All Forum Posts by: Joel Bowen

Hi Joel,

There's been a lot written on BP recently on markets that are the best places to invest.  Some comment that Austin and many cities in Texas are getting overheated.  You seem like a person who is just starting out in real estate and hence, if you have a long term perspective, willing to relocate, I don't think you will go wrong in any of the cities you mention above.  There are cities that probably cash flow better, are a bit more affordable than another but if you look at the data, the migration of people, company and jobs to southern and warmer climates continues unabated.  

Texas is pro business, pro landlord.  No income tax but prop tax is much higher as a result, but rents are higher and cover it.  I've mentioned personally I like to look where the growth is moving towards and to me, that is along the I-35 corridor including Austin surrounding towns and south to San Antonio's northeast side. You will find better value in SA for house hacking, you can get some appreciation w/it.   Take a look at some of these towns (google their growth rates) and see what I mean.  Universal city, Selma, Schertz (Amazon's new disti hub), New Braunfels (attracting medical companies) and San Marcos (TX State Univ n 35K students n growing).....all either on or fast access to I-35.  I see no reason you can't find what you r looking for in MF and house hacking.  

well, you have some good advice here alex. but there is more to the story. not only do you have to get your credit score up, but you also need to set it in a position that allows you to do what you want to in REI. first, what is your score? where do you want it to be? paying off the car loan helps with the debt to income ratio, but if your score is low now, no one is going to loan you money anyway so what would the debt to income ration matter anyway? second, raising your debt limit on that credit card will help increase your score by increasing your avalible borrowing limit, true, but you could do the same thing by paying off a smaller portion of that debt. you do not want to pay off the card entirely because a lender will see you as not being willing to use your avalible money and that actually hurts your credit score too. the magic number is about 30%. here is what i would do. if your score is good enough to get a loan now, go refinance your car, use some of that money to pay down on the credit card, not all the way down, just down by about half right now. then, go get an increase on that credit limit on that card. that will make your usage level at about 30%. then, on that new car loan, make sure that you borrow no more than about 30% of the value of that car. some credit agencies will look at that in the same way the credit cards are rated.

go to annualcreditreport.com. dispute ANYTHING negative on your credit reports, all 3 credit reports. it doesn't matter if anything negative is true, dispute it anyway. i will tell you why. when you dispute something, the credit agency is required to contact the creditor associated with the reported account. that creditor has 30 to 45 days to respond back as to whether or not it is true. if they do not report back, then that account is removed from your credit report as though it never existed. that will also boost your credit score. this is how the credit gurus do it. its not " dorky little ways" that they use, it is something that YOU can do yourself. whats " dorky" about it is that people will actually pay someone to do this for them when they could do it for themselves. good luck in your adventures, and let me know if i can help further.

2. If you are doing an FHA loan then you will need to live in one unit for at least a year. Do you still collect $3k in rent with you living there? If not, your cash flow will be less while you live there.

Hey David, I have a question that is sorta off topic from the original discussion but this seems like a good place to ask. If I purchase a multi unit complex (2-4 units) with an FHA loan but all the units are currently occupied with tenants that are perhaps on leases that don't expire for a while, how can the FHA financed buyer live in one of the units legally? Does there have to be a unit that is vacant at the time of purchasing the Multi Unit property?

Cash flow of $650 x 12= 7800. 7800/41541= 18.5% ROI

Hi Tom, Could you explain to me how you are getting $650 cash flow per month, sorry I am just trying to follow along with the math to learn but I am not seeing how to calculate the cashflow here. Thanks