All Forum Posts by: Jayleen Soto

@Jayleen Soto I am very excited for you!  I have been selling real estate for 17 years and a broker for four years.  It is a great career.  I am not in Florida (although I wish I was for the sunshine!).  In my opinion, here are a few general tips:

Don't become a number.  Some offices are so big and will take anyone becuase it is a numbers game.  They know that many won't make it and they just let the agents weed themselves out.

Find an office that trains you- for free.  And make sure the training is good.  Most places will say that they train you.  Not all have GOOD training.  I am still shocked at how many offices require the new agents to pay to have a mentor or someone train you.  I feel strongly that the brokerage owes that to their new agents.

Know what your expenses are.  Some charge heavy fees.  Just make sure that you know what to expect upfront.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any other questions.  I would be happy to answer them!  Best of luck!

Welcome to BP and life as a future real estate agent!

I’m rather new myself, but my decision for choosing a brokerage largely came from what I needed now.

I’m active duty Air Force and found that many brick and mortal brokerages wouldn’t work for me. I found a great cloud-based brokerage that will allow me to train without physically being in the office taking leave from my military position.

I think about finding a brokerage like going shoe shopping. What works for you today, may not work tomorrow. Make the best decision for you today. If you find it doesn’t work, make the best decision that day. There’s so many options otherwise that will keep your head spinning.

Lastly, remember that you are interviewing the brokerages not the other way around. Be yourself and go in with what you are looking for. I had three things, but they changed as I visited more brokerages and narrowed down what I really wanted.

I wish you all the best!

@Jayleen Soto I agree with you.  It's the best and worst of both worlds.  At least you have the option to rent out a room if you choose though

@Jayleen Soto Local credit unions like Suncoast are a great place to start with their great rates for first time home buyers. They often have low % down options and occasionally offer no PMI options at 3-5% down which is much cheaper monthly than FHA. This will allow you to live in a SFH and house hack it with little down. For your first house, there's so much to learn that I'd personally avoid a duplex for your first property. Multifamilies also have lower supply and less locations to pick from compared to a SFH.

Hey Jayleen, 

Buying now will have higher interest rates, HOWEVER you have a lot more room to negotiate, so you might be able to find a good deal and negotiate seller credits to buy down your interest rate. 

Timing the market in real estate is not something that you should be concerned about.  Just buy a decent home, in a decent area, and do not make yourself house poor.  You will be just fine! 

I am a mortgage broker and would be happy to give you some tips on how to do this properly (including house hacking and what loans to use) and can refer you over to someone in your area in Florida!

Great Question!

@Jayleen Soto

If I could do it all over again and not have a spouse and dogs, etc. I would use my FHA loan for a 4 unit building. It is more difficult to house hack later in life if you have a larger family, so keep that in mind.

For example, in Hillsborough an FHA loan can finance up to $809,150 for 4 living-units. That is only 28,000 plus closing costs, well under your budget of 65k liquid to spend. Tampa, the main seat of Hillsborough county, has seen a cool off just like the rest of the country and getting a 4 unit in that price range is attainable.

As you mentioned, you first want to buy a place to live in; this could be the perfect setup: live in 1 and rent the other 3 out to cover your mortgage and maybe even have positive cash flow. Whatever you would normally pay for rent, put that away for 2 years and then after 2 years you have a nest egg for a downpayment for your next property. Rinse and repeat.

I am also a big fan of Robert Kiyosaki’s ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad 'and in that book taxes are depreciation and tax savings are critical. If you go the multifamily route, I would recommend doing a cost segregation study within the first 2 years to accelerate depreciation, save on taxes and increase cash flow so you can attain your next property quicker.

If you are planning on keeping this home for a while… (7+ years) I would not be concerned with interest rates or prices. Don’t wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait.

I am bullish on Tampa because of Bill Gates multi billion dollar investment into downtown Water Street and the GasWorxx projects, both are transforming large swaths of the downtown and the urban core.

Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Any advice on where to look for as pre qualification?