All Forum Posts by: Jachob Johnson

Quote from @Ash Hegde:

As Andrew said, speaking with a lender getting pre-approved is probably the best way to get more firm numbers and options so you can do further analysis and go shopping. 

Are you able to document two years of self-employed income with tax returns? The reason I ask - there are bank statement loans and other non-QM products that will allow you to get a mortgage without that documentation, but the FHA 3.5% house hack is not one of them. You would likely be looking at 20-25% down.

 Thanks Ash, I do have 2 years of my 1099 tax income at this point. Does that allow for the fha 3.5 or is that just not an option with a house hack multi family. I know there are many contingencies that have to be met for the fha loan. 

Quote from @Brayden Hrycko:

Hey @Jachob Johnson,

Its time to start shopping for a lender. I know of a few local to you if you'd like the recommendations. Feel free to reach out. 

Thanks for the offer. I’ll definitely take the help. Who do you recommend? 

Quote from @Andrew Freed:

@Jachob Johnson - Yes, talk with a loan officer and get pre approved. Then you will know what your purchase price is, rates, and downpayment. If you run across a good opportunity right now and do not have a pre approval, you cannot make an offer. Good deals go quick in this market.

Additionally, once you have a deal under contract, you have time to shop around for lenders and the best loan. Don't overthink it, get pre approved from a broker for a FHA loan and see what you're working with. Obviously from there, ask around who the best lenders are within a real estate network and go from there. Nonetheless I recommend just taking action.

 Thanks for the response and good point having the pre approval done just incase I come across something so I can act fast. I’ll start working on it now. 

I'm looking for my first real estate property and have just started practicing running numbers in the calculators and analyzing deals. One issue I'm having is when I get to the loan sections I'm filling in just round estimates and I'd like that more dialed in with a loan I'd actually get approved for. Would I just go online for quotes to find that out? Second question would be is there better loans for people who are self employed or loans that I'd have a better chance of getting approved for. I'm hoping to use FHA and about 3.5 - 5% down on possibly a multi family home that'd I house hack or single family that would be a live in flip . Any advise or ideas would be awesome to help me get a better plan.

Quote from @Andrew Freed:

@Jachob Johnson - If you are in saving mode, focus on building yourself, your network, and your knowledge. Go out there and find a mentor and work to provide immense value to that person expecting nothing in return. This mentor should be a big player in your market, doing what you want to do hence if you are looking to do college rentals, find someone with 30+ of those units. 

My other tip would be not to ask them how they can provide value, but ask them what are their pain points are. What makes their job as an investor challenging and work to provide value in that area. Ask probing questions to find out how you can provide value. As a mentor myself, when someone asks to provide value to me, it is more a job to figure out their strengths and how they can provide value in my life. Do the work for this person and expect nothing in return. If you provide enough value to this person, they will feel a need to help you on your journey. 

Great advice and I totally agree. Part of me feels weird even asking for advise here with out being able to give any in return but one day I’ll do my part. I’ve been wanting to put myself out there to do handyman work for extra money and thought that might be a way to benefit a possible mentor since those are skills I’m building. Definitely will start working on talking to people in the business and see who I can help. 

Quote from @Robert Rogalski:

Hey Jachob, I am a newby investor in the Kzoo area and recently purchased my first property by Western Campus, knowing that I also wanted to focus on the college student rental space (3419/3421 W Michigan). Given that you don't currently own / rent an apartment, my personal opinion would be to find a duplex/multifamily that you can house hack to start off and and rent out after that 1 year mark and do it again (i.e. duplex BRRR). That would be my strategy if I didn't already have a very low interest homesteaded permeant residence and by far the easiest and fastest way to scale with minimal capital. Don't hesitate to reach out if you ever want to talk through my findings and lessons learned so far in my WMU college rental journey. Took me over 2.5 years to find one that the numbers worked for given this tough market for investors! Hope this helps.

 Thank you for the information and response. I did some driving this weekend and thought about it some more. Do you think getting in the the college rental space is going to give me a bigger challenge getting started since it is such a competitive market? Maybe just start with a multi family near the Vine neighborhood that could be student/family’s living there and try to get in to the college rental space when I have more experience and connections?  
Also when you did finally find your property how did you come across it? 

Finally ready to start investing in real estate by buying my first property. I want to start looking at deals and practice running numbers. I am still not sure though if I want my first property to be a live in flip - single family home that I would rent out in the future. Or a multi-family duplex that I would house hack and fix up while living in one of the units also with the plan to keep for a future rental. I live in Kalamazoo Michigan that has a decent sized college area so ultimately the student rental market would be my goal to get in to. I’ve worked with a carpenter doing remodels for a couple years now so I have the basic knowledge of kitchen/bath remodels. I’ve lived here my whole life so I know the area well and my girlfriend just got her real estate license and is with a broker. Realistically I may be looking at a little more than 90 days as I save some more money before pulling the trigger. We’ve got some learning to do but I want to buy something to get real experience and I’m tired of renting apartments. If anyone has advice for what they would start out with or even better yet for the area and college market that I want to reach in the future that would be great. 

I am 23 years old and have been working with a carpenter learning the trade through remodels on bathrooms, kitchens and exteriors/decks for the past couple years. I enjoy the work and learning skills but getting in to real estate has always been a goal of mine specifically owning rentals and flipping houses. And after listening to the podcast for the past few months I know that is something I want to start working towards seriously next year. 

My question is after listening to the podcast and scrolling through some forums it sounds like majority of people are working with contractors not doing the work themselves. My thought always was that if I learned some skills and could do a lot of the work myself I would save money. Now I’m thinking that’s the one of the first things people find help with as I know eventually I’ll need to pass responsibility’s to others as I grow. My girlfriend of 6yrs is also in the process of getting her real estate license so learning remodeling and carpentry seems to make sense with me but again just wondering if I should spend my time and energy learning other skills while I’m young and have the time.
Thanks for any ideas or advice.