a newbie investor but am I making sense? lol

Nice to meet you. So how has it been having your license as an investor?

Hello, I just wanted to formally introduce myself; My name is Dan Lehman and I am a Rochester, NY native who is looking to become a real estate investor/agent. While I haven't acquired my first rental yet and I'm still taking the 75 hour course for my license, I am doing heavy research while I save with my cousin to partner up and start investing.

I also want to network with people who are involved in real estate in Rochester. I am looking to create ties with not just investors, but real estate agents, PMs, appraisers, bankers, lawyers and more.

To give you an idea of what my goals are currently, I want to build up a massive portfolio of multifamily properties ranging all the way from 2 to 100+. I am highly interested in multifamily properties to buy and hold but would also like to do the occasional house flip. As far as having my real estate license in concerned, I am working towards getting licensed as a means of becoming a more successful investor.

If you can just take the time to do a short introduction of yourself I would really love getting to know you and hopefully we can have a great business relationship someday.

Those are also good points from the other side of the fence. I know I'm just a new investor but it seems to me that leveraging is the way to go AS LONG AS you don't put yourself in a position of going "under water" and over leveraging yourself. Having exit strategies should put yourself in a position of knowing when to finance and when to pay cash. 

There are benefits and down sides to both and there's no reason to not do both if you can figure them into your strategies. 

Great response. I've been studying up a lot on this topic and trying to get our strategy down for acquiring property.  Definitely don't want to go into investing blindly so I appreciate any and all advice. 

I can see the clear benefits of financing new property as opposed to paying in cash but how will I know if I'm over-leveraging?