All Forum Posts by: Gabriel Fung

Duplex in Fort Worth is great. It has one of the best rental markets, largely cause of TCU. It's difficult to find cash-flowing properties there now though. Many of those get scooped up extremely quickly. Best to find house hacks there.

the way you put it "Establishing vendor relationships is KEY" is absolutely true. People underestimate this part of it often and think of this too much as a transaction. This business is a lot about relationships and trust. Good on you for figuring your way through this.

Great job Joshua! I followed a very similar approach as well and I must say that this method works not only for your first property, but for the future portfolio. Always work with lenders for pre-approvals and don't lose hope even after analyzing deals on the daily with no results. It's just a matter of time before you find your pony in the dump!

Would also add that as a first time home buyer, recognize that a DSCR comes with penalties if you pay early. If you are 100% sure you will not pay anything down early, then DSCR could be a good option. I also think DSCR comes with a higher interest rate of 1%.

 I had looked into other unique in regards to loans for other types of professions that I might fit into, and I couldn't find any. Unfortunate, but it had me thinking if I should've went the clinical route instead of the academic route haha. 

Thanks for sharing your experiences in this post!

Well done. I’m not a physician but was previously a biochemistry professor and made friends with a physician who I ultimately advised a similar plan using the physician loan method. Great stuff.

I like the BP rent estimator as a starting point, but i always verify by doing my own research, no matter the platform. They get close, and are helpful for initial screens, but the algorithms still require some fine tuning. Use your own intuition and put yourself in the shoes of a renter and look at the proper comps in your area. I only do this for the best hits from my research.

Assuming the bathroom would need a shower as well, I cant find a great spot for a bathroom here. Ultimately where the piping is will determine the cheapest location for a reno.

The spot where you point to above the garage i likely a decent spot, but it will be a narrow bathroom. in this case, best to take out the small closet there. 

If this was my place, I would keep it a 3/1.

Congrats! In my opinion, I'd def recommend house hacking as well and in my opinion, MFH is probably best. I am assuming you're looking In the Sacramento area, which I have looked in the past too, and MFH seem easiest to be positively cash flowing on my way out. While you're living there, look for places where you could also make minor cosmetic fixes that could improve the value of the property. I find easy cosmetic fix ups include unpaved driveway, paint fixes, changing our windows, and carpet that could be replaced with hardwood. The home value will get reassessed one day and you'll get much more home equity out than the money you put in. Then HELOC.

Jason and Scott said it perfectly above. In addition to their comments, I'd also recommend to first start with clarifying to yourself exactly what and why you would like to start in real estate investing, as well as what your goal is in the next 2-5 years. I believe that will help you better hone into what the MF home you need. I'd recommend you put some time into doing that first, and then applying Jason and Scott's strategy above would be your next best move. Feel free to talk about it with me and I can provide my two cents :).