All Forum Posts by: Joseff Stevenson

Quote from @V.G Jason:

You're not qualified to invest yet. You're just going to stretch yourself even further.

You can barely househack, with $140k annual income, massive amount of debt and terrible credit score you're not going to qualify for much. Let's get our credit score up, pay down debt, and then build a reserve. After that's in a manageable state look at investing, and if you want to buy a househack you're going to need to go with something low priced and still pay down an appropriate amount. Adding another 95% LTV on 7% is just not in your cards. So more cash in, less loan and less monthly obligation. Do you have cash set aside, cause $800k with value add is just unrealistic. You'll need to be levered on 750k @ 7.5% for 50k down or 640k @ 7% with 160k down-- if done normally. And have cash aside to make it a value add? If you have cash aside, kill that student loan.

How do you have $230k in student loans, and you're a property manager?

I have a couple degrees from private institutions. 😪 Property Management was a career change about 2 years ago. On the bright side, in my time with the company I've gone from the bottom of the totem pole to a high quality asset in a very short time. Effectively doubling my salary in just a year. I don't imagine that I'll double it again but I do believe I've built some trust and a great working relationship with some of the higher ups and that can be a benefit to me later when I start to invest. 

I'm thinking I can find some lower cost deals in the area too but I need to make sure it's in a location that my fiance is comfortable living in. 

Quote from @Rick Albert:

A couple of thoughts:

1. Regarding student loans, lenders generally don't care about the balance, but how much your monthly payments are.

2. Yes, they will account for 75% of the existing or projected rents, whichever is lower.

3. With FHA loans, there is a self sufficiency test. This is if you were to move out, 75% of the total rents needs to cover the payments, interest, taxes, insurance (PITI). This can be challenging because if the numbers work putting 3.5% down, certainly investors who can likely offer better terms will buy it since they will be putting 20%-30% down. This is something just to think about when it comes to your strategy.

4. I did the FHA 203(k) loan. Pain in butt to work with but well worth it. Make sure you work with a contractor that clearly understands the loan since they get paid differently than other jobs. This is a video I did years ago and it is by far my most watched video on my channel (the link isn't working here). Go to YouTube and search "Rick B Albert FHA 203."

Hi Rick! This is great information! I have a couple of mentors at work who do REI at much higher levels, usually 30+ units per deal, and have good reputations in our area. I'm hoping they can help me get a shoe in on a smaller deal with someone whom they've worked with in the past and that will help me get a great deal with less favorable terms. Once I can get rolling I feel it will be easier to come up with the Capital for future investments. Fingers crossed. But for now, I know I just need to prepare myself to hustle.

Quote from @Shannon Eney:

If you would like to schedule a call with me I can help you get qualified for the exact amount you can afford, reviewing all of your numbers.  There are a few ways you can do what you're looking for.  

Hi Shannon,

I requested to add you to contacts for a call.

Just a quick question for the forum's sake... do lenders take into account specific job titles/responsibilities when decision making? As in my case, working as a full service Property Manager, I'd imagine that would instill more confidence that a building will be taken care of, units will be leased, preventative maintenance will be done, etc. But I'm not sure if that is even legal as we can't legally consider source of income in leasing decisions. Thank you! 

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

@Joseff Stevenson

If you are looking at a $800k property even to house hack you will need down payment of $25k+.

Let’s say you finance a 750k loan your payment will be around $5k/mo just P&I. You will need income of $200K+ typically to qualify for something like that.

To be prequalified you are probably looking at a $400-$500k mortgage

Would that income be true even with a DSCR? I also went down the 203(k) rabbit hole last night and from what I can tell, they will allow you to claim 75% of anticipated rental income but that information was just from a Google search. 

400 to 500k does not get you much around here unfortunately. 

Quote from @JD Martin:

What will your combined W2 income be after taxes when you get married? That's going to pretty much dictate what you can get into here and how fast. 

If neither one of us get a raise, about $140k before taxes. So I imagine just over $100k.

Hello BP! First time poster here from Chicago. I've been doing the deep dive on the podcasts and about to finish Brandon's book on Real Estate Investing. I'm hoping to get into my first house hack in the Chicago area by sometime in 2025 but I have a couple hurdles and would love some advice from this fantastic community. I'll share my hurdles and a couple advantages and hopefully get all my problems solved, right? 

HURDLES:

*About $230k in student loan debt. I know, it's insane. 

*Getting married in September so any savings I have is on the back burner for that and we'll probably be starting from scratch. 

*Never owned Real Estate.

*Credit is low to mid 600s due to high credit utilization as a result of covid. (Hope to have this resolved by October)

ADVANTAGES:

*I'm nearly two years into a career as a Property Manager in a larger company (First stint as an Assistant Manager in a 22 building portfolio consisting of Class B to C properties and over 500 units, and was recently promoted to our Luxury, Class A division with 100 units in 2 buildings).

*Due to my job, I have access to some brilliant people as well as trades people all across the board and will also have a broker's license. 

*Also due to my job, I should be able to take advantage of our processes and bookkeeping department at a highly discounted price. 

*My future wife is supportive and would be including her income to DTI calculations as well as potential savings.

*I have a high level of ambition and drive and will do what it takes to make this dream happen. 

GOAL:

Obviously, financial freedom. But to start off, I'd like to find a 3 or 4 plex, value add, House Hack in Chicago at $800k or lower but can appraise at 20% higher. We'd live there for 1 to 2 years while saving on not paying rent and building equity.

After that, my first milestone would be $10k in cash flow per month within 5 years. 

And then eventually we'd like to get some short term rentals in a few ideal places around the country that we can have occasionally for personal use.

Oh, and the student loan debt. I'd like that gone too. 

So... how do I get there? What kind of loan products should I be looking at? What are my first steps? What other questions should I be asking? Looking forward to your responses!