All Forum Posts by: Julian Sibley

@Kyle Grimm sounds like you have a background in construction, why not start there? W2 income helps tremendously for conventional financing assuming you haven't exhausted all of your options there already.

If construction sounds like a bad idea, tell us what you like to do. The way I see it you have two options, find a job you are qualified for and hate (but pays you well) and build your REI portfolio as quickly as possible.

Or find a job that you really enjoy (but probably won't pay as well) and build you REI portfolio as quickly as possible. If your end goal is to be a full-time investor map out your options and take the one that gets you there first.

@Andrew McIntyre #2.5 research FHA and contact a trusted mortgage professional.

I don't know many agents in our area who will help you locate properties without being pre-approved first. Typically people figure out their financing before they contact an agent.

I'm not sure where your credit stands currently, but if you have parents w/ a well established card that they always pay on time you could ask them to add you as an authorized user. Allows you to borrow all of their transaction history which accounts for roughly 35% of your credit scores. Make sure they don't have any late payments though. Your credit might be perfectly fine, I'm just assuming since you mentioned "build up credit". Other easy things to do are ask to have your credit limits increased on your cards, which will lower your total credit utilization.

Your list seems good! Get a good lender/agent combo and they will do most of the thinking for you (as far as the buying process goes) just make sure your numbers add up before you pull the trigger.

@Phil Grady

You need to figure out what is important to you. Is this your first investment home or your first home? I wouldn't say one is better than the other, but people certainly develop personal preference depending on their situation.

Are you planning on flipping homes or buying and holding? and how big of a multi family are you talking? 2 units? 4? 5+?

You will find arguments for multi vs single family throughout the forums, you can start here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/62/topics/440...

Also keep in mind what the market is like in your area.

You could try using a shade cloth, pop out the fiberglass sections and weave the cloth between, or even just buy one large enough to cover the whole section. same concept as below, just on a wall.

Or you could just build a privacy screen out of wood, pop out the fiberglass sections and replace with some form of wood pattern.

Probably already aware of this, but make sure the water heaters in your rentals are being drained and flushed at least every other year. Over time minerals in the water build up in the bottom and cause the tanks to rust from the inside out and decrease the life of the appliance.

I worked for an appliance company all throughout high school, you'd be amazed how old some of the units were we pulled/replaced for customers. Routine maintenance is key, and your renters are unlikely to do it for you!

@John Vietmeyer 

We have them in our primary residence. (1 GSP and 2 labs) They are durable and resistant to scratches, we also picked the ones with a greywash to help hide any scratches from the dogs.

I don't recall if ours is 6.3mm thick, but the original padding that was underneath made the flooring sound hollow, so we replaced it with a thicker pad and it solved the issue. 

Note: this is our primary residence so we wanted them to sound/feel like real hardwoods, if it's just for a rental or flip you might not care if the vinyl planks sound hollow.

@Gabriel Benavidez If you enjoy the petroleum industry I would stick with it since you seem to have a future lined up with the company. How are you qualifying for the financing on your first property?

W2 income gives you a great base or safety net to cover your expenses and student loans once you graduate, and will allow you to take advantage of conventional financing when starting out your real estate portfolio. If you switch to real estate you will take a commission job and need 2 years commissions before you can qualify using your income for conventional financing. You can gain finance and real estate knowledge over time, but having an engineering degree for petroleum (especially in Texas) will give you a good salary job out of college.

Just my $0.02 cents, when in doubt do what makes you happy

@Erin Margaret x2 on the pictures, it will help give us an idea of what you are working with.

I would focus on the door, replace the house numbers, update light fixtures or paint the old ones black. Personal opinion, but the front door is usually my focal point. I don't mind concrete steps, you could pressure wash them as opposed to building wooden steps?

As for the yard my wife likes window boxes, but they don't do very much for me. Trees/shrubs & perennials are common in our area

Looking forward to this, see you next week!

My name is Julian Sibley, I came across the BiggerPockets community through a friend who recommended the podcast.

I work as a mortgage lender in the Everett, WA area and I am a recent college graduate.

I was born and raised in a dairy family in Snohomish, WA which is what I attribute my work ethic to as well as my love for the outdoors. I have a Bachelors in Business Administration from Western Washington University with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Spanish. I currently work with my family, my Mother and Aunt who have a combined 45+ years experience originating loans in Snohomish County, WA as well as my Uncle who has 25+ years experience building custom homes.

My goals in real estate are to build a property holding company with the end goal being mostly commercial properties. I plan to start by flipping SFR's in the Everett area, moving to multi-family units and eventually working my way up to commercial properties. I have the ability to perform most repairs on my own, but long term prefer to be hands-off and provide financing/use contractors.

I love going hiking, hunting, fishing, working on cars, spending time with my wife/family and general discussions around anything related to business/finance/investments.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Cheers,

Julian