All Forum Posts by: James Roux

Hello again guys,

I've posted a few times here and I've been lurking on this website for the last 8-9 months now. My question is how much money money should I save up before I would be comfortable pulling the trigger on my first multi-family property? the average property here in central florida is between 90k -150k I've got my IRA separate which I know I really shouldn't be touching but there's about 6k in that. As far as cash savings I've got about 5500 in there. Saving has been slow since I've been paying off student loan debt and other debts, but my goal is to save up about 15k by summer I feel like this should be a nice comfortable number starting out with a fha loan on about 100k loan or there abouts. Can anyone share some opinions with me on what they think. I want to make sure I've covered all bases before I begin. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read.

So here is my attempt at crunching the numbers on my own I feel like I have finally grasped it. looking at this property at first glance:

Duplex 2 units 2bed 1 bath each sale price 87,000

each unit low end rent 600 each

annual income $14,400

vacancy 10%  $1440.00

property tax   $1740

insurance   $1200

management 10%   $1440.00

maintence 5%   $720.00

reserve savings 5%   $720.00

mortgage $400 a month or $4800 annually

Total operating expenses $12,060

cashflow would be $2340 or $194 a month

cash on cash return would be 76% roughly

cap rate 8% 

Downpayment about $3000

This is also assuming a 4% down payment i know my numbers would exactly look like this because I'll be living in one side although I guess it could because I will act like a tenant myself and pay my rent.

Am i figuring correctly?? Does this look like a good deal to you guys I feel like it is. Right now I'm just going thru every single listing and crunching the number so I get the hang of it. Is there anything I'm missing or that I should add or am I over estimating any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

exactly what I was searching for thank you

@Nick G. 

I appreciate the feedback but i think the main focus of this got a little side railed tho. Do you have an opinions on cities relatively close to Orlando where theres better pricing for multi's with decent rental rates? I  want to explore my options all around me if you have any advice where I can look?

well the plan would to move after the three year waiting period for fha but it has to be decent as far as it looks my girlfriend won't take a quality of life cut where I would for future success move out and into something nice and start over

Hello everyone I'm ready to start investing in some properties in my area but I'm having trouble finding units in the 2% rule that aren't in the ghetto. I plan on living in one of the units doing a FHA. Does anyone have some advice on where to look for better properties I've been checking all the websites homes realtor trulia but not much luck. Should I consider looking outside of Orlando I'd like to stay close since I work here and plan on keeping my job. Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

@Eddie T.

Now that I have cleared up that loan payment, my monthly expense come to about 2200 my monthly gross income varies month to month from 5k to around 6400. I want to buy and hold long haven't given much thought to flipping but wouldn't rule it out.

As far as financing goes not sure which bank would approve me I have a 620 fico on credit karma not sure how accurate that is. I might mention as well that paying off that loan put a huge ding in my savings so I guess I should start rebuilding it again.

Any other advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance.

Hello guys just need to get some advice as for my route to getting ready for investing in real estate. I feel like it would be a good idea to clear all my personal debt before I even begin. I'm 27 and I had a student loan for 33k in collections I just recently settled on it for 8k was this the right move? Will negatively impact my credit? should I be trying to pay full balances or just settle on everything as low as possible? removing this debt just cleared about half of all my total debt? Should I just be really aggressive clearing things up this year as far as debt goes or should I just focus on saving for a down payment on a rental property? I had a 620 credit score before this collection settlement Im hoping this doesn't negatively effect my score even more. in hindsight I guess I should of asked this before I settled on the debt but it was driving me crazy.

Thanks guys for the quick response I guess I will continue searching on my own

Hello guys I've been searching online for my first investment property and almost ready to go speak with a Realtor will a realtor help me find specific properties that make sense financially for cash flow or is this something that I should be doing on my own like I have been just searching online. I would assume they would be better equipped at locating the properties and I could just make sense of the numbers?

Thanks hopefully this isnt a odd ball question not trying to be lazy just feel like a realtor might be better to guide me.