All Forum Posts by: Jacob Ocampo

What is your current living situation? How about a 3 or 4 family house hack?

@Jacob Ocampo

not to discourage you... but it's a long path to replace steady W2 income with passive income from rentals, and it's gotten even tougher in the last few years.  check out the most recent seeing Greene podcast on BP - David Greene goes over it pretty well.

don't start out with anything long-distance or exotic.

start locally.  if south NJ is too expensive find a market you can drive to that isn't.  house hack if you can.

hope this helps.

@Jacob Ocampo something I learned after years of RE investing is to try to always have a pivot plan. I am sorry you had a "failure" with the STR but then I wonder why it could not somehow have been salvaged through a pivot. I see that many people (probably most) go into STR without really understanding the business and the multitude of risks or how it differs from more traditional RE investing. They get blinded by the numbers - earn a month's rent in 3 days. . . Except that it's not exactly that simple ot consistent. S. Jersey surely has some opportunities as do other markets within driving distance. It all depends on what your resources are, your risk tolerance, your patience . . . The market continuously evolves - -what I would have suggested just a few years ago is totally irrelevant today. So make sure you are learning from updated resources and books, podcasts, courses, gurus whomever - that understand today's situation and can guide you to matching your personal situation to the opportunities that exist now.

Hey Jacob, have you considered investing out of state? I'd recommend reading "Long Distance Investing" by David Greene if you're interested. 

Otherwise, there's a few good ways to find discounted prices. Look for vacancies, this is commonly called "driving for dollars." Every time you see a vacant house, a boarded house, tall grass, broken windows, etc. take down the address. From there, get creative and try to contact the owner. Other methods for distressed properties you can find at a discount- For sale by owner, foreclosures, probates. Try and find home owners that have a motivation to sell, and are looking for a fast closing. These are the sellers that will go below market. As you mentioned, liens are another motivation for sellers in some cases. 

@Jacob Ocampo

Hi Jacob, I know you prefer to look where you are located, but OOS investing may be where it is at for you. It really wouldn't hurt to see where that 75k could go by looking in markets in midwest/south. 75k is a good amount of money to have to start in somewhere like Cincinnati. Small Multifamily, single family, good amount for either here in Cincy. Let me know if you are interested

@Jacob Ocampo,

If you prefer your local area, I suggest "house hacking" through loans that offer lower downpayments but are primary residential loans. These rates may vary from 3.5 to 15%. Talk with multiple lenders to maximize your options. However, down payments below 20% typically require monthly mortgage insurance for the life of the loan. Therefore, it will affect your monthly cash flow.

Solution: When market conditions are appropriate, refinance the loan to conventional. In this action, mortgage insurance is no longer required!