All Forum Posts by: Eric F.

Long story short. A successful local investor (buy and hold, also a broker for 30 years, runs a small real estate investment company now) taught a creative real estate class here in Raleigh recently and offered anyone a chance to meet with him for an hour and pick his brain. I am of course taking him up on it, this Wednesday. He said to bring a rough idea of what I want to do and some questions.

My goals are to accumulate buy and hold properties to generate passive income, enough to live off in 10 years if I desire. At first I plan on being very hands on, but in the long run I'd like to move to more passive with property management so I can travel and volunteer my time. In addition, I am interested in other types of real estate investing, mainly rehabbing. My plan starts with buying a 2-4 multifamily using a FHA loan and owner occupying, and from there I hope to slowly build up a portfolio using traditional and creative ways, like subject 2, if possible.

Questions include:
*What areas of town should I look into?
*If you were starting today, with my end in mind, what would you do, who would you meet with, and so forth?
*How realistic does my plan seem?
*If real estate starts working out, should I look into becoming a broker (and yes I know this is discussed in 4,000 BP threads haha)
*One of my plans is to send yellow letters to a bunch of absentee owned multi families in town, I plan on asking his advice on this.
*Where do you see Raleigh's market going?

and the most important one (in my opinion): Is there anything I can do to help you or someone else in exchange for knowledge and instruction?

Am I missing anything super obvious? I only have an hour and do not want to waste his time.

Thanks everyone!

I just met with a lender in NC about the same thing. FHA will allow you to do a 4plex as long as you owner occupy with 3.5% down. Your Mortgage Insurance will be higher. Look into down payment assistance as well. In North Carolina first time home buyers can potentially qualify for 3% of their downpayment as an interest free second mortgage you repay when you sell the house. If you hold it for 15 years the mortgage is forgiven entirely. We are not sure if multifamily housing qualifies for this, the guy I met with is looking into it now.

Can you only qualify for 60k based on your downpayment or for other reasons?

Thanks Jon Holdman! Your posts have taught me a ton about real estate and property management.

Timothy Joost I met with a mortgage originator company (if this is the correct term) instead of a bank yesterday. I have 1 year of employment at my current job and before that I quit the workforce to travel overseas for a few months. According to them I can still get a FHA loan although my credit score is pretty strong which possibly makes a difference.

Check around your local REIA or ask other local investors who they work with. The place I went with works with several investors and is active in our local REIA organization.

Craig Sturgill you said " Alex R., it also looks like you are financing through Owner Occupied FHA. In that case, no matter how much equity you have, you will have PMI insurance for 60 months under current rules. "

I met with a loan guy yesterday and he did not mention this. Although if I go FHA (I probably will have to because of the down payment) I doubt I will be at 78% equity in five years, I did not know this fact. Thanks a lot for alerting me to it!

Thanks to everyone else in this thread too! I had the exact questions as Alex. Jon Holdman the .64 is new to me if you plan to self manage, which I do. I was doing .6 assuming I did not hire property management since it looks like they run close to 10% all said and done. Is the extra .4 accounting for them taking a half month rent when they fill a vacancy (seems standard in my area?)

I just want to make sure I have a solid understanding of everything by the time I find my property (hopefully soon!)

This thread is very helpful for a soon to be landlord. I find the "no appliance" position quite surprising, maybe it is reflective of my market or the properties I have looked at in my renting life, but I do not think I have ever seen a place for rent without a refrigerator and stove. A washer dryer seems to be 50:50.

I wrote down a few things I will consider when looking at potential rental properties to purchase.

Frank Geneski since you are a realtor don't you need to mention that in the letter as well?

Are you taking the class through Wake Tech? Which one are you taking?

I am in the same boat as you, although a few years older.

Is 6.95 the usual Kindle price for his other two books or are they on sale today?

Robert Adams That does not sound like something I am interested right now. Good luck though.

Sabrina Laplante I will call some parks. Most things I read made it sound like you should go there, but if the park manager just lives in an unmarked trailer then I guess I would have to call. How did you find the bird dogs and how many deals did they bring you?

William W. what is considered a medium to larger park? I went through one with 200+ units but it was immaculately maintained with mostly new homes and I figured it was not what I was looking for.

I'll try again this weekend. I guess if I see someone walking I can ask them where the office is (if there is one)

thanks everyone.