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All Forum Posts by: Gene Felten

Gene Felten has started 2 posts and replied 8 times.

@Vandetta B.

No need to apologise I appreciate any sort of commentary/tips. Anything helps. Yea I think there are lenders out there that will understand my situation that I could work with. It's just about finding the one(s). Bigger down payment = better collateral, got it, makes perfect sense. 

You're right I gotta keep the conversations going. Thanks for your help and I hope for success on your end as well! 

@Vandetta B. 

Yea I may have to go that route and use my dad's job as the steady income until I finish school. A large down payment; so more than the usual 20%? Does that usually make lenders more willing to do business? 

@Account Closed 

Yea that was my thinking that it might be risky. Thanks for the tips 

I'm about to go back to school and won't have a job but i'm looking into investing in homes in the south east suburbs of the Chicago area, near the city. I have good cash reserves but is that still not enough to qualify for a mortgage? 

What if I bought a turnkey home outright, hard cash buy, with tenants and I collect rent money monthly. Does that not now qualify as a steady income stream? I've heard about LLCs but i'm not very familiar. Worst comes to worst I could ask my dad to use his job as the steady income stream (I don't really want to do that though). 

If I seem completely naive it's because I am. I'm still completely new to this but aiming to purchase a property this year. I guess i'm wondering what kind of options do I have with the situation i'm in? 

@Alina Trigub That's really what I needed, just some common options people usually go to, thanks for that. I am leaning towards the turnkey route. But yes you're absolutely right, I need to research a lot more. 

I may take you up on that PM. I'm so new to this I think of questions all the time. Thanks for making yourself available 

@Jill DeWit Hey Jill, 

I actually signed up for a webinar on "How to Retire Early Through Real Estate Investing!" which is on Tuesday the 19th I believe. I will definitely look into all the other resources on here too. 

Do I network by just engaging in all sorts of real estate topics? I wouldn't have much to add in terms of knowledge just yet. I will try that though. 

That's a great idea. When i figure out where i'll be doing my very first investments that's exactly where i'll look for clubs to join. 

Thank you Jill, I appreciate the kind words and your advice. I'm just getting started so it's nice to know I can always ask for help. 

@John Franczyk I'm definitely interested in going full on treating it as a business/ making it my career, i'm 24 and am more and more seeing this as something I can get into for the long run. You're right, typing it all up, laying out goals and strategies would be really important. Great points on staying away from C-Class properties. I wouldn't have known it would be difficult finding good management for cheap rundowns, thanks for that. I plan on moving back to the U.S in the next few years so I would dive into those sort of properties when that happens. 

That's really interesting, Wisconsin hasn't come up yet in my research. One of the main things that comes up as criteria for a good investment city is job growth and that seems to be what is happening there with that apartment complex. I'll be looking into that. When is that complex scheduled to be done? This year? Also some of the research I do is just window-shop on Zillow and i've noticed newly constructed properties always seem to be valued more by Zillow's "Zestimate,"than they are actually being sold for. Is that because of the location of the properties? too far from city centres? 

Thanks again for your advice it's very much appreciated 

Hey everyone,

This is my first forum, i'm happy I found it because it's exactly what I need right now (I'll explain why further down). The helper says I should introduce myself, interact with people and have fun so here goes.

I'm Gene Felten, currently living and working in Togo, Africa, at my dad's renewable energy consultancy company. My dad is from Pasadena, California, and my mom is from here, Togo, Africa. We've lived in the U.S, all over Africa, I went to college in Italy and London and we'll probably continue to move around in the future.

In the next coming weeks my brother and I are going to be receiving an inheritance from my grandfather (Gene Sr). I want to get into real estate. I like the idea of a passive income every month, potentially buying and flipping houses, maybe get into renovating and of course meeting other real estate people. So with our inheritance I want to start by going 50-50 with my brother and maybe spend up to 100k. We could spend more or less, like I said I'm such a rookie at this and would love some advice. I've been doing research and Florida keeps popping up as a spot where investing in property is a good idea right now. I like the idea of that because it's on the east coast, and if I had to fly back and forth for a while plane tickets wouldn't be as bad as flying all the way to California or wherever. Atlanta also pops up, I also saw Raleigh, NC. I think I want to stick to the east coast for now until I eventually move back to the U.S to dip back into the west. I'd love to know where the best options in America are right now. Or is America not even the best place for real estate right now? Europe? South America? Should I buy a turnkey property to start? Or a cheap rundown property ready to be renovated?

Please let me know your thoughts,

Thanks