All Forum Posts by: Dominique Rucker

Hi @Dominique Rucker - Welcome to the community! Be sure to take advantage of the group.... you will get a lot of different opinions and perspectives. 

Here is my two cents knowing the Orlando market.... I think buying a primary house for you to live in can offer one of the easiest most practical and efficient ways to get started. I think the main focus for you should be "buying right" and getting a "good deal" so this can set you up for your next investment. 

Start by finding a property that your Mortgage will be lower than what that same house would rent for. If you can buy a place ALL IN Mortgage at $2,000 and they rent for $2,500 this is a good start!  It sounds super obvious but you would be surprised that some localized areas will be more expensive to own vs that same house to rent. By doing this, this enables one of your exit strategies which would be to rent it!

The pricing side of getting a good deal is a more complicated to analyze. I think the main thing to look at is as interest rates continue to rise throughout the prices will deflate...however I think Orlando and Florida as a whole will fare better than a lot of other markets in the country.  

Since you mentioned you are a travel nurse...to buy your next property you will likely need to save your "earned income" from your Nursing job ....OR if you made a good financial decision on your primary purchase it will allow you to potentially access equity by refinancing or taking a line of credit on the home, only giving you more options in the future!

Congrats on taking that step!! To summarize: house hacking is crossed off the list, FHA loan will be used for primary residence, you've got two potential partners, and scaling is your main objective.

You may want to look into creative financing options depending on both your risk tolerance and your availability to do some extra work: DSCR loans, BRRRR deals, seller financing, etc. I won't ask if your adult children are working as that may be too personal. If they are, they can help you save for that next deal, which will definitely help you scale more quickly! If they aren't, ideally they are gaining lots of experience in skills that will be useful on y'alls journey - getting a realtor's license, learning to swing a hammer, etc.

PS - if you're ok with a little extra responsibility, you can lease spare space on your primary residence with a storage app called Neighbor. Hope this helps!

Hi Dominique,

Congratulations on working towards buying a home for you and your family. In addition to FHA, check out Home Possible, a FreddieMac program. As a traveling nurse your income may be too high to qualify but check the income requirements. It's good to know about the program whether or not you qualify because you can pass the info on to others who want to buy a home. Also, the larger size house you need shouldn't prevent you from house hacking.

Also, please contact me about being a traveling nurse. I want to get into MTR mid-term rentals to traveling nurses and would love your feedback about all the places you've stayed. I can also offer other home buying tips.