All Forum Posts by: Edward Webb

@Deneuve Brutus thank you for all that great in depth advice!

My understanding from my talks with a handful of lenders is that I don't qualify for a traditional residential mortgage because I don't have a source of income right now. That's one of the primary reasons I'm looking into 5+ units.

I have thought about investing out of state! But I haven't looked very far. I've found two properties in Arkansas, and one that's so far west in Texas it might as well be in another state. I'll continue to broaden my scope to look for a good deal.

I think part of my problem right now is I want to get started now now now. But I know this first property could take me several months to a year. I need to take it slower, do my research and find something great before I dive into a mistake.

I also need to reread certain sections of BP's commercial multi family book to get ready for my journey!

@Dmitriy Fomichenko not in a while, and I probably skimmed it. I'll go through it to make sure.

I'm brand new and I'm still going through the forum and learning and reading.

I've found my interest lies primarily in commercial multi-family. But I've been reading so much I get myself confused. I'm going to continue reading but some answers and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
TL;DR if you had $100k to start your investment career in real estate where would you start?

My dreams: Owning enough rental properties to never miss a moment of my future children growing up. I would like to teach others through an online presence on how to become financially free, and consult the next generation that wouldn't otherwise be able to afford consulting on how to take their lives to the next level.
What I would like to happen: I'm in the DFW area. I'm planning on going back to college at UNT and getting a degree in finance. I'm going to live in a small apartment and use my GI bill to go to school and live off of. I'm considering going into the reserves(currently finishing my active contract) for various reasons. I'd like to purchase a property with an NOI of $30-50k while putting down $80-120k. I'm not even sure that it's possible. But in the short term I can manage and do the handy-man work myself to a certain extent.
The goal: wherever I start, the income from the investment will roll into my next investment, becoming a powerful snowball of income to build my dreams and security off of.

What I'm doing right now: I'm going to begin working on my real estate license soon, I think that would be a great way to network with people. I also have plans to begin some side hustles suggested by a biggerpockets blog post. I am researching and doing a basic analysis of properties every day. Once I get my car on Thursday I will be driving around neighborhoods and looking at any and all nearby properties. I'm also looking for my own small apartment to live in.

If it were possible: the short term goal is to buy a property near enough to my school that I can just live there, I'd even pay rent to myself so the rent sheets wouldn't get messed up. But the properties that I'm seeing are out of my price range. I don't qualify right now for a normal mortgage or a VA loan.

So where do you guys think I should start? I've found some cheap properties that are in Arkansas and far western Texas that could possibly make that money. But I haven't looked at them. And the idea of LoI's are kind of intimidating to me. As I mentioned, I'm new to all of this. I would really love a mentor or a coach, I'm not exactly sure how I'd pay in the long term. But I'd have to figure it out!

If you think I should take a completely different route I'm open to ideas. I've even considered trying to buy a storage facility or a car wash.
What kind of down payment % should I expect on a commercial loan? 30%? I have near perfect credit if that even matters.

@Aaron W. Thank you for your support and response! For investing into real estate, I find that it is one of the best ways to ensure that I and my future family never end up in the same situation I was growing up. I was one of those students in high school that would get free school lunch then hope I was eating again later that night. I also want to eventually teach and train others to never experience that. Speak at high schools and colleges or community centers. Sit down and talk with students and adults alike about what they can do to afford their next meal and afford their rent.

I'm looking for Cash Flow more than appreciation and I would prefer cash flow in the short term IF I were to go with one of the larger two options. Especially if I'm going with purchasing a quadraplex. If I purchase a larger property through syndication I am more interested in paying my investors than paying myself. As long as the numbers indicate it WILL be positive cash flow, and it isn't starting as negative cash flow.

I am interested in rehab but in the beginning I'm not sure I can afford larger more intensive rehabs without taking out loans. I believe a realistic cashflow would be $150-250 per unit.

@Matt Groth I appreciate the insight and I agree. Selling houses is deep on the back burner until I earn my license and really understand the process of marketing, selling and purchasing from an agent's side of the table. The day trading is more of a side income while I'm in college, something I can do in a short amount of time a few days of the week to pay for a night out. I want to build my rental portfolio but I'm not sure how I want to begin. And I understand what you mean, I should focus on a single style of real estate investing as well, single-family, residential multi-unit, or commercial multi-unit.

I appreciate the insight and will work onput my blinders back on and look more into narrowing my field of view on small goals though!

Hello everyone, I am Edward. A Six year Navy Veteran that is rapidly approaching the end of my service time.

I joined the Navy because I was not in the best financial situation. I was in college, working as close to full time at minimum wage as I could. I wasn't having luck in the job market, and I was making about half what I needed to in order to pay my bills. I didn't know how to reduce my bills, and I didn't know how to make money. So I signed my contract to join the Navy. I made E-6 in 5.5 years. I decided the military lifestyle wasn't for me and began my separation process much to my commands dismay. I was a RADAR technician for the primary fire control RADAR on AEGIS warships. I quickly took over as the Work Center Supervisor and lead technician, then moved on to be the Leading Petty Officer and did a very short stint as the interim Leading Chief Petty Officer. I spent 3.5 years stationed in Yokosuka, Japan.

I started reading books about finance and investing and quickly fell in love with the subject. Now that I am nearly out of the Navy I've decided it is time for me to begin my investing career. I want to go to college for finance and real estate and get my real estate license in Texas. I want to build a strong rental investment team of fellow investors and hopefully sell to my team as well as utilize their experience to grow my own business.

I also dream of building a strong online presence and consulting those less fortunate in how to rise up out of their situation and never struggle again. I was the high school student on the free lunch program that wasn't sure if I was eating another meal or not. And I want to help others stay out of that way of life. One day I want to speak at high schools and colleges and help younger people build their own portfolio of income streams.

I am currently looking into a few different paths for my first property. Please leave some advice for me on my other post at this link:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Thank you all and I look forward to learning from and working with you.

This may be a long post so I'll leave a TL;DR at the bottom.

About me: I'm a 6 year Navy vet separating in April. I don't have a job lined up and currently the goal is to go to college and earn my Texas real estate license. I don't plan on selling houses as my primary source of income. I intend to use those resources to build a strong investment team and build a rental property portfolio. I hope that I can ALSO sell properties to my investment team and also to other investors. My endgame goal is to teach others, young and old, to invest and never struggle for money again.
I am stuck between a few options. I've read several books, listened to some podcasts and read some forum posts. I've come to decide that I am interested in either commercial multi-family, or BRRRR; or both. I think a good idea for me would be to invest around military bases. I understand the way service members pay works, and I understand what happens when they choose to skip rent.

Path 1(cheaper): go back to college on my GI bill and purchase my first single family home with VA loan. Do some day trading and build an online business and presence to pay anything extra. Do not pick up rental income yet. Possibly find a job in a brokerage pre-license as an assistant and begin to build my network. Once I'm licensed and depending on the success of my business I can purchase my first properties.

Path 2(employee mindset): get a job, likely in the upper 5 digit range and look to purchase a 4 unit property with my VA loan. I have to live in 1 unit for a minimum of 1 year and I'll be picking up rental income fairly quickly. I'll have a larger nest egg. But I'll be delaying my licensing and schooling. I'm also worried that I will grow comfortable in the employee mindset and get myself stuck in that life style.

Path 3(furthest out of comfort zone): purchase my own home with VA loan, as in path 1. But add syndicating a larger multiunit property. I have no experience syndicating something like this and very limited knowledge of the way this works. I also don't have many contacts in my network that would be financially able to involve themselves in such a deal. I could attempt to gather enough for a 10-20, or more, unit property. This would allow me to go to college and get ready for real estate licensing. And I'd already have my first team built.

TL;DR: Should I buy a single family home and put off buying my first rental, get a job and buy a quad, or do path one + syndicate a larger deal with no syndication experience?