All Forum Posts by: Jay Barndt

Hi @Richard Anderson Welcome to BP and the REI world, congratulations on your savings so far that is more than most investors start with *myself included* and to begin i would suggest taking time to fill yourself with the limitless knowledge here on BP i recommend the free training course under the education tab above it was really helpful to me and other investors also the podcasts are great information along side searching for your questions in the forums chances are extremely good that it already has an answer somewhere,

but to help us help you do you have an idea which way you want to start in REI? wholesale, buy and hold, fix/flip? if your not sure that is OK take your time and learn what you can and see what sticks out for you and arm yourself with knowledge but be careful that you do not fall into the hole of paralysis / analysis. or research yourself into confusion, if you do just take a breath and remember, even the pros were clueless once to. do not be afraid to jump into a deal and make an offer if the numbers look good, due diligence and then pick up the phone.

but best of luck in your REI adventures,

Jay,

Hello @Account Closed, Welcome and congratulations on joining BP, the information on this site alone will be a priceless assistance to you in your REI adventures. to sort of answer your questions it would depend on your capabilities and what you are willing to put in to an investment. (sweat/elbow grease equity) with you being home with the little ones you would be right there capable of handing concerns / repairs or calling contractors for the repairs in a timely manor, also doing / overseeing work / rehab on the units, so you could use being home full time to your advantage, and with school you will have that open block of time.

i also understand that money is tight, it takes 2 in most cases to make ends meet these days but you guys sound like you have your head on strait an moving in the right direction to get out of debt and into a better standing point in your new location. 

but YES the idea of house hacking is to have the cash-flow pay your mortgage and if you have the numbers right, have the possibility to put a dollar or so in your pocket above expenses but do not expect allot above the payment for your first investment. 

but one thing to ask yourself is *what can i handle*  can you handle dealing with repairs or rehab or if not can you set up contractors to take care of your interests since i assume your partner is or will be still working. a duplex would be sufficient to start with to pay your mortgage if the rent comps/market allow it to match your expenses, but myself. if i was to house hack it would be a tri-plex or bigger,  yes it would be a challenge but if a duplex pays the mortgage think about the income from a tri-plex .   besides expenses where is the money from unit 3 going?  *"cough" your pocket* if you have done the math and it cash-flows as it should. but again with 2 little ones you will need to balance out  time/work involved to manage the property.

i would also suggest looking for a MFP that is FSBO and see what type of deal you can negotiate with the seller you may be able to get it without a bank, ei. owner/seller financing.

i hope there was help some where in my rambling, best of luck on your REI adventures,

jay,

Hi @Vince Impellizzeri, Welcome to BP and the REI world i wish you the best of luck in your goals and adventures in the business, and to give my opinion to your post, if i had your situation i would be light years farther than i am. i would be watching for properties FSBO (for sale by owner) and preferably multi family. (duplex + ) and make some offers on ones that the numbers look good for cash-flow and if they want a little down payment . Bang! you actually have it. just having some money to use for a down payment or initial repairs *if needed* among other things that may pop up is a great position to be in, you could also use that money for a loan down payment but the more you invest and grow the less friendly banks are,. but with your mind set and goals being similar to mine i am positive you will succeed, good luck in your REI adventure and i hope in the future to see the path you take, sky is the limit.

Jay,

HI @Tim Johnson nice job hunting down the information on that property, and since you have all the info you need at the moment the next step would be to call the bank and see what their asking price would be to unload the property, some challenges could come up if it is in default they may want a large chunk of money right up front so  be prepared to hear that, also need to make sure to ask about the title to ensure there are no more liens against the property that you may not know about, on a side note they may negotiate with you and just let you assume the old owners terms/loan and walk right into it, but at this point you will not know anything until you call them,  remember you have nothing to loose with making the phone call, just make a list with all the questions you may have and dial. there is the possibility that they will not know everything but remember banks do not like to hold property and may work with you on a good deal to get it off their file., best of luck

Jay,

Hi @Bob Chuckman, either way you go will work out fine, can depend on your purpose of the loan, primary residence, investment property, multi family ect. use local banks with few branches, check around to each one for loan options for investment properties, while standard mortgages are sometimes tricky to get approved, there are, bridge loans, commercial loans, portfolio loans, ect. i am not sure 100% on all the types that may be available but i would spend some time talking to different banks in your area especially the lending dept. 

i focus on FSBO homes/multi with seller/owner financing but i wish you luck in your REI adventures,

Jay,

Hi @Account Closed congratulations on finishing the rehab, everything looks great and give it time thinking about the income may eat at you and you will move into something else,  ;-)  i know i would. but you should be proud of your accomplishment it looks night/day from original,  great work!

and best of luck in your REI adventures.

Jay,

Update: AH, feels good. i took the chance today an swallowed my fear and called the seller on this Craigslist i stated above, investment portfolio in Bradford PA, spoke with the gentleman for about an hour an a half about the properties, found out it is listed FSBO but the number listed goes to a wholesaler in Ohio not the actual seller, the seller is not motivated because he has made his millions and now offers mentor-ships for investors so he can hold the portfolio till a cash buyer comes along and can give him the 585k which is cool, at least i tried an i feel good about it even though i did not get a deal, i got experience. talking numbers/financing trying to re-route his questions to get more info. doing the "phone duel" it was exciting and i can not wait to call on my next property and begin the dance again. Best of luck to all and your deals.

Hi @Marcus Floyd and Welcome to BP. and you were told correct this is the best place to be for all your REI incite/advice/education and more, dive right into the free training course under the education tab, listen to podcasts, search the forums and blogs for all your questions, chances are almost 100% that there is a couple good/great answers to fill in the blanks, you are already on the right path with step one, a good foundation. i agree with you there and i think education on what you goal is and how to reach it is a great start. so once again welcome to BP and get on making that foundation. best of luck in your REI adventures.

jay,

Hi @Amir B., i myself am in the buy an hold investing, in my area i would go for a quad if the cash-flow worked for the funding, but duplexes can earn nice returns as well, the hardest part of finding a cash-flowing MFH is not jumping on every one you see, doing your due diligence running the numbers make sure they make sense and you can cash flow on the deal after everyone's paid, try not to let the price of the deal scare you to much, with buy an hold properties a quote from BP podcast works nicely , "buy for cash-flow, and enjoy the appreciation" which means if the numbers make sense and it shows positive cash flow month after month, the price really is insignificant unless it is super over priced. which you could do research around the area to see the value of other matching MFH but again unless its ridiculous i would not kick at the price to much, best of luck in your REI adventures.

jay,

@Mario F., the time to buy, that term is very general to specific sections of REI, wholesales, fix/flips generally can suffer with the rise and fall of the market, buy an hold on the other hand is usually unscathed in what the market is doing as long as you invest for cash-flow not appreciation/equity so it would depend on which section of REI you are looking to dig into. also using zillow / trulia to map out past and current prices can help determine how things are going but don't quote me on that one. i prefer buy an hold for long term wealth, "buy for the cash flow, and enjoy the appreciation" was once a slogan on BP podcast and i agree. hope this was some help for you or at least gets the wheels turning. best of luck,

Jay.