All Forum Posts by: Hunter B.

I'm thinking that my wife and I could use an FHA loan to buy a duplex within an hour commute of NYC (where we work) with a $50k down payment, with maybe a $600-700k budget. Rent out the other side and let the tenants pay the mortgage.

A more complicated idea involves buying a duplex to later BRRRR and set ourselves up for a larger purchase at the end of the year after that. Either way, our goal would be to continue purchasing income generating properties every year with our W2s.

I'd like some feedback on these thoughts from people with experience please. Thank you!

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The more I learn about real estate, the more I realize how little most people know about it. It makes me wonder: How many people are there that do this in a serious way? I'm not talking about REITs. How many people actively own cash flowing properties or make a significant profit on real estate every year in the US?

My guess: Random reference group of 30 people I know, 2 are real estate investors. That means ~6.67% of people invest in real estate. I would guess 20 million people in the US actively invest in real estate.

When I put it that way, it actually makes me think there are a lot of us.

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I've been studying very hard to prepare myself for a journey in real estate, and I was wondering: Are there any investors in NYC that I could watch or assist just to get the lay of the land? I would be particularly interested in meeting someone who uses the BRRRR strategy consistently.

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New York City, New York

Quote from @Ken M.:

Quote from @Hunter B.:

I've read two books now talking about goal setting, and I'm learning to hone in on specific goals that are actionable. I've looked within myself, and in the same way I've pursued achievement in other areas of my life, my goal in real estate is motivated by the desire to simply do awesome things. That goal is namely to raise $1 million in equity in the next 5 years.

My question to you guys is, what's the smartest way to achieve that?

For example I'm looking at my first property for around $150k. Would it mean something like BRRR'ing 20 of these properties with 15 year mortgages, 30% paid after 5 years totaling $1,000,000? It's a bit of a puzzle based on what I've learned so far. I'd appreciate any help from smarter investors than myself.

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The concept is different than the reality.

If you buy in a typical investor method, you put 20% down on your $150,000 property. That means you put $30,000 down per house and have a payment on $120,000 per house @ whatever interest rate, say 6% for $1,012 a month plus taxes, insurance and repairs. So, 34 houses in this fashion gets you to your goal. Now, where are you going to come up with the $30,000 per house? Your payments are $35,000 a month plus 34 property tax payments, 34 insurance payments and repairs and replacements on 34 properties per month. But, you've got your perceived $1,000,000 in equity.

Then when you go to sell, costs with real estate agents, closing, etc is 8% to 10& so $80,000 to $100,000 leaving $900,000 in actual money which is then taxed as capital gains.
That's the general idea.

The key is to have more coming in than going out, so rents have to exceed mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, repairs, vacancies and so on.

What you're mentioning here is part of the reason I see the $1 mil equity with some caveats. The time to acquire the properties would also eat into the planned 5 year period to make all properties at the same equity level.
But it's important to be uncompromising in my goals, so if these caveats are there, so be it. Whatever brings me closer to that goal.
Out of curiosity, if you do a typical long term rental with no rehab and refinancing, where do you get the extra money to leverage another deal on another property? Our W2 savings could do it, or maybe OPM, but is there another good way I'm missing?

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New York City, New York

My question to you guys is, what's the smartest way to achieve that?

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New York City, New York

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for your reply! Actually I left some details out of that first post that are important to the plans that are kinda coming together in my head at the moment.

I'm originally from South Carolina, where I'm relatively familiar with the market having all of my family still living down there. My dad is also an experienced contractor who could flip a house for me if I invested in one within a certain radius of him. I think I'd have an easier time assembling a team down there and having local people available, not to mention homes down there are much more affordable. There are still a ton of unanswered questions about this plan though. Where exactly to buy, how to buy, how to spot the deal, etc... For that missing chunk of the process, I'm getting as many books and seminars as I can right now to at least get a framework down.

It feels a little overwhelming right now, but slowly I feel like there are some workable pieces of the puzzle coming together.

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Hi everyone,

My name is Hunter and I've previously lived a large part of my life in Germany and China, having returned to the US permanently for three years now. I currently work as a sales executive for a large printing company, and I'm based out of New York.

Two things at the same time led to me registering for these forums. One, my wife and I were recently looking around for our first place to own, and the financial side of it seemed rather rough for NYC. Then my wife coincidentally bought Rich Dad, Poor Dad and after reading it, my perspective has changed dramatically. I now see the money we've saved for our first residence as a good opportunity to begin our real estate portfolio and take control of our financial lives.

I'm hoping I can build good foundations with BiggerPockets. I've seen many Google Searches with this name, and just today I also discovered the ultimate beginner investor's guide at my local bookstore, so I had to join and see what it's all about.

I've now seen courses from BiggerPockets, I attended my first real estate seminar last Friday, made an appointment with a potential real estate coach for month's end, and lately I've now been looking into some beginner online courses from NYU. At this point, does anyone have any resources to learn that I absolutely cannot miss? Any good books, or important seminars?

Thank everyone for reading and I'm so excited to begin this journey!

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All Forum Posts by: Hunter B.

Hunter B. has started 5 posts and replied 7 times.

Post: Please analyze my thought process in buying my first investment property.

Post: How many people in the US actively invest in real estate?

Post: Investors to Shadow in NYC?

Post: Spitballing: How to grow $1,000,000 in equity in 5 years?

Post: Spitballing: How to grow $1,000,000 in equity in 5 years?

Post: Publishing Sales Exec interested in Real Estate Investing!

Post: Publishing Sales Exec interested in Real Estate Investing!