All Forum Posts by: Kayla Wagenmann

My partner and I have been considering purchasing a duplex as an investment for our first home. We moved back to Minneapolis last year after living in Los Angeles for 2 years. We have been renting for the past year at $1200/month.

Sadly, I do not qualify for an FHA loan at this time because I took a second job in April that effectively split my income in half. I was informed that I need to work both jobs for two consecutive years for the lender to count both jobs as income. My total income did not change when I took the new job. I reduced my hours at my first job to take the second. I make $72k between the two jobs with the potential to make more with overtime as I'm a nurse.

A couple weeks ago, our dog tragically killed our upstairs neighbor's cat when we let him outside in our fenced yard. Our neighbor is the son of our landlord, who we have had a relationship with for the past 9 years. Our neighbors have informed us that they plan to get another cat and would be uncomfortable with us living there with our dog. They said it is "no rush" but would "appreciate" if we found somewhere else to live.

We had planned on taking the next 1.5-2 years to save money for a duplex. The idea of paying for moving expenses just to move into another rental makes me feel sick. We would likely end up spending more on rent since we have a dog and two cats and this makes finding a rental difficult.

How difficult is it to find owner financing deals? We don't have a lot of money saved up (only 2,500). I do have a personal line of credit with a 10k limit at 10% interest that I could use if needed. I also have about 20k in retirement funds that I would prefer not to tap into but would consider for the right deal. My partner and I make about 100k in combined income.

Any advice would be appreciated. Do you think it is worth our time to explore seller financing or should we just bite the bullet, find another rental, and continue to save until we can qualify for an FHA loan in 2 years?

Thanks, Kurt! I look forward to attending the event in June!

I would love to come, but I'm still living in LA at the time.  I won't be back in Minnesota for another couple of weeks. Do you have the dates for the upcoming events? Also, would it be okay for me to attend even though I probably won't be buying for another 12 months? I'm a super planner and love to have as much information as possible well in advance of when I make large decisions! :)

I just wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my question. It's been really great to hear different perspectives from people involved in real estate investing. I have definitely appreciated the different perspectives, and I will be taking them all into account when I make my decision. I'm leaning somewhat on the side of getting my license to get my feet wet in the industry since I am in no financial position to be investing just yet, and I think the access to MLS would be something I would really enjoy down the line as an investor, even though I realize I can hire an agent to do this for me. I know myself, and I know I'm the kind of the person that wants to know everything there is to know, and I think that not having direct access would really bother me. Additionally, I do like the idea of selling houses. I've always been a people person, and I think I have a lot of qualities that would suit me well as an agent. If I end up not liking it, it's not like I will be committed to being an agent forever. I think it's worth a try! Thank you so much to all of you for all of your advice!

@Jordan Moorhead I'm definitely starting to see how being an agent and investor are not related. The responses to this post have really supported that fact. I definitely don't want to be working 60+ hour weeks on a regular basis!

@James W. This is a really valid point. I know that I wouldn't want my agent to have zero experience in real estate! 

I think my efforts at this point are probably better spent on researching the market and investment strategies to come up with an approach that works best for my financial situation. Getting my real estate agent license doesn't seem like it would really benefit me much since my overall goal is to learn more about the market. Any suggestions on which websites work best for this without having access to the MLS? I do have a friend who has always been interested in flipping houses and has some capital, so my time would probably be better spent looking into flipping or researching to gear up for purchasing a MFH to house hack in the next year or so.

 Steve, I definitely appreciate this perspective. If I were in the financial position to invest right now, I would probably not be thinking so much about getting my real estate license. However, I want to utilize this next year the best way I can. My goal over the next year is to pay down as much debt as possible and learning more about the Minneapolis real estate market to best prepare me to make my own investment. I'm hoping that getting my license can help me prepare myself and also make some extra money to pay down debt. 

Bruce, thank you for this information! This is not something I had previously considered and very much appreciate you pointing this out. I will definitely look into this aspect of everything more as I make my decision. I don't anticipate that I would be selling my own properties right away as I'm more interested in buy and hold for my first property, and even then, I likely won't be buying for at least another year. The Minneapolis seems pretty hot right now, and I'm hoping that things will slow down a little before I'm ready to take the plunge. 

 Melissa, thank you for the advice! Yes, Minnesota is pretty cold! I'm really hoping that the 1-2 feet of snow they got last weekend melts before I move back in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed! The costs of maintaining a license is probably the one thing I worry about the most. I still have a lot of research to do before I make my final decision, and I appreciate the advice you have for creating my plan for investing before making that decision for myself. I will definitely do that before making my decision on whether or not to pursue my license! 

 Sherman, I really appreciate your advice. Thank you! When I originally started looking into real estate, I was interested in becoming an agent. Investing in real estate is something I stumbled upon while listening to podcasts about being a real estate agent. I've read a lot about how the courses don't really prepare you to sell real estate, and I realize that I need to partner with the right broker and/or team if I decide to become a part-time agent. The costs of maintaining a license is what worries me the most. Since I'm in the financial position where I want to pay down my debt aggressively (hence, the reason I'm deciding to move into my parents with my boyfriend and 3 pets for the next year, BIG sigh), I'm worried about wasting money on license that I could be using to pay down my debt. On the other hand, I could make more money as a real estate agent to pay down my debt. I know some would say that I should focus on paying down debt and working more shifts as a nurse, but in all honesty, working full-time as a nurse is really draining and makes me hate my life. I'm hoping that real estate will allow me the financial freedom to work part-time as a nurse. My only worry is not having enough availability to best serve my clients or not having the necessary experience or resources to make sure that I don't screw anything up for my clients. 

 Thank you for your thoughts, Michael! I have perused a lot of the forums here on Bigger Pockets and other websites, and I agree that people tend to have very different opinions about whether or not being licensed as an agent is beneficial as an investor. You're right in that it seems that the majority of people who hold licenses say that they think it's a good idea while those who do not have a license say it is unnecessary and can be a disadvantage in some ways. I really appreciate all the feedback I've received so far on this post as everyone's input will definitely play into my decision about whether or not to get my license. I'm hesitant to invest first, just because my financial situation. I don't think that I'm in the position to be taking large financial risks just yet. At least I can anticipate the exact cost of the investment I will make if I chose to get my license. If I were in a better financial position right now, I would definitely start getting involved in real estate by investing with an owner-occupied MFH and go from there.