All Forum Posts by: Nefera Croom

@Allana Alex I'm in East New York near the Broadway Junction subway stop and the LIRR East New York stop. When I was house hunting I considered homes in East Flatbush, Canarsie, Remsen Village, Cypress Hills, and East New York. All in all, NACA really needs to update their purchase price limits. The limits have increased in the last year. When I closed the limit for a 3 fam was around 560k. I vaguely recall being told that the purchase limits are supplied by HUD or some other federal agency. That doesn't seem to be the case as FHA has much more reasonable purchase price limits. As long as a buyer can meet the rigorous qualification, it seems silly that the limits remain so low.

@David Bellmont

I closed on a 3-family home in Brooklyn through NACA in July 2015. I was preapproved by NACA's underwriters (Citibank) August 2015 but had a few deals fall through. The seller, who represented an investment group, was reluctant to sell me the house because of NACA's reputation. However, it was seller who needed to delay closing in the end. My interest rate is 2.5%. At closing I only had to pay taxes, insurance, and mortgage interest and I was able to finance the necessary renovations in the mortgage. I have a good friend who had about the same timeline I did for purchasing, but ended up going through a different program because of issues with uninformed and unresponsive counselors in DC . I will say that yes, the process is tedious, and there is a high counselor turnover, but the savings made it worth it IMHO.

Also, I ended up dealing directly with the seller's agent as many realtors had grown frustrated that I would not budge on my criteria in a tough market. This was not a problem for NACA.

NACA paid for a great attorney who walked me through from accepted offer through closing.

My timeline 

Jan 2014 Attended NACA workshop

March 2014 - First scheduled NACA meeting but counselor had left NACA, was reassigned to new counselor

April 21, 2014 First NACA appt with new counselor (this counselor was not well versed with NACA)

May 2014 - Reassigned to new counselor (This was the counselor who helped get me qualified by the underwriters.  He was much better than my 2nd counselor)

I decided I wanted to be approved for a higher purchase price amount so I took on the payment shock challenge for 3 months.

August 2014 - I was qualified for the higher amount and began house hunting

April 2015 - Offer accepted on my current home (Brooklyn market is tough and I was picky)

July 2015 - Closed on home (I had to have multiple contractor bids on the scope of work that was required, seller had some delays)

Best of everything to you! If you have some flexibility with your timeline the savings are definitely worth the patience.

@Darren Sager Thanks for the warm welcome and glad to hear you were successful starting how I'm planning to start. ? about the BP NYC meetups. How and where are they advertised? Do I have to go to meetup.com and look for a BP meetup?

@Charmaine M. Thank you for the warm welcome! I've already learned so much just by reading my keyword alerts. This place is awesome!

@Mehran K. Wow yes I am sensing an addiction coming on! Thanks for the heads-ups with the video! I was just wondering aloud to my colleague if there was any special version of the 50% rule for multi-families. I guess when the student is ready... :)

Hi Elisha,

I'm looking into NACA as well for my first multi-unit property. I've read a lot positive and negative on forums. I am looking for a fixer-upper and have read that dealing with their HAND dept for the rehab loan is the worst part of the deal, but for the savings I am willing to give it a go. FHA 203k is my backup. I'm up for the due diligence required and will update this thread on how it goes with them as a buyer. Attending the initial meeting this coming Saturday. Best Wishes to You!

@J Scott @Faith Brashear @Chris Martin Thanks for sharing! It's great to hear from people with positive real life encounters with the NACA program :)

Hi my name is Nefera Croom and I am a math teacher in NYC. I learned about BiggerPockets while researching information on multi-unit homes. I am so glad to have stumbled upon this treasure trove of people and information! I am currently looking for my first multi-unit investment home and would like to continue acquiring small multi-units to hold and generate cash flow : )