All Forum Posts by: Jacob Bennett

Hey guys, thank you very much for the advice. It will be put to good use, especially the info about the FHA 203K loan and studying up on the geology of Florida. As far as the latter is concerned, I was under the impression that sink holes were a primary concern for Central Florida and not so much for South Florida. Your point about rising sea waters is however a concern. I feel silly, but I only just remembered that again. Been so distracted with COVID lately that I forgot about global warming!

Hello BPers,

I'm brand new to the forum, and just began seriously considering real estate as an income stream during COVID when I was at home and bored. A friend of mine introduced me to wholesaling, and I've begun researching that along with renovating houses (I bought Estimating Rehab Costs by J. Smith). Wholesaling doesn't exactly grab me, but I'm happy to continue to research it as it is quite interesting. What I am interested in more would be buying a fixer upper, renovating it, and then flipping or renting it out, but COVID has severely reduced my hours at work, and thus I can't continue saving that much for the cash that would be required for the house (I'm not experienced enough for hard money lenders to risk a really high interest payment either). My friend then introduced me to an FHA loan which really peaked my curiosity.

A little background on myself, and things I'd like you all to consider in helping me with my decision. I live in Miami. I work as an airline pilot for a living, and in non COVID times, I do well financially, but right now, due to cutbacks, I'm breaking even at the end of the month. Come September 30th, the CARES money that all the airlines got ends, and that's when they'll inevitably start furloughing. While I'm confident that I'll still have a job, I could be making significantly less. This matters because with the FHA loan I'd be looking to get a 3/2 and rent out both of the rooms, but worst case scenario, I want to still be able to afford the house if I can't get the rooms rented out.

Another issue that is concerning me is that of the market as far as potential renters.  For those of you who don't know, South Florida's entire economy (80-90%) is made up of tourism and hospitality which obviously is getting absolutely crushed by COVID.  This is concerning to me since I'm curious as to who I'd be renting to if no one has a job. 

My plan was to wait a few months to see what my employment situation was going to be prior to taking out an enormous house loans, but this frustrated my friend because he viewed as me just procrastinating on my first deal.  Are my concerns legitimate or unfounded?  I look forward and appreciate anyone who helps me in this matter.