All Forum Posts by: Jason Young

Hi all,

I am a total newbie, havn't bought my first property yet. I do have a question though about giving a student discount and i couldn't find anything in the search. I am looking to invest in the town i went to college in close to campus and i had the idea of giving a certain discount to students. The neighborhood i want to invest in is also close to my old fraternity house and I would like to give a little more discount to brothers. Is there any kind of law forbidding things like that. I understand that this is state specific and i would DEFINITELY get legal advice before actually doing it but i was just curious if giving discounts to certain organization members is kosher with fair housing laws?

Thanks for the reply Charlie. My current APR is 4.5% I was wanting to do the refi so i could get a little lower rate. I looked into HELOCs and basically i don't have enough equity to do one, plus the interest is higher. If they still did the 125% LTV HELOCs i might go that route but i know most of those went away with the crash. The contractor i use wouldn't use subs. He has a crew that does pretty much everything i would need done. I don't need plumbing,electrical, structural, etc. just cosmetic stuff. Ive also looked into doing a personal loan and i'm pretty sure i could get one for the job but again the interest is at about 6% and the term is a lot shorter so payments would be significantly higher.

I am planning on moving from West Tn to East Tn as soon as i can. There are several duplexes for sale in my area now but I don't really want to be a long distance land lord if I move in 6 months.

Hi all,

Not 100% certain this post is in the right spot but here goes anyway. I bought a forclosed house about 5 years ago with the intent to fix it up and live in for a significant amount of time. Maybe even rent out a couple of the 4 bedrooms to "house hack." Well, after getting married and having a kid w/ a second on the way the remodel still isn't finished and we are wanting to move to east TN. I had an idea of getting a 203k loan and just hiring out the rest of the remodel. I am guessing the house will need about 30-35k to finish up 20k of which is outside the house.

I bought the house w/ equity already and have paid down my current mortgage plus i have some cash so i don't think the down payment will be an issue. I also have good credit, no debt but the mortgage and wife's student loans, and 51k income so i don't think qualifying for the loan should be a problem. My only hang up is not knowing if it would be wise to do that kind of loan now. If things work out like i plan we could be moving in as little as a few month all the way up to a couple years depending on the job situation. We just want the house done and ready to put out a for sale sign asap just in case a job offer comes along. What say you BP?

BTW, bought the house for 122k.  Appraised for ~130k Oct 2012. Currently have USDA loan w/ about 112 left on principle. Bought on low end of my neighborhood so upgrades should push value pretty well. I paid $55.86/sq ft. Comps were between $65-72 sq. ft.

Thanks Jon! Nice to meet you. I've already been spending tons of time on BP. Haven't done any of the podcasts though yet. I will for sure check them out.

Cory, have you looked into FHA 203K loans? the only require 3.5% down and you can roll any repairs into the loan as well.

Thanks Cory! This site really is awesome. You already know we're heading that way, hopefully sooner than later.

Thanks Gretchen, nice to meet you.

Hi everyone,

My name is Jason and i live in Martin, Tn (NW corner of state) and i am finally getting more serious in my quest in real estate investing. I am married with a beautiful 6 month old daughter and I work in corn genetics research for DuPont Pioneer. I joined BP to learn as much as i could about REI so i make as few of the noob mistakes as possible. Ever since i was a little kid I have wanted to own buy/hold rental properties and one of my weird hobbies has always been looking on real estate websites to see what was on the market.

I started my real estate adventure 4 years ago when i bought my first house as a single man. It was a foreclosure on 4 acres in the country that needed quite a bit of remodeling. Just what i was looking for (one of those noob mistakes i was talking about). 4 years later after a marriage and a kid it still isn't done but lately I've make some pretty good strides. The wife and i are now wanting to move to Knoxville (GBO!) as soon as the house is finished and sold to be closer to friends/family and that is where i would like to buy my first du/tri/quadplex. 

I look forward to working with and learning from the members here on BP. I've read the ultimate beginners guide and it mentioned that REI is nothing but a means to an end. For me that's not the case. I feel that real estate is something i will love being involved in for more than just the money.

Jason