All Forum Posts by: Dustin Hahn

Thank you guys so much for the insight! That was exactly what I needed and was looking for. You guys are so great! Every last one of you.

@Paul Thompson I love your point about not purchasing based on what I think I can rent it for. I definitely hadn't thought of it that way.

@Brenda E. and @John Turner I ran a local property I had been looking at through the calculator as accurately as possible and was blown away by all of the information it gave me. The tools here are incredible! I will definitely be getting a pro account for these features. Will be a great investment.

Thanks again everyone!

My goal is to purchase a duplex (or possibly tri/fourplex) with an FHA loan as my first home and live in one of the units here in Fayetteville Arkansas. After that is said and done I want to plan how I purchase the next ones.

I've been learning a lot from research here on BiggerPockets and books and I'd like to give you guys a walk through of how I'm seeing things so you can tell me if I'm absolutely wrong or if I'm going in the right direction.

I found a property in my area that I perceive as a possible good investment that I'll share the details on here.

Duplex

List Price: $149,900
Rents: Current: $1,380 Potential: $1,600 Realistic: $1500
Down Payment: $5565 (3.5% FHA)
30 Year fixed 4% interest rate.
FHA principle and interest: $803.
Est. Taxes: $1600
Est. Insurance: $1500 (Arkansas average homeowners insurance is $1060 so I over estimated to avoid hidden costs. Any advice here would be appreciated)

Maintenance Factor: 15%
Vacancy Factor (College Town): 10%

So with the estimated $1500 I feel I could easily rent these two units out for, I calculated these things and came up with $63.67 monthly cash flow.

Now, considering I won't be renting out both sides, I plan on using my full time job income to provide regular "rent" for my side to cover that unit. I am also single so I would like to rent out a room or two in my unit to cover most of that out of pocket cost. I will also be managing the property myself to save costs and learn the ins and outs.

I've read that you should try to shoot for $100 cash flow per unit to consider it a good deal. But with the much lower down payment, and the equity this will build for me, could this still be considered a good investment? This is also not factoring in that I took the list price at face value and could potentially get a lower purchase price.

I would love to hear everyone's input and opinion. Questions welcome.

Welcome to BP @Nolan J Scott!

I've only been here for 24 hours and I already feel like it's home. I've learned so much in such a short amount of time and everyone here is extremely helpful. I'm hoping to buy my first plex property here in Fayetteville, AR in the next year, and following the same steps. Except I would live in mine!

Good luck to you in your search for knowledge, there is plenty of it here!

@Kyle Grimm Thank you very much man. Congrats again on your successful investing. I added you as a colleague and would love to keep in touch throughout both of our journeys! You've got a head start, but I'm excited to learn from the lovely people here. Already feel extremely welcomed.

Thanks again

No I have not been able to get into the podcasts yet. I just signed up for BP last night so learning the ropes still. Is there a good way to get to those podcasts on Android? I just got the BP app. Is that what you are using? And how do you tag people? Lol.. I'm pretty tech savvy and I can't figure out how people are doing that.

Thanks man!

Wow @Kyle Grimm that is incredible and I live the notepad idea. I'm 26 and I'm actually hoping to do the exact same thing as you.  Would love to pick your brain sometime on your challenges and things you've learned.

That's also the second time I've heard the "House Hack" term used. Where can I learn more about this?

Congrats man!

 Thank you Marlon! It's good to be here. Everyone is so friendly and helpful! Wonderful community. 

Hello BP community!

I'm new here and new to real estate investing completely. My father has some long term experience in real estate but he slowed it down a lot after starting a real estate website business. But he still owns and operates StopForeclosure.com. He typically deals in single family homes though so I'm trying to learn the investment world for myself.

My goal is to own a plex property by the end of 2016 and occupy one of the units with paying roommates. I'm right in Fayetteville Arkansas college town and feel there is a lot of growth opportunity as well as steady flow of renters in this area.

I'm 26, have a steady job and have been employed consistantly for 10 years. With research I've decided that the FHA loan will be my best bet to reduce the down payment to a reasonable level. I have $7000 saved for this purpose as well.

There's so much information out there (some conflicting) that it makes it hard for me to truly know where to start. I've started learning the average rates in my area near the college. Typically I've seen an average of about $150,000 duplex properties around 10 years old with current $1500 rents.

I want to learn the ins and outs of multi-units because I'm interested in planning for a second property as soon as the dust settles from the first one.

I've seen many informative real estate single family investor blogs but just can't find a lot on plex properties. Should they be approached the same way? Should I be as worried about the cash flow if I'm occupying one side myself? 

I will be "paying rent" to myself monthly as if I was my own landlord in preparation for taxes, insurance, and maintenance. What is the best way to approach this knowing that I want to purchase another property later down the road. Should I dump more into the equity to refinance for a down payment on the next one? Or should I minimize the monthly payment for more cash flow?

If you have any questions for me I would be glad to answer. Remember I am a complete newbie at this so I could be completely off track! 

Thanks in advance!

WOW! Thank you guys so much for the support and wonderful information!

I am extremely excited to be part of this wonderful community!

Brenda E. I will be at one of those meetings soon. I would love to meet everyone. Thank you! 

Welcome Amy! I'm newer than you with far less credentials, but glad to have your added knowledge in this area!