All Forum Posts by: Jacob Phillips

@Joe Marshall

I have a pretty unique job situation where I get reimbursed for work miles, and my housing is paid for. I’m in the process of paying off student loans, so that’s a factor, but even with that, I do a blend of the following:

• 70-10-10-10 rule = all my bills add up to no more than 70% of my income (it actually falls well short, so I put the difference towards student loan repayment). 10% goes into savings ,10% into my IRA (which I've redirected I to savings in order to finish my safety net goal and build up a down payment for RE). The final 10% is tithed or donated to a good cause.

• I discovered that moving from my college town to the tiny town i now work in for my career is saving me tons of money. I get paid weekly, so every week, no matter what, I put $20 cash in a coffee can. I know it’s not the best way to save, but it’s nice because if I wanna splurge a little bit I don’t have to use my emergency savings or my expendable income. It’s how I bought my new pup!

•on track with that last one, I opened a new savings and set up automatic transfers from my checking account. $5/day. Automatic, mindless. I don’t have to do anything

•I put my mileage check straight into savings

•I used to use the Acorns app. I never got great returns but I loved it for its Roundups perk. Basically, you connect your debit card and it rounds up the change from every purchase you make and automatically withdraws it and puts it into your acorns account. My new bank doesn’t support Acorns so I go in at the end of every month and do it manually. It’s time consuming but just one more savings aid.

@Mary Mitchell

My dilemma is I’m pretty sure I’d have a hard time getting four separate loans. As I said, I’m brand new so I’ve already got the odds against me as far as convincing a lender to go with me on it

Super hypothetical, BUT:

I’ve been obsessing over a group of duplexes in their own cul de sac in my hometown. 8 units total. The current ask is too much and I’m new to the game, but my primary question is:

What are creative ways to finance this if I could negotiate it into a deal? Not necessarily specifics, but just angles I could take. From my understanding, FHA only works up to 4 units, and since it's four separate buildings that seems to be a moot point.

Of course, owner financing would be awesome. But are there any other approaches a new investor could take in this situation? Is there some loophole or creativity that could allow an owner occupied situation even though it’s four different duplexes. They’re being sold as a bundle. From what little I know, and I could be wildly misunderstanding something, but it seems I could try to find some blend of a portfolio loan and owner financing; but would lenders consider that for a new guy?

***This is not a deal yet. I don’t know rents or expenses or tenant info or any of that. Just trying to get my eyes on properties and don’t want to rule anything out. As a newb I’ve kinda restrained from gathering too much information on it because i don’t know how to even begin to explore financing. I was hoping to get suggestions or brainstorms here and then use that as a catalyst to learn more about the property.***

Thank you all so much for your time and input

@Corby Goade

Am I mistaken for thinking you had to be a broker in order to access the MLS...? How can I do that? Thanks for the book suggestions I'll check them out ASAP!

@Corby Goade

Thank you, Mr. Goade! I've considered FHA if the situation were right. Living on site isn't required for the job; just a perk and a saving mechanism.

I’ve read Rich Dad already and am now reading “How to win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. In addition, because of the nature of my job I’m able to absorb 9-10 hours a day of podcasts.

Can I bother you for book recommendations—especially conceptual? Strategies, understanding, etc?

Also, how do you recommend seeing and evaluating deals without wasting anyone’s time? I’m totally new to the space so I don’t want to accidentally break any etiquete out of ignorance.

Thank you so much for your insight!

@Carl Fischer thank you much, Mr. Fischer! I’m certainly doing better than ever and hoping to channel that into even greater things!

I am in the process of trying to connect with local investors. As I mentioned, I’m in a small rural community of about 13k, so I’m not having any luck yet finding real estate investment groups to join. I’m an hour from the KC area do that is always an option, but very difficult because of the distance and my 55+ hour work week.

Part of my job this time of year as an orchard manager is pruning and sawing in trees, so I get 9-10 hours a day if real estate podcasts which is super nice!

Would you care to share a book recommendation or two? I’ve already read Rich Dad, and I’m in the middle of Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friend and Influence People.” Have you got any must reads—particularly, conceptual?

Thank you so much for your welcome and time!

@George Blower thank you, Mr. Blower! I’ve been exploring ever since I joined!

@Joel I live in a small college town of 13k in mid Missouri and am looking to do the same thing! I am 26 and brand new to the game with no properties currently to my name and no capital to speak of. What kind of creative financing have you been able to use for your deals?

There’s a group of four duplexes in in my town that the seller is asking $650k for and it seems like a crazy thing to even consider but I can’t help but be curious as to how I might be able to tackle that (if it’s a good deal, that is).

Hello, everyone!

I am new to Bigger Pockets and to the Real Estate world, with goals to invest in buy and hold rentals, especially multifamily.

I turned 26 in December, and started my career as an orchard manager near my hometown in rural mid-Missouri back in July. The new job has provided me the opportunity to finally do all the things with my money that I knew I needed to do but didn't always have the means to. In six short months, I have taken my savings from a mere couple hundred to now within a few hundred of a fully funded "safety net." I have contributed my 10% to my IRA, and started to really crack down on my student loans. I may even soon be able to take advantage of expense free housing provided by my employer, which will help to further work towards my goals. In other words, things are going really well for me.

All that considered, the thought occurred to me "Ok, most people my age who are getting it figured out are about to go and buy their first home. I don't need to do that, my job has a house for me. Why don't I buy a house that can just make me money?"

And so here I am. My goal is to find a -plex or handful of -plexes in my hometown in order to gain experience and just learn the ropes, and ultimately scale into the Springfield or maybe KC markets and beyond. My dad and I will probably tackle this together in the beginning; he especially is tremendously handy and could probably fix a UFO if it fell out of the sky. I've began searching different realtors' websites to see what's out there around me and really don't have a lot to choose from, but have focused on one fully leased duplex. Rents in my area are pretty modest and I'm not necessarily looking for the homerun around here. It could be the wrong way of thinking, but I figured anything that had positive cashflow and gained me experience would be a win.

As an outdoorsman, I love my job, and plan to stick with it for the foreseeable future, but I yearn to gain financial independence and indulge in my hobbies and be a family man when that time comes.

I am here to learn all that I can from everyone that I can. I am completely raw. I have no capital to speak of, and therefore would like to learn how to creatively finance deals. I'm here to learn the lingo, the ins and outs, the legalities, financing--I am humbled to say that I bring no real background to the game. Just hard work and desire.

I could especially use help in finding and evaluating deals. I have no idea what numbers to look at or even how to get this information as "practice" without unintentionally wasting someone's time. I have loads of questions and a huge desire to learn from whomever I can.

If you've stuck with me this far I thank you for your interest, and I invite anyone in all walks of this journey to drop me a line.  I would love to bend anyone's ear that can offer insight, or simply follow along with another "newb" as we begin this endeavor.

Happy New Year!