All Forum Posts by: Kirk Simpson

@Jeff Brower As someone planning to do exactly this (hopefully within the next year) I just wanted to say thanks so much for the detailed write up. This is extremely helpful and actually motivated me to attempt a similar letter writing campaign.

Wow thanks for all the feedback everyone! Certainly a ton to think about, glad to know it's been done before. I've seen these postings on Airbnb, so I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience and appreciate all the awesome feedback!

@John D. Thanks for the input! That would allow me to broaden my search quite a bit!

Hi Christopher! 

I haven't actually done any deals yet but am in similar shoes to you so I thought I could chime in. As you mentioned, it all comes back to your tolerance for risk. Could you buy a property with a $4K down payment ASAP? Absolutely, but you could be stuck with a big expense if something goes wrong early on.

Regardless, you are taking the right steps by saving aggressively to mitigate your risk. There are 2 things I might suggest to mitigate risk if you are uncomfortable proceeding with your current savings: (1) The better a deal you find, the less risk is inherent to any purchase you make. If you purchase a $200k property at $120k, you have more flexibility if anything goes wrong because you already have $80k in equity (this can also be achieved through renovating and forced appreciation). This brings me to (2) - look into a potential 203(k) loan to fund not only your purchase but your renovation. This way you can make your money stretch further and potentially gain some equity early on, which can be borrowed against for another deal or refinanced to reduce your debt servicing cost.

Like I said, I still haven't done a deal so I am just saving like you and investing my time as much as I can to reading here and studying up to be ready to make a deal when the opportunity presents itself. Regardless, I would keep saving the $1k a month as it can't hurt to be saving extra $$$. Hope this was at least a little helpful, best of luck!

Hi Everyone! Total newbie here looking to get involved. I’ve been interested in long term rental property investing for a while now and have worked out a plan of action that I wanted to get some feedback on. My wife and I would like to buy and rehab a property that has an “extra” guest/mother in law house on the property we could live in for the first year in order to take advantage of the easier funding on a 203(k) loan while renting out the on-site guest house as an STR before potentially transitioning to a longer term rental when we are ready to move out. Has anyone done anything similar that can give feedback? We would be looking to do this in another year or so after we’ve saved up, but I’d love any input on how to search for these kinds of properties and anything to be aware of. Thanks for any help! Kirk

@Jeremy England This is a very interesting financing strategy, thanks for posting. Do you mind explaining how difficult the process was obtaining the loan? I’m currently repairing my credit and studying up on different methods, so I don’t think this would be an option for me right now but I’d love to find out more to keep it as a potential option int he future.

Thanks Ethan! That’s actually the meetup I was referring to and thanks to Vince I will get a chance to tell everyone hello and meet the group!

Wow thanks for the help and warm welcome everyone! I'll be checking people into the next meeting of our local REI meetup to get to meet some local investors, looking forward to it!

Thanks so much for the great suggestions! I've joined the FB group for the local group but that is a great way to get involved and start getting exposure to the group so I'll ask if I can help with any of the logistics like you mentioned.

I have been monitoring on credit karma but did not realize I could set goals on there, that is a great feature! I will definitely check that out and get a plan in place. Any suggestions on how to educate myself on keeping an eye out for deals so I am ready when the opportunity presents itself? Once again thanks!

Kirk

Hi everyone!

My name is Kirk Simpson and I am just getting started in Atlanta, GA. Still haven't done any deals, just in learning mode for the time being. Ultimately I would love to start investing in rental properties and potentially even short term rentals through Airbnb or VRBO, but right now I have no cash and poor credit, so those are unfortunately probably longer term aspirations. I work full time as an analyst in Atlanta, but have a background in finance and briefly studied real estate investing in college and would really love to get started on the side. Looking to contribute and learn however I can, just enjoying all the great content so far. Let me know if I can post any other info!

Kirk