All Forum Posts by: Joshua Filkill

@Landon Stoll Education and networking are two big things you should focus on. Read some of the good investing books out there, if house hacking read the one by Craig Curelop. Attend local meetups and network with investors, realtors, lenders, etc. That way when the time comes you are prepared to dive into investing with a team already in place.

In your shoes I wish I didn't limit myself. You can get involved with no or low amounts of money, you just need to provide something of value such as work or sourcing deals. 

Welcome Abby! I recommend reading some books on investing and attending local meetups to get started. Good luck!

You may be overthinking this. If managing the property on your own then you can use a PM software to track income/expenses. You can then meet with a CPA to do your taxes when the time comes and ask questions about how they currently help their other clients who are real estate investors. 

Don't be too worried about this, for your first house it's not too complicated. As you scale you'll want to make sure you're proactive about tax strategies though and talking with a CPA about them. 

 Being the property manager. As @Edward Stephens mentioned, evicting tenants/roommates can be tough and costly. Make sure you screen your tenants as best as you can. I would also suggest setting up a property management software for things like payments, maintenance requests, managing leases, etc. 

 Check with local lenders about down payment assistance programs so you're not over-leveraging as others have mentioned. Depending on your strategy, you can find a great deal and then bring in a trusted partner to fund the deal. 

@Natalie Weyant The idea of house hacking is to eliminate your housing expense while also purchasing a property that can be a future investment. It can absolutely be tough to purchase a house in such an expensive market so you'll need to weigh the costs of the money you're paying to rent a place and not be tied to it or responsible for keeping the place up vs. buying an investment property to live in and use rent to supplement your income while taking on the responsibility of managing a house. 

I found it beneficial to buy because the rent from my other unit and bedroom covered by mortgage and also the house works as an investment once I move out. As for the condo/coop someone from your area will be better equipped to answer that, but in my area I typically advise against that.  

Talk to local lenders, don't get stuck on the idea of just using an FHA. There should be plenty of other owner occupy and down payment assistance programs out there in your area.

@Vladimir Amazan Are you willing to move out of state to house hack? As you probably know, there is a requirement to live in the property for a year with an FHA loan. You should also contact local lenders and see if they offer any owner occupy programs, you may find one better than FHA and may not require PMI.

Good luck!

 Networking and Education are huge when starting out. The next book you read will depend on the strategy you plan to use. Since you are 19 and just starting out I would recommend The House Hacking Strategy by Craig Curelop or Investing in Real Estate with No and Low Money down by Brandon Turner. 

As for the license thing, that could be an unnecessary step if you don't actually want to be a realtor. If you don't plan to use it then you'll be down some money and time by paying all the fees and taking the courses. I would say that you should instead attend local meetups and meet a bunch of investors, realtors, lenders. PMs, etc. This will help you build your team and have that team in place when you find the right first investment. Try to find a good group or person that will take you under their wing and so you have someone to bounce questions/ideas off of. 

Good luck!

Look up local meetups in your area using FB, BP, eventbrite, meetups, etc. Attend these and just talk to people about what they do. You'll learn a lot and find people that can help you get started in investing. 

Welcome Don! If you have any questions feel free to reach out