All Forum Posts by: Dillon Thomas

And the backyard with the 100' RV pad.

Here is the guest house that was added on.

I got accepted for the loan! We had the inspection the other day and found the the water heater had been leaking, which caused the subfloor to start to break.  But other than that the inspection went great.  Now I just wait for my lender to send me the disclosure documents.  These documents should have been signed last monday, but I found another lender with a better deal and had to change programs when I was already on a time crunch to close on this house.

@Frank Patalano

I've been held back for over a year now due to my career move and financial situation until the other day when my company offered to move me to Aurora, Colorado. I immediately found a rental property where the numbers look like they work and there's a lot of rental potential as I'll be house hacking. However, now I'm held back because I don't know how to find a decent long term tenant, or how to begin my endeavors of being a landlord.

Thank you everyone for your replies.  I've looked at the house and the 100' RV pad is 5' deep, comes with full hookup, water, waste, and two separate 50 amp hookups.  I put up a scout ad on Craigslist and had to take it down after two days from the amount of people asking about it.  I drove by the area and noticed RV's parked at other houses.  The RV pad is basically in the back yard and out of the way from the curb view and the backyard has an area for a small dog to run around.  The guest house is attached to the main house but there is a separate egress to the outside.

This house looks like an amazing deal and I'll post pictures here soon.  It's basically a turnkey house hacking property. I found out today that the owner is wanting to sell the house by Sunday or he is going to turn it into a full rental.  I talked to my realtor today and we decided to draw up a contract for the house.  Last week I spoke with another lender who managed to get me approved for the $429,000.  So tomorrow I could possibly be making an offer on the house.  I feel like I haven't had enough time to really look at the numbers or what exactly to look for because I'm so green.  I'm okay with making risks on my first property, but I don't want to go in this without looking more at the future risks.  How do I know what to look for?  The roof, guest house, appliances, and windows are all brand new.  The owner who did the work was meticulous.  The stepping stone pad in the back yard is even perfectly squared and leveled off. All the wires throughout the house are ran well and look pleasant. Updated baths and a bedroom with a walkout to the backyard.

Greetings fellow BiggerPocket members, a year and a half ago I came across BiggerPockets.com while looking for my fifth room-mate sharing rental house and knew that I needed to start a plan to invest in real estate. I’ve listened to a few dozen podcasts and wondered around the forums a bit but for the last year and a half I have been looking at properties, attempting to punch numbers, speaking with realtors; basically I’m very green. However, my job has been moving me around and I am finally at the point where I’m tired of renting. I was told on June 1st I will be moving to Denver, Colorado to work full time. The company will put me in a hotel for up to 4 weeks and by then they expect for me have found a place to stay. So yesterday I started clicking the contact realtor button on some of the many online websites. A few minutes later I got contacted by a realtor who was very eager to work with me. Long story short, I told her what I was looking for and we came across one property that I do not want to pass up. So I’m here asking all of you out there reading this if I’m trying to make something work for the mere excitement to start earning equity, or might these numbers actually work?

Working with my realtor and lender, we came across a single family property listed for $450,000. I'm trying to do an FHA loan. I wanted to do multi-family, but then i was informed that there is a down payment assistance program that pays around 3%-5% for those who qualify. According to my lender, for me to qualify I have one option: My parents would help cosign so that I could reach the loan amount.

Here are some numbers:

Reduced Price: $429,900

FHA Loan: 3%

Expenses

Down Payment -$12,897.00

Taxes -$1,438.54

Closing Costs $2,705.00

Water -$120.00?

Sewage -$30.00?

Electrical -$250.00?

Vacancy $0.00?

Mortgage Insurance -$201.55

Principle -$2,082.03

Cap Ex $0.00>

Insurance -$500.00?

Initial -$10,192.00

Monthly -$3,183.58

Year 1 -$61,833.50

Year 2 -$51,641.50

Now I’m not great with exact numbers, and right here is shows I’m paying $3,183.58 a month for the mortgage, utilities, and insurance. The idea of buying a place rather than renting, is so that I could put the money on rent into my own property. Planning my move, I anticipated about $2,500 a month for a decent place. What’s great about this house is that it has an RV pad that I can rent out between $600 - $1,000 a month and a guest house that I was planning on living in while renting out the main house for around $2,200. That means if I can get those two units rented out, I could be pulling in almost $3,000 a month from rental income. Thus, I would be living virtually rent free, while my tenants would help me earn equity. My biggest worry is that I wouldn’t be able to rent out enough and that I wouldn’t be able to afford to live without collecting rent. Also, I plan on moving in another 14 months once this job is done. Should I wait, or jump on this?

Isn't there a restriction for FHA saying you cannot finance another FHA on a property within a 100 mile radius? Would that mean you would need a job at least 51 miles away from your first property to be able to finance a second property 100 miles away but only 50 miles from work making it just a measly 1 mile closer xD

Hey Hunter,

Being young investors, I believe that you and I have similar short term goals. Have you looked into a 203k FHA loans which allow down payments as low as 3.5% (plus mortgage insurance) that also allows you to take out extra from the loan to finance repair costs? (Although, I do believe that through an FHA loan you must hire a professional contractor.) This is typically not lended through larger banks but rather local credit unions or smaller banks that hold their loans in-house. After one year (minimum 12 months) you can refinance into a conventional loan and move out. Once you have at least 20%-30% paid off, you can take out a HELOC (Home Equity Line Of Credit) to put a down payment out on another property while you rent that one out.

I'm planning on moving to Columbia, MO soon and love how your post brought up the REIA group meetings. Perhaps I'll see you there once I finally get moved in. Keep in contact, I'd love to see how you progress and if you ever want to sit down and talk about real estate I'd be happy to join you. Or maybe you need help painting, removing carpet, running electrical, trash pickup, or anything else. Don't be a stranger!

Best of Luck!

Dillon Thomas

I've been a renter for too long and lately I've been getting pulled in to BiggerPockets to look at how much potential there is in real estate.  Why have I not bought real estate yet!?  My name is Dillon and I am looking for any any every possibility to get started in real estate within the Columbia, Missouri market.

I have a couple of potential investors interested in where my path may be headed.  Ill talk about that a little later.  Right now I want to engage in any partnership opportunities that may be possible.  If you're another investor starting off, we might be able to form a contract on two duplexes.  If three or four or FIVE investors want to get in, we might be able to form an agreement for a (5) duplex portfolio that's currently open at a discounted rate.

I want to get in this for the long haul, starting with owning my own duplex, and fulling the BRRRR strategy where I would live and rehab one side while the other is being rented. Then rent out my half, refinance, and REPEAT. My goal is to own 10 units by the end of 2019, and someday invest in multifamily apartments. Short goal is to build up equity, take out a HELOC and put down on more and more units. By partnering up with local investors, lenders, property managers, contractors, wholesalers, web designers, escrow services, etc. I have high hopes and aspiring dreams to turn this into a profitable business some day.

Please, if you're in the area, reach out to me for possible opportunities as I would like to help in any way I can.  Or if you're outside the area, also feel free to reach out and perhaps we can grow together and share problems, profits, or concerns.  I'm not trying to advertise for lenders here, just looking to know who's involved in the market and hope to make friends within the community.