All Forum Posts by: Kyle J. Cooper

I read the notes from the recent meeting and it appears to be a restriction for all of Dallas county. We shall see if it spreads outside of that, bc the DFW market is massive, still plenty of opportunities in the surrounding counties.

I did see some notes regarding no restriction on str if the property is your primary residence (Texas homestead exemption). I may need to do some additional research, though I'm sure this situation will evolve over the coming months/years. So my understanding is this would include renting out a room in your primary residence, side of duplex, renting out Adu/back house, etc.

Goes to show that house hacking seems to work in just about any environment. I currently rent out part of my primary residence as an str and I think we will be in the clear to continue. God bless you all!

@Account Closed

Get connected with a local realtor (especially one who invests in real estate themselves) and get set up for automatic MLS listings based off the rental criteria that you're looking for. Use the LAPS funnel. Get Leads coming in, Analyze those leads, Pursue those leads (make offers), and you'll reach Success. Use the BP rental calculators to find out which deals will cash flow in your market. Keep learning and keep networking with people in your market. A solid Realtor that invests themselves should be a one stop shop for all the contacts you need. Use BP to find all these people and your local meetups. Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Thomas Martinez

Amazing! I wish I was exposed to the F.I. Community and Real Estate Investing when I was that age, the second best time is right now! You're off to a great start and you have the right mindset, keep learning, keep reading, keep progressing in your journey with real estate. There is no "destination" when you get into something like this, it's just one continuous journey and adventure for those who choose to enjoy it!

Start with Set for Life then read The House Hacking Strategy. Do what it tells you, these are the foundations of personal finance and will have a drastic affect on your financials before you start investing in real estate. 

Read BRRRR and Investing in Real Estate with no (and low) money down. This will be beneficial if you're interested in flips or the BRRRR strategy and understand the velocity of money and how that can expand your portfolio exponentially.

Read Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant as well. This is his best book. Trust me it will change your perspective and help you understand who reads these types of books based off how others live and how others spend their money and more importantly, their time.

Books are amazing but also look into Podcasts and Audible, these will help escalate your education. Good luck, you're on the fast track to wealth! Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Jody Dobson

Great questions, I'm still learning and progressing myself. Most investors would say you get the most value on your rehabs in terms of dollar amounts in the bathrooms and kitchens, adding bedrooms, etc. Great idea is to look for a 2-3 br house that's 1800sqft or greater and adding a bedroom. You analyze enough deals you'll realize adding an extra bedroom in a 1000sqft can be challenging. Many would say the rent increase starts to fall off when you go more than 4 bedrooms (Unless you're trying to rent out by the room, then that's a great idea!). Finding good contractors is difficult so be sure to get multiple bids if you're going to do any substantial work, and the permits that come with it. Plenty of good information here on BP so if you get stuck just come on back and you'll have your answers quicker than you think! Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Tyrel Holman

Finding a partner would be my first thought. You bring the down payment and pair up with someone who has a steady W2 income coming in, then just be specific on how you split the cash flow/equity/job responsibilities. Other more creative financing would be to get with some people who have done seller financing and see if that's an option (skip the bank entirely and previous owner holds the loan in their name). Hard money as well, although, I would suggest against this unless you can do a successful BRRRR or were planning to flip.

Here's another creative option as well and it'll depend on how good your sales and negotiation skills are. Approach the owner wanting to sell and try to partner with them. Rent it from them based on the agreement you guys come up with and tell him you plan on putting it on Airbnb/VRBO and just be fully transparent with your plans. You would be on the hook the whole time for the monthly rent but you'd be using it as an Airbnb arbitrage (I think that's what people are calling it these days!). You might pay a monthly premium if you went this route but there are definitely ways to still get into the deal. Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Yejee Sim

This is gonna come down to you and your husband getting on the same page. Wait to invest in real estate if it would give you more peace of mind. But another approach would be to buy a rental property that cashflows and use the positive cash flow to help pay off your personal house more quickly. Acquire enough cashflow to cover you monthly and expenses and then you're financially free. Meet you husband somewhere in the middle but just be sure to get on the same page no matter what you two decide to do! Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Mitchell Barna

If you haven't already, reach out to 20 or 30 lenders and get the details. You should find one that has some better options than what you stated. You will have a higher interest rate with stand alone rental properties but should be consistent with the current interest rates. Ideally, if you can find a "Portfolio Lender", someone who keeps their loans on their books instead of selling them on a secondary market like Freddie or Fannie loans, that would be the best option if you plan to expand your rental portfolio into the future. Hope this gives some direction! Cheers!

@Arren W.

Any good conversation will start with putting the focus on the other person. Ask him how he got his start and what helps keep him motivated. Ask him how he likes working professionally in real estate and also if he currently invests himself. Ask him what he likes and dislikes about the multifamily space and just show general interest in learning more about him and also the line of work that he's in. If he directs it back to you then just be real that you love learning about real estate and real estate investing. Mention Bigger Pockets as being a great resource for helping you get started. You'll find out real quickly the people who are passionate about real estate investing and the people who work in it professionally just for a paycheck. Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Grayson Taber

That all sounds great! If you're still in school you have some time to keep learning and planning before breaking into real estate investing. If I could go back to my college days, I wish I would've found some of these Bigger Pockets books a long time ago. I'd read everything you can get your hands on, and start communicating with anyone in or around real estate. House Hacking Strategy, Set for Life, Book on investing in rental properties, Book on investing in real estate with no (and low) money down, BRRRR, etc etc! All of that knowledge early in your career will help you jump in asap. Regarding real estate license or mortgage license that all depends on your goals and if you actually need them working as a professional in the industry. A seasoned investor would suggest to get neither and just leverage the right people around you in order to achieve your investing goals. Managing people will come in handy regardless of what you do! Hope this helps! Cheers!

@Dexter Belling

That's great your home value is going up so quickly! Option 2 is what I was thinking of mentioning. I believe with FHA you are stuck with PMI for the life of the loan, so getting to a point where you refinance out of that would be a good option moving forward.

Many house hackers on here consider the FHA owner-occupied loan because it allows for low down payment as well as lower credit score, higher DTI, etc. But after living in their house hack for a year they refinance into a convention loan and have the opportunity to get rid of their mortgage insurance (making their monthly payment even lower/cash flow higher).

Conventional loans right now are seeing incredibly low interest rates so if I were comparing the two I would go the Conventional route, especially since you plan to be in this for an extended period of time. I was quoted the other day for 30 year fixed at 2.5%. Hard to beat that. Hope this helps! Cheers!