All Forum Posts by: Forrest Williams

$48 /mo isn't much, but 94k can buy you another 1.5 houses in your market by the looks of things. If you get it as a line of credit, you could take what you need now and get out the rest later.

@Anthony Matus I would buy, not rent with access to a VA loan. I'm also a big fan of multi units, so if you can grab a duplex or a multi unit I would go for it.

I had a neighbor who did this. He and his wife (also military) would house hack for two years, or however long their deployment was, using a VA loan. Then they would rent out the house when they moved and pay a local handyman or PM company to take care of it. It worked very well for them, and they had several around the country. Using a VA loan is one of the best options you have available to you.

I've used ASAP Appliances, they've been pretty responsive.

@Lawrence Kutsovsky there's always the Chicago area! I'm probably biased because I live here, but good cash flow at reasonable prices for 2-4 flats.

I've been happy with Conquest Pest Solutions.

I would consider getting into some medium sized apartment buildings. Saves money on maintenance, less driving around to multiple properties, still has value add potential, can scale with rent rates rather than relying on comps. Over the next 10 years, you'll likely be replacing multiple big ticket items in SFHs, hot water heaters, furnaces, roofs, etc. With an apartment building there is more up front cost, but once you replace the roof, you've replaced the roof for 20 units rather than one.

Say these investors are correct, and you wait 3 years to get into real estate so you can buy a property dirt cheap. Congratulations, it's 2024 and you can start making money.

On the flip side, say you buy one now which gives you a 12% return and set aside that money. In three years, you'll have an income producing property as well as money to buy a new one at those dirt cheap prices. Sounds way better to me.

In 2017 I was flipping my second house and asked a friend if he was ever going to get in on it. He told me his brother-in-law works for a financial firm, and their projection was a market crash in 2019, so he'll wait until then. 4 years and one pandemic later, he still doesn't have a place. I did four in that time. Don't wait.

You could try something related to investing but not purely investing. For example, underwriting at a bank to see how loans work and make connections with financial advisors. You could get into property management to help with budgeting and seeing the maintenance side of things. If being an agent is too big a step, you could try and find a leasing agent position to start some leads and see if you like showing buildings.

Hi Nicholas, welcome to BP. The market is pretty tight for 2-4 flats, especially for ones that are in the suburbs but not in Cook county. I've got a two flat in Berwyn that performs pretty well. Since I was also an owner occupant, I could put less money down and my tenant takes care of almost all of the mortgage. If you're going to be living in one unit, you probably won't be able to totally live for free while you're there, but once you move out it'll be cash flowing. In the meantime, that rent goes a long way for you to save up for the next place.

Let me know if you want to talk more, house hacking is one of my favorite subjects!