All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Dargento

Hey Jennifer, good luck with your journey into real estate investing. I am unaware of how to do this through Propstream as I am newer to it myself. However, I have generally used realtor.com's feature that shows "crime" in the areas to identify the better neighborhoods and weed out the worst ones. I am in a smaller area with less crime than a major city so we have very little D Class neighborhoods, so I know that makes it easier for me. However, I have used it when analyzing other markets like Birmingham as well. Hope this helps a little!

@Jennifer Dargento you should know that 203k is an FHA loan product and only available if you buy it as a primary home.

Smart to focus on capital generation. Are you currently doing anything to generate capital faster, or are you primarily focused on saving more of the income you currently make? 

And from a real estate standpoint, have you ever considered working with partners to help scale faster? 

Also, would you call it a success in 6 years only if you replace your income through rental cash flow? Or would it be just as much of a win if some of came from cash flow and some of it came from active income generation too?

Can you elaborate a little more on what you mean when you say "ability to scale is a top priority for acquisition"? 

Does this mean you want a lender who will do multiple deals with you? Are you looking to build a strong foundation so when the time comes you can scale quickly? Are you in a situation where you want/need to get out of your job and create some additional income as fast as possible?

There's a lot of good advice about how to speak with a lender, but there might be a better question to be asking!

How much capital do you have to invest? If you want to scale, especially quickly, you're going need a decent chunk of both capital and debt. I'm curious why FHA 203k is on the table but house hacking isn't since that's owner occupant financing.

Either way, once you know what sort of financing options you have you can then target the markets that make sense for you. Vet the lenders before you reach out to them, ask them what loan products they offer and flexibility on terms if any, what states they lend in if you decide to go OOS, years in business, if their typical client is an investor, refinancing terms, etc.

The current market is irrelevant. People have been asking this question since the beginning of time- there is no perfect time to invest or amazing deal that you'll miss out on. Taking action is the only thing that matters. 

You didn't mention what method you are planning to use- that strategy matters if you want specific advice. 

The bottom line is that everything is relative. When the market is "crazy" it may be more intimidating, but you can also make "crazy" money. If you think there is a crash coming and you'll be able to buy something for 50 cents on the dollar, you'll be waiting forever and be kicking yourself in five years for not buying now. 

Finally- if you plan to buy and hold, as long as the numbers work today, the chances of regeretting any purchase in five years are almost non-existant. 

Don't be afraid, the water is fine, jump on in!