All Forum Posts by: Josh Taylor

@Robert S Struhala Jr

Absolutely, as you have to be in the Real Estate game! I think Airbnbs in scenic areas like that will undoubtedly make great investments, in addition to a wonderful getaway for your family. Covid has made me a little more cautious of them, but this is hopefully a once in a lifetime event, so if they can weather this they will make it through near anything!

Ligonier is very beautiful. Several managers at the country club I work at all came over from Rolling Rock Country Club, and all spoke very highly of the area, and my wife and I got married at Oak Lodge in Stahlstown - they have some amazing cabins and an amazing cafe if you ever get out that way!

@Robert S Struhala Jr

Hello! My wife and I are actually out that way a lot, as my mother in law lives in Ligonier. What kind of investing are you doing in Westmoreland county, and how do you find it?

Hey guys, I'm presently a facilities engineer by trade, looking to get back into the private real estate game. I used to be a landlord and flipper in New Zealand until a couple of years ago when I liquidated my portfolio and moved out here to Pittsburgh! I've had an itch to get back into real estate these past couple of months while I build my credit history up over here. Would love to get to know some landlords who need help with any repairs between tenancies, emergency repairs, or flippers. I'm experienced with all facets of facilities maintenance and renovations, from SFH through large multi family buildings.

Let me know if you'd like to get in touch!

Anyone know of any local financial institutions that do portfolio loans for a primary residence, or could put me in touch with someone who might?

Thanks

Residential, this will be our first home. 

Thanks for the info Wayne.

I'm hoping we can increase her credit score, she had a credit card that was nearly maxed out that I've just paid off to a zero balance which should give it at least a small bump right?  That was the only debt she had, so we have no other payments other than that.

Hey guys,

So my wife and I are looking to get a loan to buy our first house together. However I'm in the process of immigrating. I'm in the country for good, just waiting 12-24 months to get my permanent residency, which is the approximate processing time. I'm able to start working within 4 or 5 months. That being said, we are looking to qualify for a mortgage based solely on my wife's income, with the intention that I could spend some time fixing the house up until my work authorization comes through within a few months.  Here are our financial circumstances.

-We are looking at houses around $150k somewhere north of the city, if we would be able to get a loan for that.

-She makes $38k a year, and has a mid 600 credit score.

-She is a W2 employee on a fixed term contract working in HR. Her previous contract was 12 months, they then offered her a full time job, but she declined to take on this contract for a higher salary. She is 2 months into this 6 month contract, with a high likelyhood they will renew it at the end.

-We have around $85k cash.

Would we be able to get a traditional loan based on my wifes income alone? Would there be any other routes we could go down? Realistically we don't mind stretching ourselves a little thin for these couple of months while I fix the house, and hopefully make some sweat equity, then once my work authorization comes through and I'm able to start working we could at least double our household income.

Any ideas/recommendations welcome, thanks guys.  

Oh my goodness I remember you thumping the Steelers for 8 or 9 tackles in 2013! Hope you enjoy your last year playing and the transition into real estate!

@Daniel Akerman Thanks for that! I'm pretty familiar with their show, never knew that's how they got their start though, really interesting!

In terms of buy/hold vs flipping, I really need to become more open to buy/hold because the market in western PA is so different to where I'm coming from. In Auckland, NZ, the rental income doesn't even come close to covering the mortgage, so all properties are essentially cash flow negative, and some quite heavily so. Pretty much everything relies on the appreciation of the property to make money, which is obviously a totally different game.

@Hadar Orkibi Yes sir I will be entering on a Fiance Visa - K1 (Hopefully, interview should be in a month or so). All my property investments were in and around Auckland, such a competitive market!

@Dennis M. Not going to dignify that with a response, other than to say you don't know much about the choices I made, and you don't seem like a very nice person. 

Hey guys,

So I'm a month or two away from completing my move to the United States, Pittsburgh specifically, and I need a whole bunch of help figuring out what I should pursue once I get over there, so I've started doing some research.

A bit about me:

• As per the title, 27, moving to the US from New Zealand, and have around $100k cash at my disposal
• Fiance lives in the US, and makes around $40k a year
• Have experience flipping houses, done 4 to date, I'm competent at and confident with most aspects of construction and project managing
• Have experience being a landlord, although I suspect I'll have to relearn most of it with the different laws and such
• I have no college level or professional qualifications, I just finished high school, attended university but dropped out to pursue real estate
• A very fast learner and willing to lead or work under someone.

So that's basically my background. As for my goals, long term definitely would be making a large amount of money, either salaried or working for myself, so anything in the short term would hopefully be leading to that.

As for short term options, so far I've thought of a couple. First would be to either flip houses, or use the BRRRR method full time to accumulate a nice portfolio. This seems to be the riskiest option, but would yield the most reward. Secondly would be to pursue a degree in either finance or real estate, and try to break into the commercial world when I graduate. I have very little knowledge about CRE, but find it super interesting and would like to do it as a career, any insight into positions or salaries would be great. The third option would combine the 2, flipping houses while I study. Obvious benefit here is the degree at the end of it, plus rehabbing would allow me to make money whilst attending college.

If I did go the college route, what would be preferable, a degree in finance from a better university, or a degree in real estate from a less known university? 

I'm basically just after any advice possibly, what would you do in my situation, what should I avoid? I'm looking to hit the ground running, so feel free to connect with me too, I'd love input from anyone!

Thanks for reading the giant wall of text, I'm sure there is so much I could add too, so if there is anything you'd like to know, please just ask!