All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Escobar

Typically, from what I've heard from others here in Utah county, Provo is VERY VERY strict and you don't have very much freedom. Also, it's very hard to find something that will cash flow very high. The Price-to-rent ratio around here is about 0.3%-0.6% which is not very good. That is in comparison with the 2% rule (brandon turner calls it the 2% test) (can also be called the 1% test or the 0.5% test) But the main point is that the rules of thumb don't work here in Provo unless you can hustle and find a great deal off the market to someone who is very motivated to sell and you can buy something that is very below what the market is offering. Might also be a property that will require some work to be done on it so that you can force appreciation on the property to increase its value. 

In my case, it's going to be even harder because I'm trying to house hack in provo/orem area. If I were to do it, I would have to find a spankin' deal or just find a property that will cost less than renting in the Provo area. Just some thoughts for you! :)

@David Avetisyan So I’m thinking about doing my undergrad and also investing in real estate as much as I can. Once I graduate and I’m thinking about going to dental school, then I will know if it is really worth it. But just thinking about the salary I can make is a dentist and using that salary to invest in dental practices and real estate deals can really help me for the future. I’m just not sure about the debt to income ratio hindering me to get loans from banks in the future as I’m starting off as a dentist.

@Theresa Harris I am not working during school. I am majoring in business, and also doing my classes to qualify for dental school. So another words I am basically majoring twice. I’m taking all my chemistry classes and on my science classes on top of my business classes. So that is why it will take five years to complete.

Also, I’m not trying to compete with him, but it has been our goal together to become dentists and possibly buy businesses together. I think that is a good idea to buy housing using his capital while I find the deal, but he also wants to spend that money to buy his first practice.

@Nick Elg Yeah that be awesome if you could send me those lenders so I can talk to them. With a House Hacker Podcast, it would probably be harder to cash flow if you incorporate the repair costs into the mortgage monthly payment right?

@Eugene Cho there are some cities where it is really expensive to invest in real estate and cash flow on a rental property. You should look into reading David Greene's Book on long distance investing. I still have to read the book, but there are a lot of principles that Brandon Turner talks about that David wrote in his book. I live in an expensive area as well and the cash flow is really hard to find, in my area I’m just looking for a property that will reduce the rent that I have to pay, And then sell the house after two or three years to invest somewhere else like Phoenix or another area that has cheaper housing that cash flows more.

So if you live in Seattle, it might be really hard to find a property that will cash flow and that is affordable. You might just look into finding a property that you can house hack and decrease your living expenses by renting out to somebody else but looking elsewhere to invest in more valuable properties. Brandon Turner invested in Aberdeen WA which is about an hour out of Seattle. So you might look into Investing in the suburban area outside of Seattle While you look for a property for a house hack near your work.

I'm 23 years old. I've always wanted to be a dentist since high school. I am in my 2nd year of college getting ready for my 3rd out of 5 years of undergraduate. I'm planning on majoring in Marketing and completing classes to apply to dental school. By the time I become a dentist, it will be 7 years. By that time, I will have around $300,000-$400,000 in student debt. Dentists make around $120,000 a year on average and can make more than that. 

My brother is planning on investing in dental practices which he tells me are VERY PROFITABLE because there is a barrier of entrance only for dentists. He is planning on retiring at age 35-40. I am 23 years old. I am planning on finishing undergraduate at least, but I need some help deciding whether I could reach financial independence before that if I don't take on a lot of debt even if I will be making a lot more money from W2 job. 

Does anyone else have this dilemma? I've seen how hard my brother has had to study to get into dental school and to graduate and it just looks tough, though I am willing to do it while investing in real estate on the side and house hacking to get rid of my living expenses. How could I reach financial independence before he does?

@Matthew Miles I've talked to a couple lenders here in Utah and they have said that there aren't many lenders who do 203k loans. So yeah what they said. Talk to a lender who has done a lot of them because it sounds like there aren't many lenders who like that loan here in Utah. Currently, I am trying to find a house hack as well and am finding better luck with properties that are less than $300k because of the rent to price ratio. Most properties will have about a .5% ratio and I've seen up to .8% but you won't find anything close to that especially with more expensive properties because they have already been rehabbed. So just like you were saying, it might be better to find a cheaper place and make it look really nice to be able to force appreciation especially in this type of market. And finding a lender to do a 203k loan will be tough as well. 

Where are you located currently?

@Jaysen Medhurst Right, I'm thinking about what Scott Trench says in his book and podcasts with BP that if you want to be successful in any market then you have to buy at the top of the market and at the bottom and in the middle so that they all make up for each other. But to make sure that all the properties that you own will cash flow at least. Then after all of that, if appreciation works out in your favor then that is just a bonus or the icing on top of the cake. 

That sounds like a good idea. The only thing is that I don't spend very much time in the house so yeah we could work something out. I like the splitting four ways idea. But yeah I would be living in the bottom portion of the house and renting out the top two floors and then share the kitchen. Ideally it would be nice to have another kitchen downstairs for us so that I can get more rent that way when I would leave but just looking at the numbers, it doesn't look like it's going to cash flow anyways after I leave just like you said. So this house hack is just to decrease my housing expense in the short-term until I can invest in a different location that has a better market or just wait for the market to correct and hopefully build enough cash reserves to be able to do something with it when a correction hits. But I can't bank on that either. 

View report

*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

So I am a college student about to get married looking for a house to live in. In Utah, it is really hard to find a deal that will cash flow, so I'm looking for a deal that will allow me to pay less than I am renting right now. I am currently paying $400 a month and married housing costs from $700-$1000. I would be decreasing my rent expense by a lot by buying this house that I would have someone co-sign with more for. 

I would have the tenants pay for electricity, and  water & sewer. Should I have them pay for garbage as well? I included $60 on my part for garbage since that's kind of a fixed cost that doesn't depend on how much tenants use it. 

Asking price was $229900 and this report has the number at $210000. Let me know what you guys think!! This is my first home buy.