All Forum Posts by: Dillon Jalbert

What Sam said, then start shopping for a new property manager (if possible).

Hey James,

Worst-case-scenario story I heard last year:

Group of college students rented a house, and (not even during a party) cut a hole from the second floor to the first floor and installed a fire pole.

Long story short, the owner had to tear down the house because the structural integrity was compromised.

Obviously that's probably the worst thing that could happen, and I know plenty of other people who rent to students and haven't ever had issues - just something to be cautious about.

@Patrick Jenkins I paid $950/month in rent for a basement over the summer. Granted it was in Fairfield County, CT, but my landlord lived in the house and owned it free and clear. People need housing, so when they don’t have enough for a 20-30% down payment on a home, they’re only option is to rent a unit.

USA.com/rank can give you the median rent per city/town if you’d like to see what Houston is.

@Stratton Nielsen I wouldn't discourage you from a multi-family, even if it's a 4-plex. If you're open to it (and the math works out), you could live in one of the units, rent out the other 3, and qualify for an FHA loan which allows you to put down 3.5-5% and you wouldn't have to dig into your cash reserves. Keep in mind you will likely have to factor in a mortgage insurance since you're leveraging so much, so that has to factor into your expense budget.

After a 12-month period, you're allowed to leave the property and rent out the 4th unit. If you end up refinancing the property, you could repeat the process with the FHA loan on a new property.

Hey everyone! Does anyone have any knowledge or experience on CT laws about converting SF homes into 2-4 unit multi-family's? I'm looking to get into the multi-family rental business, and have some experience renovating homes. I'm hoping to be able to purchase a SF home and rezone the area to accommodate multiple families. Thanks!

Hey Cameron, Congrats on entering college! I'm a senior at the University of Connecticut, and I can honestly say LinkedIn has helped me out tremendously in terms of building my network and experiences. Your college page has an alumni network of everyone who has attended the university, and people are typically generous with offering time and advice to current students (I personally used the UConn network for both my PE and IB internships).

I've recently started to get serious in real estate, so you're definitely in a better starting place than I am. As you and others said previously, just try to get as much hands-on experience as you possibly can to put to use what you read/listened to relating to real estate.

The only other thing I could suggest is to be active on campus. Join investing clubs, real estate clubs, or other finance clubs to meet like-minded guys and gals at your school.

Best of luck!

Dillon